Rodda & Sons West, LLC

Nandina domestica commonly known as nandina, heavenly bamboo or sacred bamboo, has been a favorite landscape plant for years. It’s delicate lacy foliage is almost feminine. Foster loves to play with colors and textures and this sweet little baby has both. The 1-2 in. pointed oval leaflets emerge like a sunrise, pink, peach and bronzy red eventually turn to a soft green in the older foliage. It also puts on a show in the fall and winter first it begins to glow purple and as temperatures drop it starts to burn fiery crimson. Obviously it’s an evergreen (or it wouldn’t burn fiery crimson in the middle of winter). 

Okay, here’s the dry part, but just in case you’re interested Nandina domestica is part of the family Berberidaceae which is the smarty pants way of saying it’s related to Barberry. It is a monotypic genus, smarty pants translation: this species is the only one in the genus (so far). Native from China to Japan, Home away from home: Pacific Northwest, loves it here. So its not really a Bamboo, which is good news because many varieties of true Bamboo are incredibly invasive whereas this little lady will slowly send out suckers now and then but mostly keeps herself to herself. Nandina still gives you lightly branched stems (reminiscent of Bamboo canes) with delicate-lacy-fine foliage. Grows at a slow to moderate pace but leaves you with nicely proportioned shrub 6-8′ tall and 3-4′ wide.

Tips for tip-top performance: She can get a little top heavy but is very resilient to pruning, to encourage denser foliage, cut canes (oldest woody ones only) down to the ground each year. The best time to do this is in late winter or early spring, before new growth begins (Feb-Apr depending on climate). Even though she loves her winter wardrobe, this little lady doesn’t like to get too cold, temperatures below 10F/12C will damage the plant but not kill it and anything below -12F/-24C she wont stand for (I don’t blame her!).  She can also be a little delicate in hot summers, if the climates not mild, she’ll want a parasol (AKA some shade). Like any woman, she likes to be spoiled, rich soil and regular water. In dry shade the plant wont have as much color but will be better at competing for water, even with large tree roots. She’s a social plant, stubbornly refusing to produce any fruit unless she has friends nearby to gossip with. If planted in groups the conical creamy blossoms held high above the foliage are followed by shiny red berries ripening in late autumn and sometimes haning around all winter.

If you read this and you can’t resist the urge to rush to the nearest nursery and pick up a girl to take home here are some suggested uses (that is if you haven’t hired a landscape professional to produce a custom-to-scale-handrawn-extra-special-Nandina-Containing design for immediate installation…hint hint). So she looks good in anything, even a little black nursery pot…actually, a pot’s not a bad spot, but I would upgrade to something more festive than black plastic.  Wester Garden book calls it a great “tub plant” but if I were a Nandina I would’nt find that very flattering. As young plants Nandina even look great in container plantings with annuals, especially in fall and winter when foliage color is in demand. I’ve used it myself with white and purple Kale & Cabbage and it’s absolutely stunning. It will also make a light, airy hedge or screen and is perfect for those narrow restricted spaces that are always such a bear to find someting for. If you really want to see a show, install night lighting shining into the plant, wow, talk about fireworks!

Here are some Varieties and their descriptions:

**= a RSW favorite

**’Compacta’ – 4-5′ high x3′ wide. Very Lacy with numerous canes and smaller more plentiful leaflets.

‘Fire Power’ – 2′x2′ Red tinged in summer to full red in winter.

**’Gulf Stream’  – 3-3.5′x1.5′ This is the star performer in those tight narrow spaces. Blue green summer foliage, nice show of red in the winter.

‘Harbour Dwarf’ – 2-3′ tall, this is more like real Bamboo than it’s relatives. Spreading by underground rhizomes it will eventually make a good ground cover. Orangy to Bronze Red winter color.

N.d. leucocarba AKA‘Alba’ – 4-6′x2-3′ Light yellow to golden (Fall) foliage. More tender in the cold.

**’Moon Bay’ – 2.5′x2.5′ Our favorite of the dwarfs. Leaves are lighter green and go to an even showier red than other varieties. Not a big producer of flowers or fruit.

‘Moyers Red’ – 4-6′x2-3′ Bround leaflets. Brilliant red with frost. Pinker flowers. Earlier berries. Quite the show off.

**’Nana’ or ‘Nana Purpurea’ or ‘Atropurpurea Nana’  – 2′x2-3′ Puplish green in spring and summer growing purplish red to bright red in winter. Foliage is coarse with cupped or curled leaves and color streaks. Different growers will use one of these three labels on plants with widely varying prescence and intensity of the characteristics listed. They are very slow growers and best used in a container or rock garden to emphasized their domed habit. Not a big producer of flowers or fruit.

**’Plum Passion’ - 4′-5′x3′ Young narrow leaves enter the world a deep purplish red and mature to deep green Reddish purple in winter.

‘Umpqua Cheif’ – 5-6′x3′ Eventual size but very slow grower (3 years to listed height). Tall stems can be floppy, partly due to large leaflets. However, large leaflets give a good show of winter color.

‘Umpqua Princess’ – 3-4′x2′ Narrow leaflets; open appearance.

‘Woods Dwarf’ – 1.5′x1.5′ Slow dense grower. Crimson-orange to scarlet winter color.

A great resource for researching this (or any other plant) is Sunset’s Western Garden Book.

The creeping rosemary, terra cotta potted on our south facing deck, has been clamoring quietly to have the place of honor as this month’s beach plant. I can hardly remember when this plant hasn’t been in bloom. It must have taken a rest somewhere along the way, because they say it blooms early in the spring and again in the fall. The dark shiny evergreen, needle-like leaves, undercoated with grayish white, are thickly spangled with delicate blue flowers. Though it is far more subtle than the heralding cheerfulness of the daffodils, this small soft periwinkle presence never fails to please me. That’s blue for you.

Wind, salt, even deer – not a problem! Rosemarinus officinalis is on every list of coastworthy plants you’ll ever see. It looks good all year – smells good. It makes chicken, lamb, red potatoes, tomatoes and other good things taste even better – loves olive oil and garlic. Have you ever had fresh rosemary olive bread? You just don’t ever recover from an experience like that. Lavender and rosemary soap is in a similar category.

Rosemary belongs to the family Lamiaceae, so just be glad there’s an easier way of saying that. Just say that it’s “in the same family as” lavender, thyme, and sage. The whole family has two vital needs – excellent drainage and sunshine. Think about the Mediterranean setting and climate in which all these plants flourish. That’s a very pleasant thought, isn’t it? The fast-draining rocky soil of the coastal cliffs is perfect for these tough plants. The sun’s heat develops the flavor and fragrance of the essential oils that make the family Lamiaceae a compendium of culinary herbs, remedies, and perfumes. Rosemary is quite adaptable when we thoughtfully provide some reminders of its homeland.

Plant in full sun, perhaps where rocks or a wall can reflect and hold some extra heat. Lighten heavy clay soils with compost and coarse washed sand (builders sand) or fine gravel. Add a handful of lime if your soil is acid, as it is here. Mulching with gravel will keep leaves and branches from sitting in water. Water infrequently to moderately, depending on your site. Fertilize very lightly. Think LEAN. Pinch or prune lightly and frequently in order to encourage new growth to break from the center of the plant. Always make your pruning cut into the stem above the point where leaves are breaking through. Don’t cut below that new growth or that stem will die. In time a plant may develop an unbecoming bald center. At that point you can replace it with a fresh plant and keep honing your pruning skills. These guidelines also apply to others of the Lamiaceae clan that develop woody stems.

In a terra cotta pot rosemary is wonderful, even a special one you want to show off, as it won’t compete but just complement perfectly. Don’t make the pot too big; otherwise the plant won’t be able to soak up the water in the soil fast enough and will sit in dampness. Provide a quick draining gravel base at the bottom of the container. As the plant outgrows its container it’s better to move it into a pot just one size wider (2-3″) for the same reason. It tolerates drought admirably for those of us who have trouble with schedules.

Creeping rosemary was born to spill down stones and rocks, but any wall or slope will do. There are several creeping forms. We’ve used ‘Prostratus’ and ‘Huntington Blue’ very satisfactorily in pots, spilling down slopes, and in rockeries. They stay very low, 1-2 feet, spreading 2-4 feet. I’d like to try ‘Severn Sea’ which has profuse sky blue flowers and is especially hardy (for those rare cold snaps). There are many upright forms as well ranging from 3 to 7 feet or more. We have used ‘Arp’ very close to the ocean and it looks very healthy. I’m thinking of encircling my roses with a hedge of ‘Blue Spires’, described as a superb landscape variety, a strong vertical grower 6 feet tall and at least as wide, and making a tight sheared hedge. We liked ‘Blue Boy’ a very compact form that had a nice fragrance and flavor, not too piney and sharp like some. Read the labels for size, tenderness and habit, scratch and sniff, think about your site – a lot may depend on what’s available when you decide you’ve got to have some rosemary right away. Rosemary is a natural companion to its Lamiaceae family members. We mentioned lavenders, thymes, and salvias (sages) already, but there are more – Russian sage, nepetas, oreganos, lamb’s ears – altogether wonderful, versatile plants having many interesting forms and variations. Most of them blend beautifully with ornamental grasses, especially blue fescue, blue oat grass, and pennisetum. Rosemary and its kin are also at home with argyranthemums, better known by a prettier name – marguerite daisies. ALL of these are not only excellent beach plants they are all actually DEER PROOF as well. That’s because deer like resinous or “cottony” leaves as much as I like big, old lima beans. Actually deer don’t care for herbs in general, so you could start a deer proof garden with this exciting group of plants.

Pieris japonica, also known as Lily of the Valley Shrub and sometimes Andromeda, is what we call a Great Plant. Like many of our coastal Northwest garden favorites, it originated in Japan. Its glossy foliage looks wonderful all year. The small flowers, waxy and bell-shaped are arranged in generous clusters that drape the plant in early spring. Their perfume is honey sweet and reminiscent of, you guessed it, lily of the valley. When I think of that fragrance, I see bulbs pushing up through damp earth, flowering plum overhead, on a cool and sunny spring day. We’re almost there!

But the virtues of Pieris japonica don’t stop there. There are many outstanding varieties, each with its special charms. You have probably noticed one of my favorites, ‘Flame of the Forest’—which is actually a hybrid between P. japonica and P. forrestii. Besides having a great name, this plant keeps putting out a fountain of color long after the flowers are spent. The emerging foliage bursts forth scarlet, salmon, and cream, pale lime, and, finally, dark glossy green, often simultaneously. Very entertaining and yet never gaudy.

Others, like ‘Mountain Fire’ and ‘Scarlet O’Hara’, have new growth that’s simply scarlet. For those who can’t resist variegated forms, ‘Variegata’, has foliage marked with cream, tinted pink in spring. The flower clusters, looking like drooping bunches of tiny grapes, are lovely in white, like ‘Snow Drift’ and ‘White Cascade’. The flower buds, formed in autumn, are ornamental for a long season before they actually bloom. ‘Valley Rose’ and ‘Valley Valentine’ come in shades of pink. Over the winter the buds of these varieties turn a rich burgundy against the glossy deep green leaves. Very handsome near the front door.

Pieris takes well to pruning for shape and size control which will probably be necessary in gardens with limited space. Without pruning, fully mature plants can reach 6 to 7 feet in height with nearly the same width. To suit today’s smaller gardens, there are appealing dwarf forms to choose from—’Prelude’, ‘Karenoma’ and others. They have the same mounding habit as their relatives and are even more well behaved. They are not likely to overgrow the walkway, or reach up in front of the family room view, or bury that really nice rock you artfully set beside it.

Some of our featured Beach Plants are very brave about salt and wind. Not this one. It will want to be sheltered from prevailing winds, in full sun to light shade. Otherwise it’s not fussy, it just wants good draining, acid soil which is the most usual condition here at the beach. Enrich the soil with plenty of organics (i.e. compost, leaf mulch, peat moss, and/or manure) and fertilize as you would a rhododendron. In fact, rhododendron and azalea are close relatives of pieris.

Aside from year round beauty, fragrance, and ease of culture, this wonderful plant has yet another sterling quality. While it is not a deer repellent, it is deer proof—if it would just share its secret with the roses we would all sleep more soundly. Pieris japonica gives a gardener a lot to love on a daily basis. Give this plant a place of honor, where you’ll pass it often. It will give back to you.

This bold dish of bronze New Zealand flax holds its own, as few plants could, against a soaring 3-story backdrop. The three plants in this container, ringed by Harvest Snow marguerite daisies, have replaced the original three that had become overgrown. (Our hearty crew handled the job with ease.) A transplant from New Zealand (!) flax looks so at home here you might think it’s a native.

While we’re frantically beating back the slugs, horsetail, and fungi, gardeners all over the world are moss green with envy over the almost perfect climate we enjoy for growing things here in the Pacific Northwest. Of course, from our vantage point, at the fringe of the rainforest and oceans ragged edge, we could do with a little less damp and gentler winds. Nevertheless, one of our advantages of our maritime mildness is that we can successfully cultivate plants that are, strictly speaking, outside our zone limitations.

One of these plants is the striking New Zealand flax, by turns bold and spiked or glossy and graceful arching in the wind. It is more widely available in its dusky bronze or tropical looking green, less so in its burgundy red or variegated forms. These sparkling striped varieties come in shades of green, olive, cream, yellow, apricot, coral pink and warm red. Yes, New Zealand flax can be a little hard to find, especially in the burgundy and variegated forms, but it can add so much in the way of focus, punctuation, drama, and gravitas to a grouping or whole landscape, its worth the chase. It may soon become one of your (many) favorites, as it has for us.

Give New Zealand flax well drained soil and it will take care of itself. Choose your site carefully. Though it is a vigorous plant and will become a large clump, from 4 – 7 feet tall and as wide, it will not become invasive. If it gets to be so happy that it overwhelms its bounds, it can be divided as you would divide a (very large!) daylily. Ask a friend to come help dig – share the task and the flax! (And if you lose a friend, at least you got the flax divided!)

An harsh winter or one with sudden freezing winds, like those we get from time to time, will leave a flax somewhat shredded and burned, even killing a young plant. Just trim out the ruined leaves with sharp pruners, being careful not to cut the new swords sprouting from the crown which each hold a new fan of leaves. Some suggest using the phormiums as you would a bedding plant or only in containers that could be wintered over in a greenhouse. Can a smaller plant be brought in for the winter? I’m going to find out with a beautiful little red variegated specimen that might be right at home in our sunroom.

Some ideas for effective companions:

• In beds or containers of otherwise “flighty” annuals
• With anything of fine texture
• With plants with silvery foliage (especially with bronze flax)
• With warm tones – chartreuse, cream, yellow, apricot, salmon, orange, warm reds (the colors of the variegated types)
• Examples:
• Blue oat grass, Japanese Forest Grass
• Russian Sage, Nepeta & lavender varieties, Frosty Morn sedum
• Autumn Joy sedum, crocosmia, daylilies in above colors, Sum & Substance hosta Rosy
• Glow barberry, pieris japonica Flame of the Forest, golden elder

Also:

• Looks great with river rock and/or driftwood
• Looks very much at home near the water