It’s been a while since we posted a photo of our Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Snow Cream’ in full flower, so for those who missed seeing it at our recent Winter Open Nursery and Garden, here it is in its full splendor in mid-March. Our 26 year old specimen is now 8′ tall x 15′ tall, growing here in six hours of full sun. Plant Delights/JLBG named and introduced this form in 2000.
Mark your calendars for our Spring Open Nursery and Garden weekends, now expanded to three weekends: May 2-4, May 9-11, and May 16-18. There is no admission and we will be open from 9am to 5pm each day, rain or shine.
I am thrilled by my Snow Cream this year. It is so gorgeous and fragrant. This is such an amazing plant which the deer don’t care for, thank goodness.
wish you could send the honeyed scent
Well…for some reasons the ‘Flora of China’ doesn’t want to offer any altitudinal distribution-limit to the occurrences of Edgeworthia chrysantha,- nor even indications as regards to its natural indigenous origin, over there. But this is the deciduous Edgeworthia-sp.,- and then its (? semi-) evergreen relative, E. gardneri, is occasionally supposed to reach 3500 m., over there… …and then you start to glimpse a hope that E. chrysantha may in fact be found a similar winter-cold altitudes in China, and that more cold-hardy provenances may exist,- don’t you agree, Mr. Avent ?
Then this lovely ‘Red Dragon’-cultivar of E. chrysantha introduces us to the little-known subject of ‘Truly Red-flowered Thymelaeaceae’…which then, for a ‘Temperate Gardener’, may only be considered ‘As Tub-plants For Frost-free Over-wintering’, I’m sad to tell !
However…when you spend the 15-20 minutes it may take to ‘Google’ on ‘inaturalist.org’ + either ‘Lasiosiphon rubescens’, ‘Pimelea haematostachya’ or ‘Pimelea decora’…then be ready for “a really red-hot experience”, Mr. Avent !
However,- while these ‘Red-hot Thymelaeaceaes’ are sadly ‘Out Of Temperate Gardening Reach’,- then what about considering to start looking for…A GENUINELY COLD-HARDY, SOUTH AFRICAN DAPHNE-RELATIVE WITH…PURE AZURE-BLUE FLOWERS, MR. AVENT – ?!
Because when the South African botanist, W.J. Burchell, on August 6’th, 1811, visited the cold ‘roggeveld plateau’ by Sutherland, in the western Northern Cape Province – ‘South Africa’s Coldest Town’…he then ‘At the foot of the mountains by Verlaaten Kloof’ discovered & collected (his # 1316) a new sp. of the Thymelaeaceae-genus called Gnidia. A new sp., which he decided to name GNIDIA CYANEA BURCHELL, and which he, in his collection-notes, describes as ‘A neat, pretty shrub, growing here to the hight of two feet, and which was never since met with anywhere else. And a Gnidia…WHICH WAS REMARKABLE FROM HAVING FLOWERS OF AN AZURE COLOUR…! ! !
Well, – this ‘Azure-blue, Cold-hardy, Small, Neat Gnidia’ – according to the latest photos published on this ‘inaturalist.org’ System…IS STILL THERE, IS STILL BLUE…AND IS STILL BEGGING TO BE INTRODUCED INTO CULTIVATION, MR. AVENT – ! As is, of course, ‘The Possible High-altitude Provenances of Edgeworthia chrysantha,- don’t forget (!)
It is always curious when a country’s Flora fails to list altitude ranges for a plant. We have tried seed of Edgeworthia gardenii many times, but never got any germination. Edgeworthia ‘Red Dragon’ has very poor winter hardiness, and we have lost it in what we would consider mild winters. We have not tried the South African, Lasiosiphon rubescens, and don’t hold out much hope for the Australian native Pimeleas. We have not trialed any Gnidia, the genus which Lasiosiphon also used to belong.
It seems that Edgworthia used to be and continues to be lumped by some with Daphne odora in the ‘impressive but difficult’ category. So I was a little tentative about trying this plant.
My 1st E. chrysanthia was a rather large 5 gal specimen purchased in mid-summer at a local nursery. I noticed it was wilting but they reassured me all it need was regular watering and when I returned later to pick it up it was standing tall in its well-soaked pot. When I got home I placed it in the spot I planned to plant it and within days the plant was again wilting that I attributed to the summer heat. I let the soil dry as much as I dared before giving it another drink. Soon the wilt was worsening even after watering so I repotted in a more well-draining soil-mix, adding 25% permatill, and this is when I discovered the culprit was significant root-rot. My worst fears seem to have been realized regarding the temperamental nature of E. chrysantha, but then I realized the damage had been done long before I purchased the plant by well-meaning nursery staff who had been overzealous with watering during the summer heat-wave. In a one-two punch, the grower had up-potted into a heavy a soil mix that retained way too much water. I then talked to 2 other major nurseries who have lost so many Edgeworthia that they refuse to grow or sell it. One wholesale landscape supplier lost an entire ‘field’ due to disease that I attributed to overwatering by timed overhead sprinkler systems they rely on to grow at scale.
Undeterred, by my bad experience, and that of the growers I decided I would give Edgeworthia one more try. Again I went big, not in size but with numbers and varieties that reportedly thrive here. I found 2 gal plants that were well-cared for by the nurseries, and on several visits over several weeks I noticed none of the dreaded ‘wilt’. I also checked the root-mass of each plant for sign of rot before buying. I went all-in, deciding if I was going to fail I would fail big and ‘invested’ in 3 plants each of the 3 top varieties for our NC zone 8a climate zone. I planted them a little high in light-shade to morning-only sun with pm shade in well-draining soil and limited the water, knowing some afternoon wilting in the summer is OK as they would recover in cooler evening and overnight. I also tried to water early in the day, and water only when the top 2 inches of soil was dry.
Long story short all my plants from last summer have survived and thrived through their first winter, I have the E. chrysantha, straight species and the cultivars Snow Cream and Winter Gold that appear to be very similar (possibly the same plant?) each a more hardy and robust improvement over the straight species. For me E. chrysanthia straight species showed very limited flowering there 1st winter, the young plants possibly suffering more from our cold winter temperatures in the upper teens than the cultivars Snow Cream and Winter Gold. It will be interesting to see if this persists after they are well-established.
With the early spring flush I’m keeping my fingers optimistically crossed for the coming summer. Several of the plants already have suckers emerging at the base that I will gladly spread across my deer-infested garden.