Rare Plants, San Francisco Botanical Garden, Deppea splendens

Photo San Francisco Botanical Garden Society

A Preview

Rare Plants - San Francisco Botanical Garden Plant Sale

at Strybing Arboretum

Visit the web site to see a schedule of Annual Plant Sales, with rare and unusual plants from the Garden's collections!

Pictured: Deppea splendens - a rare cloud forest plant, virtually unknown in cultivation and presumed to be extinct in the wild. One of the rarest plants in the world, Deppea splendens looks fuchsia-like (although it is gold with burgundy sepals), but is actually a close relative of the coffee plant. 

Bloom Day: A Rare Perennial Shrub, Melianthus comosus

Melianthus comosus

Planted in the early days of my California garden, tufted honey-flower, a South African shrub, boasts deeply dissected, green foliage:  The plant's intense peanut-butter aroma is not particularly pleasant.

Blooming in late-winter, tufted honey-flower produces some of the most unusual flowers in my garden. The flower spikes are eye-catching, with their bladder-like capsules, while the red-orange flowers are said to be pollinated by birds.  

Perhaps they are in a native African habitat, but I've not witnessed birds visiting these blooms.

Prominent stamens, a deeply elongated throat with dark honey guide, and delicate, reflexed sepals are features sure to attract those of us who are botanically inclined. Touch the flowers, and a residue of watery nectar - black, inky droplets - is deposited on your fingertips. Not refined plant material for flower arrangements.

In my Zone 10 micro-climate, the growth habit is tall and gangly, so I cut the plant back a couple times a year, and always remove a few of the thickest stems; cutting them close to the ground.

Gledhill (The Names of Plants) defines the species nomenclature as 'shaggy-tufted' , which I find a lively description of these oddly attractive blooms.

Clematis 'Belle of Woking'

On the subject of Clematis, with my 'Blotanical' cohorts in mind...

 Clematis 'Belle of Woking'

This belle proved to be very difficult to grow. Unaware of her reputation as being among the most fussy of clematis vines and not at all vigorous, I planted a specimen at the base of a stucco wall, where competition from other plants and too-dry soil resulted in minimal growth. Even after a move, she languished. 

Thinking that 'Belle' was doomed, I uprooted her one last time, placing the scraggly remains in a large glazed container of black bamboo at the rear of the garden. Here, the rare beauty did, in fact, flourish. 

Trained to climb up alongside the bamboo canes, Belle's stems weave upwards into the sunshine, where they meet up with a rustic grapevine trellis, spanning a 20-foot section along the top of the fence. The trellis supports a lavish thicket of Clematis montana 'Rubens,' along with the delicate stems of C. 'Belle of Woking.'

In the photo, one large bloom takes center stage in a shallow Japanese flower-arranging vessel. Strong winds easily damage the flowers and weak stems, so it seems best to bring the fully double blooms indoors as cut flowers to be enjoyed up-close. The plant's leaves are held out to the side in a way that beautifully frames the bloom.

The 'Belle of Woking' cultivar was developed in England in the late 1880s by George Jackman and Son. It's a deciduous, hardy clematis resulting from a cross between the species C. 'Fortunei' and C. 'Lanuginosa Candida.' Growing about 7 feet tall, plants produce blooms that resemble multipetaled antique roses.  Give 'Belle' loamy, well-drained, yet moisture-retentive soil, good air circulation, and full sun with its roots shaded, and she should thrive.

Flowering season in my area begins around late-May, and lasts several weeks. Happily, flowering often recurs in the fall on new stems. 

Stormy Sunday - Spring Plants... Preview

Winter storms....   Looking toward Spring

New Cultivars...... Dramatic Accents

Sambucus nigra 'Black Lace'

Aristolochia californica

Unusual Natives

  Aquilegia v. 'Lime Frost'

Tried and True Perennials