Herself’s Houston Garden

Mahonia blooming Jan 2010

Mahonia blooming Jan 2010

Mahonia blooming Jan 2010

I first encountered this plant on a garden tour during last years Garden Blogger’s Spring Fling. By the time I came home and sorted through everything I had totally forgotten its name.

Then this year I found one for sale at the Mercer March Mart. Mine doesn’t have flowers yet, but I managed to steal a photo of this one while on a local garden tour.

Yellow flowers appear in the spring, followed by blue-black berries.

Mahonia grows more upright than out and can reach 6′ tall and 4′ wide. Plant in shade to part shade, but you’ll need some sun on the plant if you want the blooms. Morning sun is best.

Moist well drained soils are recommended. Drought tolerant once it is settled in. Acidic soils are preferred to alkaline.

Protect from wind to prevent leaf scorch in dry weather. This plant does well through zone 7 so no winter protection is required here.

Mahonia ( Barberry ) lopers ( black with a light stripe and orange headed caterpillars ) will eat this plant. Female moths lay eggs in spring, larvae eat the leaves when hatched.

Rust can also be a problem, it appears are red specks on the leaves. There may be a yellowish powder on underside of leaves. Remove affected branches.

Native of China.

Propagation: Stem cuttings, dip in rooting hormone and plant, keep moist but not wet till new leaves appear. The older the wood for the cutting, the better these plants will root. Mahonias also root better in warm weather so keep your cutting warm.

Leather leaf Mahonia bealei is very similar except flowers are scented.

Fruit trees need frequent proper pruning to reach their full potential.  You’ll want to spend some time once a year, after the fruit finishes and before the new buds appear to give your tree a serious pruning, but don’t let water spouts or crossing branches stay when you find them.

Remember when pruning to step back and circle the fruit tree frequently to see how it looks while you are working.  You want a slighly domed shaped top, and the bottom should look like a steep bowl.

1) Remove water spouts.  Water spouts are branches that grow at 90′ angles to the branch they stem from. They will take all of the nutrients and water away from the rest of the branch if you let them grow.

2) Remove all branches that bend down toward the ground.  Your branches should curve or reach up not down.

3) Remove all branches that cross another branch.  On windy days those crossing branches will rub each other.  This causes breaks in the bark where insects, fungus and bacteria can enter and harm your tree.

4) Thin branches so that sunlight reaches deep into the tree.  Fruit trees especially need lots of sun to grow well and remain healthy.

5) Shape the top just for appearace, cut back to the beginning any branches that stick out too far from the rest.

The branches you remove can be used to propagate new trees.  Cut the branches so that only 3 sets of leaves remain.  Remove the bottom set of leaves.  Dip the bottom of the branch in rooting hormone.  Plant in light soil and keep warm, moist and humid until new growth appears.  Then treat as you would any other young tree.

These pictures were taken in April shortly after I planted the plectranthus. Since then it has put up more blooms each week and is lovely. Flowers come in white, pink, and purple. They are best loved for their ability to grow well and flower in shade. Purple flowers appear in early spring and the plant will flower until the cold weather settles in.

Leaves are dark green topside, purple on the underside.

This is a rapidly growing shrub, and can reach 30″ in height, but usually remains under 2′. Width is about equal to height.

Plectranthus grows well in part sun to full shade. In sun it will be smaller than if grown in the shade. Leaves have a more intense color in the sun especially the underside.

Extremely easy to propagate by cuttings, you don’t even need rooting hormone, it may in fact hurt your cuttings. Cuttings will also root in water.

Water often, it prefers moist soil. I lost mine to a summer drought.

Houston is a bit warm, they wilt in the afternoon, would really prefer to be planted north of here.

Pinch back ends occasionally to keep it from getting leggy. Also blooms appear on new growth so a bit of trimming in the early spring will encourage more blooms.

While this plant is a member of the mint and ivy family ‘Mona Lavender’ has been breed to be better behaved and will not take over your garden. It does much better in the ground than in pots, probably because of its preference for constantly mildly damp soil.

Frost is a problem for these plants. Cut them back in the spring if frost damaged and they should bounce back just fine.

Plectranthus also do very well in hanging baskets.

These are usually planted in masses. I just have the one now, but will take cuttings once the plant is settled.

These are native plants in eastern Africa through to southern Arabia. There are over 350 varieties of Plectranthus.

Propagate by cuttings. They should easily root in water or moist soil with out rooting hormone.

See also:
Talk at Mercer