Monday, March 17, 2014

I got it! (a sought after plant, of course)

This a tale of lust, plant lust. My first sighting of the variegated daphniphyllum was in this garden, such a beautiful plant!

How could I not fall in “love”…

Then of course there’s the huge specimen at Hersonswood, on the Kitsap Penninsula. I stood and stared in awe…

All internet searches seemed to lead to Buchholz & Buchholz, yet when I asked I was told it was not available. Heck even the standard green daphniphyllum I admired at Portland's Lan Su Chinese Garden seemed nearly impossible to find...

At the Hardy Plant Society "Winter Interest" display at the Yard Garden and Patio Show I spied Daphniphyllum macropodum foliage from Roger at Gossler Farms Nursery.

That had me remembering...the owner of that fabulous garden (where I first laid eyes on the object of my affection) had mentioned his plant came from Gossler Farms, and as luck would have it we'd planned a little trip south to Eugene, Oregon…Gossler Farms was nearby, I wonder!? Searching their online catalogue yielded no results so I called, after all they’re not open regular business hours and I needed to make sure a visit was okay. Ya, they might have one, we’d take a look when I was there (!!!).

The night before our trip to Eugene I attended Plant Nerd Night. Dan Hinkley (of Heronswood fame, now selling plants under the Windcliff label) was there and selling a couple small Daphniphyllum macropodum for $14.

I had a moment and grabbed one. I mean sure I might find the variegated plant the next day but wasn’t a little $14 insurance a good thing?

In the end I put it back, only to watch the last one be grabbed by another shopper. I realized I hadn’t recorded the tag information and asked her if I could take a photo of the tag before she bought it. You’d think I’d asked her if I could take the plant, she gave me a harsh look but handed over the tag.

Just in case you’re wondering if I did buy anything at Nerd Night I’ll diverge from the topic at hand and share my purchases. First was Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Atropurpureum’ from Cistus which I passed up at the YGP Show. Just look at that sexy foliage!

And secondly an Ochagavia carnea, from Mr Hinkley. Reportedly hardy spikes, of course I have to try them.

Okay back to our story, the hunt for the variegated daphniphyllum. When I first arrived at Gossler Farms there was no one around so I wandered in and out of the greenhouses, in my own little plant nirvana. I eventually found these…

So I at least knew I could make up for letting the Windcliff plant slip through my fingers the night before.

Then, finally, in a sort of a propagating and special plants space, I found this…

It’s what I was hoping for but it certainly didn’t look happy, extremely unhappy actually. Further hunting turned up a very large plant in a greenhouse that was off in the distance, perhaps off limits (oops).

Beautiful but too big to haul home, and probably too big to sell.

About then Roger Gossler joined me, I identified myself as the one who’d called looking for the variegated daphniphyllum. He took me to the sad plant but said he thought there was another tucked away in an outer greenhouse. We found it, but the graft had taken in a rather odd way (a 90 degree angle in the trunk) and we both feared the plant wouldn’t be structurally sound long term. He was sure the sad plant was only sad because it needed water. I was dubious, primarily because I’d recently lost a plant that looked exactly like this one did.

Decisions, decisions…

I took a leap of faith and went for it, buying the drooping one rather than the bent one. And look at it now…

I’ve got my variegated daphniphyllum!

All material © 2009-2014 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

32 comments:

  1. Hooray for perseverance! That's a beauty, and it obviously likes you. Maybe like a rescue pet, it will thrive out of gratitude.

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  2. That's wonderful. I found Gossler Farm folks to be very kind and helpful. Congrats!

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    1. Thanks Tamara, and yes, they've always been very good to me.

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  3. Loree Bohl, plant detective! I I l love that label, "brutally handsome!" Your variegated specimen is a stunner indeed! Unfortunately, it needs moist soil so keeping it going in our climate would be very difficult. Another plant I can't have :-(.

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    1. I love the label "plant detective"!!! Read the Outlaw's comment further down, he seems to think you could (and a stop at Gossler Farms will be on your way up to Portland this summer, they're just off I-5).

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    2. Yeah! Sounds good enough to dig a little deeper. Gotta have something new to research.

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  4. Is this going to be a bring-it-into-the-shade-pavilion plant for you, a put-it-in-the-ground-and-get-nervous-every-winter plant, or a in-the-ground-no-worries plant?

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    1. This is an "in-the-ground-no-worries plant"....unless there is an ice storm in which case I will worry...

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  5. I'm so happy for you! I've had the non variegated one for years. It came from Heronswood and got so big that I cut the whole business to the ground. To my surprise, it's growing back from the roots. It doesn't seem to mind being mostly dry in the summer. Grows among the bamboo roots. Maybe Gerhard could have it after all. The variegated form is really stunning. Congratulations on consumating your plant lust!

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    1. How big is "so big"??? (and thank you!)

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    2. Peter, that's great news (about it not minding dryness in the summer). I'll do some more research then.

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    3. It grew about 12 feet high but wasn't horribly bushy because I hadn't pruned it at all. Now that it's coming back it will probably be multi trunked and I'll keep it at a height that I want.

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  6. Oh, how I miss Dan Hinkley's way with words, hinted at on even such a small thing as a plant tag. I would accuse you of serial monogamy, but I guess you have plenty of love to go around. Did you have time to stroll around the gardens at Gossler's? I love it there.

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  7. Congratulations! Is this going to help cover up that great-looking new fence? :) So, I missed the name of your variegated Daphniphyllum -- is this it?
    http://buchholznursery.com/plant_page.html?id=26c353

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    1. Thanks Julie, actually is is going in front of the new fence, but not all of it, just a corner. As for the name, yes you got it! Daphniphyllum himalaense ssp macropodum 'Variegated' it was such a mouth full I realize now I never used it!

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  8. Nice! Love that varigation, love daphniphyllum too. Congrats on the find. I've always admired that dahniphyllum at Lan Su Chinese garden. My daphniphyllum isn't looking to happy but I had to dig it up and put it in a pot last fall. The plant looks really nice with the fern and other fine-foliaged plant near by.

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    1. Thank you, that picture (with the fern) was taken where I sat it upon arriving home. The back drop of the dark house upping the "wow" factor a bit (or so I thought).

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  9. Congrats for your daphniphyllum! it will look great in your garden!!

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  10. Your detective work has paid off, wow! So lucky to find and own one now! It's a gorgeous plant and I so so desire one of those too. I wonder if it even exists in the UK already, hmmmm....

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    1. I'm feeling pretty darn lucky, hard to imagine that it's not there (in the UK) somewhere...(hope you find it!).

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  11. Congratulations on your plant find! That variegated Daphniphyllum is a beautiful plant. The plain green ones don't interest me much. Why would I want a redneck rhododendron when I can have a real one? But add variegation and oh, la la! (Thank you Ciscoe Morris for permanently warping my mind...well, warping it further.) I still love that purple pittosporum! So fantastic!

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    1. Because of the red petioles that's why!

      Sorry I didn't get more Nerd Night photos for you, it really was a fun event and you must come next year!

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  12. The variegation takes the plant to a whole different level - I'm glad you were able to secure what you wanted. The fern shown near in the 2nd to last picture provides a nice complement.

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    1. Unfortunately they won't be able to stay together, one requiring more sun than the other.

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  13. That's great that you were able to find it at the nursery. I hate that feeling of regret when you decide not to get something at a show, and then a few minutes later someone else takes it and you are left wishing! I don't know if you get up to Tsugawa Nursery in Woodland, but in January I was browsing their covered outdoor area and found a big pallet of D macropodum. I remember thinking what a good looking plant it was.

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    1. I usually stop at Tsugawa a couple of times a year, on my way to or from Seattle. There are often hidden gems...were the D. macropodum large?

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  14. Wow, those pink petioles are to die for. And the variegation is just delicious. I love it.

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    1. The pink certainly earns it a place in your garden Grace.

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