Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: Kristl Walek on September 05, 2007, 01:11:42 AM
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My area of eastern Canada is notorious for its spectacular fall colours of the Maples---this is still to come.
However, I wanted to share with you the visual feast in the woods today while collecting seed of the little known native Viburnum lantanoides (alnifolium)---the AlderLeaf Viburnum---or Hobblebush.
The beautiful large (up to 30cm across) opposite heart-shaped leaves have sunken veins and seem oddly out of place on the slender stems, making them very pronounced. And the vivid (and early) color transformation is astounding. I never cease being astounded at what I see in a large population.
The first is the green base colour.
It makes my heart stop!
Kristl
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Sigh, it appears that my first set of pictures did not upload.
Sorry. Will try again. Did not entirely understand the KB limit per post---perhaps this is my problem?
Kristl
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More...
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Last Two...
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Damn! Why don't I know this plant...
Really nice Kristl...I'll have to track this down!
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What an incredible display Kristl, especially all on a single species. Like Carlo, somehow, I MUST have..!
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Carlo....You haven't been reading my catalogue....it's been listed for years. I had at least 20 more pictures of leaf variation---imagine trying to choose ONE to post on my web site?????
And Lesley, it's virtually unknown in the trade---a great misfortune---
This last picture is of my "mother lode" site (for the seed of this species) where the pictures I posted were also taken. We seed folks always untimately try to find *that* spot where we may wild collect without seriously impacting a population. This "Hobblebush" spot is kilometers long and deep into the woods. Before I found it (13 years searching), I spent hours driving from one area to another, as it is rather uncommon here. It would take days to collect the seed.
In the wild it thrives in consistently moist (not wet) conditions, and a good rich soil, slightly on the acid side.
Kristl
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how tall is the plant?
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Mark...about 3-4m...and it has pretty white to pink flowers, followed by open clusters of berries; red turning bluish-black at maturity.
Kristl
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Kristl that is superb, such variations of colour and pattern. :o Definitely on the wants list!
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Hello,
My two cents..
This plant is finicky in cultivation just like its Asian counterpart V. furcatum. They struggle in areas where night temperatures do not cool down significantly (hated Kansas and died over 3 years). Not to say I have not tried and will not keep trying, maybe one day a seedling will show some heat tolerance. Here in eastern Tennessee they are restricted to elevations above 2000 feet, mostly higher at 4000+, in acidic moist woodlands under Tsuga, Abies, and Betula sp.. I will agree that the color on this is amazing. Another with outstanding color is V. acerifolium that turns strange pinks and purples that look as if they would glow at night. Will send pictures when they begin to turn.
Aaron Floden
Knoxville, TN
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Hi Aaron,
It *is* somewhat challening in cultivation---although my experience has been that the established seedlings are doing fine (any larger rooted pieces I have tried, did not, either suckers, or cuttings). It really is a good candidate for seed propagation---as it seems to be able to acclimatize well from infancy.
Summers are not as hot and humid here as in Tennessee---our summers are stifling, with very high humidity and no significant "cooling down" at night--even semps melt here in summer... I do know they thrive in "cool, rich, moist woodlands" here. I do not think it requires much acidity (in mixed situations in this area), more alkaline (60%), than acid (40%).
And yes, Viburnum acerifolium (which I am collecting next week) would be my second candidate for under-utilized native Viburnums....let's both post our pictures- it will be interesting to see what different colours might result in Ontario and Tennessee!!!
Kristl
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Sounds like Scotland would suit it just fine? The only colour pattern I don't see is tartan, so there's a challenge. ;)
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Hi Kristl,
Beautiful 'must have' plants.
Thanks for showing them to us.
Kind regards,
Cliff
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Kristl,
Your pic of the mother lode site.... is that a carpet of seedlings? I had thought that it must be a small species until you said that it was 3-4m. What sort of shape to it? With those leaves it is DEFINITELY something worth growing, that is for sure. Beautiful combinations of leaf colours. One of my favourites in the autumn leaves is one of the Witch Hazels called 'Ruby Glow'. It produces these wonderful leaves with yellow, orange, bronze, red and assorted shades in between all in the same leaf, starting at yellow in the middle and slowly shading darker the further out towards the edge. There is something about the particular combination it has that is just "right". I particularly like the different veinings etc in your Viburnum pics, which is what really caught my eye on the first look through. Great pics. Thanks! 8)
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Paul,
Because I was concentrating on the leaf variation the day I was in the woods, I did not photograph any mature plants in isolation. This site is so thick with plants that the competition is quite fierce- some are seedlings, some suckers, most have grown in the straggly fashion they are prone to. Branches will also root if they touch the ground, causing more upward growth.
The stems are very slender and flexible, and the shrub has a delicate, open, light, ethereal, wild appearance. In the wild, most plants in large colonies like this stay an average of 1-2m...but in isolation, given enough space they can reach 3-4m (although perhaps 3m is more average). One sees plants that have grown up with a single (thin) trunk - I have trained some of my seedlings in the garden in this way---and they have a similar feeling to the Pagoda Dogwood (Cornus alternifolia-another of my native favorites), although the horizontal growth is not as wide nor as tiered as the Cornus. Left on their own, most will develop a multi trunk habit. This is not a plant I would place in a formal shrub area---but I would not be without it in the woodland garden where it's wild character and intense colour is shown to best advantage especially at this time of the year when the shade areas are primarily green.
Kristl
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Kristl,
It's sounding better and better. I like the sound of "the shrub has a delicate, open, light, ethereal, wild appearance." Sounds great!
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Krystl, just curious, where abouts in Ontario are they growing? There is a vast difference in low temps between Lake Ontario and the far north of the Province.
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Chris,
I live in the Ottawa Valley and the species is around here (but in limited areas). I don't think there is any issue of hardiness (average lows here are -35C, winters are getting warmer, we have had temps to -45C). However the plant is not in abundance in this area because of the predominantly alkaline woodlands---wonderful limestone for rock gardens everywhere---my mother lode site is about 1.5 hrs. away in Quebec (where the soil is decidedly more acidic). It also ranges into the Canadian Maritimes (generally more acid). I know it grows much further North of me, but I not not know it's northern limit.
I am 10 hours north of southern Ontario (border with the USA) and 2-3 hours south of Algonquin Park, which starts to get north in the sense of your question.
Kristl
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Know exactly where you are now Krystl. I used to live in S. Ontario myself. Been back in UK for 20 years now though. Lovely part of the world. Enjoy! Too cold for me in winter, and way too hot in summer.... but I still visit and have friends over there.
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Many viburnums have superb fall colouring.
Another example with this V. dentatum chance seedling, which we call V. dentatum 'Cote Rotie', in reference to a famous french wine and the plant's firy colours in fall.
The 4 first pics give you an idea of the early colouring stage, and were taken on my own specimen last week. The 2 last pics are from the original plant, some km away: it is on a more sunny location, and the fall colours are always one to two weeks earlier there.
Zeph
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A luscious red indeed. :)