Family:
Common Name(s):
Grown by: David Feix, Berkeley
The redoubtable David Feix, ASLA, brought in four mixed bouquets of astonishing richness which are listed in below..
Aechmea kertesziae — with red and green
Aechmea ‘Ovata’ (A. comata x A. recurvata) —hybrid tank-type bromeliad
A. ‘Pioneer’ (A. cylindrata X caudata)
Amaranthus sp. — from Mexico, takes dry shade, blooming all year.
Billbergia nutans - Job’s Tears - a tank-type bromeliad with nodding flowers
Cymbidium hybrid — lucky us! We can grow these outdoors and so many too oftem take them for granted.
Crassula multicava — a shrubby, S. African succulent with spray-like masses of tiny white/dark pink star-like floral displays. Mine drops plantlets by the score.
Duranta stenostachya — shrub with yellow berries related to Verbena
Euphorbia characias var. wulfenii - a late winter blooming shrub with 4–10” sub-globular clusters of chartreuse inflorescence blooming over many weeks.
Fuchsia ‘Autumnale’ — a hybrid with great reddish and orange foliage color
Freesia hybrid — easy on the eye AND nose
Geranium canariense — a large evergreen perennial with 4”–6” leaves and dark magenta/pink flowers.
Gordonia axillaris — a SE Asian shrub-relative of Callenias with 3–5” white, saucer-like flowers in withe to spring with smooth, dark, lance-like foliage.
Grevillea x ‘Superb’ (syn. ‘Ned Kelley’) an attractive Australian shrub for our climate, mostly untouched by deer.
Heliconia schiedeana — from S. Mexico with a 1–2’ zig-zag floral spike eith boat-like red bracts and yellowish sharp tongued sepals—for the birds...and us!
Heracleum lanatum — Cow’s parsnip — a large, fuzzy native carrot relative growing 3–7’ each year with large (8–12”) deeply cut leaves and 4–8” wide inflorescense like a hairy Queen Anne’s lace on steroids (be it every so umbel). A very archetectural plant celebrated overseas.
Justicia rizzinii - a shrubby Acanthus relative from Brazil with numerous ‘Kandy Korn” red and yellow flowers. This creature has had more name changes that Zsa Zsa Gabor has had husbands.
Kalanchoe (Bryophyllum) tubiflora =delagoensis — from Madagascar, a shrubby succulent with tubular bell-shaped flowers purple-grey to pale orange-yellow and 4–6” narrow, brown-spotted grey-green leaves producing litle plantlets on the notched tips (beware!).
Leptospermum corifolia (Tango) another lovely Australian Tea from the Myrtle fmily, well-adapted to our climate. The oil is both antiseptic and anti-scorbutic (zaps scurvy!)—pretty and useful.
Metrosideros carmineus - a climbing woody vine related to NZ Christmas Tree with carmine-red bottlebrush-like floral sprays. Not aggressive and very under-utilized.
Plectranthus zuluensis - a sub-shrubby mint relative from Swaziland, South Africa. Lovely foliage with terminal whorled spikes of typical mint-shaped flowers. It does well in light shade.
Salvia splendens/=vanhoutii—a perennial Brazilian mint relative to 3.5 feet with terminal spikes of deep orange-red flowers with persistent burgandy calyces. Our mild winter allowed this to flower through to March.
Sedum spectabile ‘Brilliant’—a clump-forming deciduous perennial succulent to 18”+ with bright pink flowers with darker carpels and anthers from China & Korea. Usually finished blooming in late aurumn (What’s your secret, David?)
Sparaxis fragrans ssp. grandiflorum—another Iris relative (6 species) from S. Africa, the source of endless bulbs and succulents (adversity leads ro diversity???). Flowers are reddish-purple funnels with yellowish tubes and die back to underground ‘corms’
Thank you, David, you are a local treasure!
