Here are three of the more unusual mahonias in our collection that are looking good currently.
Mahonia oiwakensis hails from Taiwan, and three adjacent mainland Chinese provinces. The foliage is narrower than Mahonia lomarifolia, and the winter hardiness seems better also. We’ve never seen a cultivated plant more than 7′ tall, but in the wild, it can purportedly top 20′ in height.
Mahonia shenii quickly became one of our favorites, after it was introduced by the JC Raulston Arboretum a few years ago. We rarely see this elegant plant top out above 2′ tall, so it makes a stunning garden plant. This is native to the Chinese provinces of Guangdong, NE Guangxi, SE Guizhou, and Southern Hunan, where it can be found up to 5,000′ elevation.
Another plant we really love is the virtually unknown, North American native, Mahonia ilicina. This native to Northeastern Mexico has enormously long flower spikes, which show its close resemblance to its cousin, Epimedium. This is a late flowering species, that looks particularly good this year due to a late first frost. We hope that getting these genes mixed with the Chinese species will create some amazing garden plants.
Wow, what beautiful variety. I think I had heard JC Raulston had planned to breed Mahonia in retirement, he would or must surely be proud.
It looks like you have a ‘Marvel’ next to the ilicina. I’ve been impressed with how quickly I’ve seen them shoot up, and they seem like a great, tough, shade screening plant. Unfortunately, the local nurseries seem to have given up on them. I don’t have much experience with the other x media types. Any favorites for fast upright growth?
I still really like the bealei for its showy and fragrant flowers, and beautiful fruit, as well as it’s cultural and deer related toughness.
I think the habit and texture are also a great contrast, and try not to let mine hear that the esteemed Mr Dirr thinks they’re “clumsy”.
On the other hand, I might have called them worse when they reached out and touched me, or especially when transplanting around some unexpected dead leaves.
I can’t recall if you’ve mentioned them specifically, but it’s great to have an authoritative source such as yourself trying to inject some reason into the often fanatical native plant debate. It’s quite striking (and beautiful) when occasionally the mahonias in all their flower and fruit glory are all one sees in the woodland understory. Perhaps this paucity of native plants is more a reflection of an objectively tough growing environment, historical livestock and development damage, the over abundance of deer, and native bird sustenance, rather than proof they’re very naughty.
So excited about your mahonia work, especially looking forward to your ‘hardy’ caress….uhh, well assuming you name it better than I just did. But Ozzie’s plant is amazing- if only we could grow it up big and massed in z7.
If you want a bigger, hardier ‘Soft Cress’, maybe try ‘Narihira’ or some of the newer cultivars like ‘Indigo Flair’. ‘Funky Flow’ and ‘Groovy Glow’ are listed as 6b.
Assuming these ratings are based on death vs the disfiguring defoliation that often takes a while to recover (plants in shade have limited energy available, too)
Regardless, they seem happiest sheltered from the North/West winter winds, i.e. foundation plants on the east side of a building, etc.
Both Mahonia ‘Funky Flow’ and ‘Groovy Glow’ are from Tom Ranney, and while we’ve just put these in, I’m sure they’ll be fantastic. We killed both M. ‘Narihira’ and ‘Indigo Flair’, so we need to try them again.
We recently purchased a home in SC, and our property is infested with Mahonia. It is horribly invasive here. Is there a variety that is not? They are beautiful plants, but it will take me years to remove what is here.