Monday, October 31, 2011

Rhus aromatica 'Gro-low' I love this plant


I mean this individual plant, I walk past it once in the morning and once in the afternoon. But I do like the cultivar 'Gro-low'; the species grow to 8 feet or more, this selection gets less than half that tall. It's a "solution plant", not for every location, but if you need a tough plant for a hot sunny site, and you like fall color, this will do the job. Plus it's a native, or at least a selection of a native. When I did designs for Behnke's, I'd occasionally have someone call up who had a hot dry hill alongside the driveway or a property edge, not the commonest problem, but hey, we need different solutions for different sites!

This is just the western tip of a longer planting that includes Rhus typhina 'Tiger Eye', a golden selection of Wax myrtle, and Itea virginica 'Henry's dwarf'. These are all tough plants, rarely troubles by pests or diseases. The Planting extends 75 feet or so out of the picture to the left (east) along quite a steep 30 foot wide slope. I like the fact that Brad chose these ultivars (of native plants) because their potential needs to be showcased. All but the golden Morella are readily available; I see them in Home Depot. Still, showing ways to use them was a great thing to do.

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