PUSHING THE BORDERS

I don't mind herbaceous foliage plants, and replaced my bog standard Melianthus with Macleaya cordata.... we moved house before it really took off. Is it as invasive as some say?

As Chad says very invasive both roots and seed this was my much admired clump just before I dug it All out

014 by charliepridham, on Flickr

Interesting, I have never had seedlings from our Macleaya cordata. I have put a barrier around it (similar to bamboo treatment) so it is not spreading by roots.

Mine got under the boundary wall and crossed a 3 foot path in the other direction to come up in the lawn! But it was lovely to look at :)

I wish it would grow like that here. Dry clay seems to keep it in check.

Interesting John about your Tetrapanax. Some people have no issues with it but like you, I do. My original plant reached at least 5M last year and has a girth of trunk like a decent sized tree (20 inches perhaps). It throws up suckers all over the place by the dozen and has spread to my block paved driveway 30ft away. It is a monster of a plant and extremely attractive, always attracting attention but I planted it 6 years ago close to the garage wall for protection. Now I'm worried it might be damaging to the garage so this year I've left the ladder in the garage and left the branch tips unprotected. I will miss it if it dies but will be slightly relieved.

Martin, your plant sounds very substantial. My own Tetrapanax only started to wander when I attempted to move it after a few years in the ground.
Needless to say the main stem didn't survive the transplant, but suckers found their way under the boundary hedge, and my neighbours spotted it growing in their border later in the year.
They quite liked it, but the following year tried to remove it, by which time it had reappeared on my side of the hedge. We moved shortly after :D

I managed to kill mine, which is a shame as it was one of the early ones. It had got quite tall and leaves quite small so I thought I would rejuvenate it by cutting it back and was prepared for the forest of suckers. Nada. Completely killed it. :lol:

Melianthus branches readily from the trunk being cut at any height desired, or back to ground level as well. I hadn’t realized that Roger Raiche,a local and brilliant horticulturist/fellow landscape designer, had discovered ‘Purple Haze’ at my friend Richard Ward’s The Dry Garden Nursery in Oakland!

Unfortunately these named selections are equally scarce in the trade here in Northern California, but more easily sourced in Portland or Seattle. I’ve had Melianthus major get 12’ tall in massive clumps here in Berkeley, but the plants always seem to get infested with whitefly, which is most easily dealt with by cutting plants back to the ground. Blooms are a bonus, but make a poor cut flower as they only last about 3-5 days.

I see that Antonow’s Blue is now freely available. I’ve never really been a fan of Melianthus (can’t explain why really, just always thought they looked like big weeds!) but there are some images on the net of this newish form combined with other plants where it looks really stunning.
Has anyone tried it since Chad mentioned it earlier on this thread? I’m toying with the idea of trying it but am building up so many pots of tenderish plants that it’s going to be a nightmare overwintering them so this would need to be a plant worthy of my space!

American sites have it as hardy to -12C, so I'd plant it deeply in the ground and mulch it. Potted it needs a huge pot and sulks after a few years.

The picture of it potted on the commercial sites shows a good plant in a tub, rather than a pot, and I doubt it would do as well for the next year.

Also available from Suttons, but their page has funny code and won't link!

Thanks for the nudge to let me know the named form is available.

I'm buying three for a big clump that will be cut down each winter.

I'm not alone in preferring it as a clump of foliage.

Chad

ps. Charlie, the spell checker isn't present since the upgrade.