Wednesday 14 June 2017

A Success and Two Questions

When visiting the famous Cornish Gardens some three Springs ago it was difficult not to notice amongst all the splendours provided by the stars of  Cornish garden in Spring - azealeas, camellias, magnolias and rhododendrons to name the most obvious - a rather more modest shrub, Olearia x scilloniensis, or White Daisy Bush. It is a medium sized shrub with greyish foliage - imagine a ceanothus impressus but with grey rather than dark green foliage - with in the Spring masses of  white daisy type flowers which makes an impact from a distance. In terms of garden use I guess it is slightly similar to Spirea Arguta also smothered in white flowers at the same time of year but the Olearia is evergreen, or rather evergrey. I was not sure how it would do here - Cornish gardens have rather more rain than we do and our probably milder in winter, depending on how close to the Atlantic you are, but mine have settled in well and I am encouraged to obtain more, not that they seem to be readily available here. I also acquired the rather more showy Olearia phlogopappa Comber's Blue but that is struggling and I am not sure that it is going to survive.

Also as a result of my Cornish trip I acquired Philadelphus maculatus Mexican Jewel. I was too early to see it in flower, and it is quite a new introduction, so I guess that there were not many to be seen. But it was given a very upbeat write-up in the Pan Global Plant catalogue with special praise for its fragrance. Something that distinguishes it from many Mock Oranges' is that the flowers hang down in what might be considered to be a rather dainty fashion, but 'weedy' is so far the impression that mine gives, so I have to admit that it has been a great disappointment. As so often with plants the fault may be the gardeners for putting it in the wrong place, and my Mexican Jewel must certainly be given a second chance elsewhere; If we had a slopeing rockery that might be ideal, but as we haven't . . .  Incidentally Pan Global list a number of what appear to be exciting new philadelphus, but you have been warned!

My questions concern two of the stars of the Spring and Early Summer garden, Flowering Dogwoods (cornus) and magnolias, and what I would like to know is what success people have with them here? Of course 'here' in these blogs, given its title, 'Gardening in Gascony', covers a rather wide geographical area, and again I am quite sure that the nearer one is to the Atlantic the more likely they are to flourish. Our garden is situated in the East Gers so not on the right side. It contains its full share of what I call Gersois Clay, though there are some much more sandy areas, and I would not say that we are very calcaire.  We have tried about half a dozen varieties of both of the two families, and I can only report that the results have not been very encouraging. Obviously  they are expected to do well here since they are fairly readily available; for instance you  will see plenty of them at Mirande's Jardin d'Embaloge, the nearest that I know of  to an English Garden Centre. Moreover there is a nurseryman not far from Aire sur l'Adour, Pép. Vivès, who specializes in Flowering Dogwoods, and I have to say that his stands at the various plant fairs always look spectacular. Our Flowering Dogwoods do not, ditto our magnolias.

Of our half a dozen or so attempts at the Flowering Dogwoods I guess that C. Porlock has been the least disappointing, and this despite the fact that it has been moved. Amongst other things it has managed to flower every year which is more than can be said for the others. It is actually still in flower, though in fact what you see is bracts not petals, but somehow it manages to look stressed though given that we are enduring temperatures in the 30.Cs this is perhaps not surprising. The biggest disappointment has been C. Satomi. This should have deep salmon pink bracts but in seven years it has failed to produce any. Like so many of these dogwoods it should display very strong autumn colours but since the plant has struggled to survive this apsect of the plant has hardly been a feature. The one cornus that has in one sense flourished is C. kousa chinensis which is now well over two metres high but so far in about five years it has failed to be 'smothered in white bracts', indeed it has not produced one!

Our efforts with magnolias have been marginally more successful, which is to say that flowers have been produced on a regular basis but growth has been incredibaly slow. It is true that one at least had a battle with a deer and essentially lost. This was Magnolia Star Wars of which we seem to have ended up with two. It has lovely strong pink flowers and there are signs that they are at last getting away so cautiously I would recommend them. It is also the case that Magnolia stellatas, a much smaller variety, usually more a bush than a tree, but with masses of lovely white flowers, have done reasonably well.

It is clear that magnolias can flourish in Gascony. Driving around the Gers for example one comes across a few very fine specimens, very often I suspect M.soulangeana Rustica Rubra, a big tree with rosy-red cup-shaped flowers, but given the beauty of almost all magnolias not all that often. I suppose that as with the Dogwoods summer heat and drought is the main reason for this. They also suffer from what all spring flowers do in our region: if the weather is good the sun is very strong and the flowers very quickly pass over which is a little disappointing. Still if there is anyone out there reading this blog who has experience of growing successfully these two stars of the Early Summer season - Flowering Dogwoods and magnolias - do please let me know your secret.