Black or Dark Foliaged Plants

Black or Dark foliaged and flowering plants seem to attract some understandable curiosity and experimentation. When you think of it black does not seem to be a natural colour for a plant and it’s not for there are very few that I would consider really black but we, rightly I feel, take poetic license.

The attraction to anything black is understandable when one thinks of the position the colour black holds in all strata of fashion and visual appreciation. I once posted this quote on my Facebook page “Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black” ..... “Henry Ford”. No argument from me there Mr Ford my Volvo is metallic black thank you, oops its not a Ford oh well there is free choice for you. For me the same holds true for Phormium but the choice is the customers I just can hope they pick my choice Phormium Black Adder on some occasions.

In fashion we have the veritable institution of the little Black Dress. I know nothing of ladies fashion wear and that wont change I fear but you can read more here. http://www.fashion-schools.org/littleblackdressarticle.htm . In rock music we had ACDC’s Back in Black, Ozzy Ozbournes infamous group Black Sabbath, the whole Goth cult thing, it goes on and on Black is stuck in our genetic makeup no matter what the art or creative activity one looks at. Don’t be surprised when this love of black transfers to plants as our American cousin Gen Y’s might say duhhhh. Anyone claiming to lead this trend would be as well lay claim our pre programmed fascination with the colour black itself. It’s going to happen that now and then as the worlds appreciation of plants grows so too does the sub genre of the plant world “black plants”. Us humans have a preoccupation with the colour black and there are chartreuse, pink, red, blue etc but two colours in our psyche stand out. Black and Red and guess what there is the Red Rose Tatoo, Simply Red, Lady in Red, Red Red Wine and so on and so on. There are colours that inspire us and black is top of the heap for many and combine that with its suitability mixing with other colours I rest my case. I have no more to say about the subject of black plants as a general trend as for me the trend is a simple as the above explanation. I can be wrong on this but I hold this opinion as my understanding on the general root cause.

Horticultural involvement and curiosity about black plants for me developed in 1998 when I made my first black plant discovery on the nursery. This discovery came in the form of what is now known as Ceanothus Tuxedo. Let me tell you first I was genuinely shocked, out of a batch of about 6,000 young plants of Ceanothus Autumnal Blue here was this one plant that definitely was not green. However there is more to the story which adds to my curiosity and made me shake my head in wonderment. That year for the first time ever we lost over 60% of the plants in that batch of Autumnal Blue this plant arose in the middle of the worst affected area of the bed. I am lost as to how we managed to kill them as we rarely had difficulty rooting Ceanothus and at the time it was a very large production item for us. In any event there it was a survivor out of what was a bit of a fiasco for our production of Ceanothus Autumnal blue for that year of 1998 and my first discovery of a very dark foliage plant.
I was not finished yet, Tuxedo proved quite difficult to propagate thereafter and it took a lot of work to save the original plant. Eventually I learned it likes sunlight and lots of it probably due to the darkness of the foliage. Eventually we produced enough and the rest is our own little piece of Hort history. I managed to grow the first 3 stable plants from this one plant and from there bulked it up in numbers year by year. Ceanothus Tuxedo is now getting lots of attention as far away as California USA and Tokyo Japan and places in between.

The second Black plant developed from a mutation of Phormium Platts Black which we were trying to propagate through micropropagation but went horribly wrong. I ended up making various selections which were not true to type. This sometimes happens in micro-propagation. Eventually when I re-selected the best looking form and put it back into propagation it was stable and hey presto the best selection we brought to the world as Phormium Black Adder and look what itself and Tuxedo has been getting up to lately. http://gossipinthegarden.com/2009/09/07/the-adventures-of-black-adder-tuxedo/ Black Adder Phormium is now planted all over the world, Japan, Europe, New Zealand, Australia and USA, this last 12 months we sold 120,000 Black Adder so somebody really likes our black Phormium. If there is any need for evidence that there is a trned towards black plants I think Tuxedo and Black Adder has proven it for me.
So they are my babies I can safely say and my only claim to fame in the black plant world. Black Adder won best patio and balcony plant at IPM Essen in 2008.


My third horticultural involvement with a new black plant is from a friend in Cornwall called Steve Yandell. Steve is one of the nicest guys in this plant world and an amazingly enthusiastic plants man and breeder. I have been growing Ophiopgon nigrascens for 20 years now and when Steve rang me and told me he has a special form of Black Mondo Grass I thought yeah yeah ok I guess its variegated that kinda blows the black thing? Steve told me no its got longer leaves it suckers more, it grows faster it makes your coffee and bakes scones. Well I did tell you he is enthusiastic! Seriously I was cautious but I happened to be going down for a meeting at the Eden Project a few months later and I made a date to see this black plant in of all places right on the highest point one could imagine overlooking one of the most southerly parts of England Penzance. The picture below is what I saw and took home with me, he was right its all of the above but it didn’t make the tea, coffee or bake. However it did all the other things Steve said it would. So three years later its on the market and of course as it comes from Penzance its called after a famous pirate “Blackbeard”. For me so far if we are to be purist Ophiopgon Blackbeard is the little black dress of black foliage plants. Its black, its sleek, its simple unassuming and Black as I dare any plant foliage to be! That plant in the picture has a bizarre story of piracy of its own however. We are the propagators of this plant in Europe for Steve and have sent plants to USA also. TO promote the plant and get customer feed back I brought it to IPM Essen in Germany which is one of the biggest horticultural industry shows in the world. I was proud to show Blackbeard off on our stand for the first time and after the show we packed it up with some other wonderful plants and left it waiting for our transport agent. You may have guessed what next, it was stolen from our stand and never seen by us again. However thousands are now out in California and in Europe as well as Japan luckily we had begum propagation but somebody out there stooped so low as to steal our very first plant! Fact, believe it or not, an act of piracy and treachery maybe old Blackbeard himself came back from his watery grave, who knows. If it was not Blackbeard the pirate then whoever you are I am taking this opportunity to tell you, I would like it back please!
So to summarize my thoughts on black plants as a genre they must be first of all a “good plant” to be a good black plant to be the colour black just doesn’t cut it for me. On colour depth I am happy to use poetic license. So long as the plants attribute whether foliage or flower is not stretching the colour spectrum to plainly not blackish. If the plant can have berry like Blackbeard or flower like Tuxedo or pure brazen leaf shine like Black Adder it’s making my list.

If the plant pirate is reading this. Black is Black I want my baby back........ (my baby being Blackbeard! I want it back it was my plant! I got it from a friend! Thats his boot in the picture!)

Sweet Success!!

In Spring 2008 we brought our first Sweet Potato plants into our laboratory with the very kind help of the people at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge USA. We have never ventrued into the production of Sweet Potato (Ipomea batatas) before. It was a new area for our nursery and we found some very helpful people in the form of Don LaBonte of Louisiana State University Louisiana USA. Don gave me some valuable advice and helped me along my way in sourcing true to type virus clean plants of Ipomea batatas Beauregard. Beauregard was the exact variety my book research had shown to be most suitable for our climate. In my book research the variety Georgia Jet was also highly recommended but Beauregard seemed to be a better quality variety for storage and skin colour. Funnily enough in our cooking we found Beauregard also to be a better taste than the shop bought ones which are most likely Georgia Jet.
Having secured clean material we propagated mother plants at our laboratory in 2008 and proceeded to see if it was viable to make plug plants from this stock and we found this to be successful. In 2009 we went into limited propagation and produced over 10,000 plants whihc were sold into UK mail order and we planted our own trials at Kildalton College of Horticulture under supervision of Mr Jim Kelleher Senior Horticulture Advisor.

So where to from now with our development of Sweet Potato as an allotment crop in Ireland?

Year 1 Conclusions
The results of the first years commercial propagation trial and crop trial has been very positive. It is conclusive that at the very least this sweet potato variety will give a sufficient yield maturity, excellent quality and flavour under protected growing environment.

Year 2 trial proposal
Having established that Sweet Potato is without doubt a viable crop for the amateur gardener. In 2010 we will undertake a wider trial to assess the merits of Sweet potato as a commercial crop in protected and outdoor conditions. Organic growing techniques will be used and the project will seek collaboration from interested organic growers to participate in a wider trial.

See the short PowerPoint presentation here. http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=d6kvdxk_0z3m827dk

See this article on growing of Sweet Potato in your garden from RHS http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/Grow-Your-Own/Grow-Your-Own-Veg/Veg-A-to-Z/Sweet-potato

Credits.
I would like to thank Jim Kelleher of Teagasc who organised and supervised the growing trial at Kildalton College. Special thanks goes also to Professor Don LaBonte and Lori Buckley at Louisiana State University research facility. Special thanks also to Dr Stanley J Kays of University of Georgia and to Dr Alan Amitage who introduced me to the initial contact that made all this happen.

The Famine Garden at Newmarket Co, Kilkenny

Last Friday was yet another one of those wonderful Autumn days that shorten the winter in this part of the world. On my way from our local Horticultural College I dropped into a project we had donated some Irish yew to many years ago. This was a wonderful concept executed with dilegence and dedication by the local community in Newmarket led by Mr Christy Twomey the local schoool principal of many years.

In the decade 1841 to 1851 Ireland changed dramatically. Two million people disappeared, one million died and one million emigrated. 1851 marked the end of the potato blight, however, disease and destitution remained. Emigration peaked in 1854 and thereafter remained a fact of life in the 19th century. Community spirit is a defining characteristic of pre-famine Ireland. Communities worked together sharing food, skills and labour. This system of communal sharing without the use of money was called Meitheal or Comhar. The spirit of community pervaded through the rich culture of musicmaking, poetry and storytelling. Irish society before the famine was rich in artistic expression and social values.

This wonderful garden is well worth visiting yourself as words can not describe the journey through the garden. The poignant design features and story uncovered as you walk through the garden brings the visitor down to earth. The garden is truly a garden of rememberance and a reminder that despite current economic difficulties there were and will be bigger and more traumatic times than these in all our countries. Every turn one makes in this garden has meaning and at the end of your visit there is hope. The eternal spirit and ability of mankind to recover from disaster through community spirit is highlighted by Gáirdín an Dochas agus na Síochána (Garden of Hope and Rememberance).

"Gáirdín an Ghorta This is the garden of remembrance. The path through the garden is a metaphor for Irish history. The journey along the path is synonymous with the journey of the Irish people from pre-famine era to the future.

For anyone wanting to know how to get there or a little more about the garden there is a website. http://faminegarden.com/ Gaírdín an Ghorta website shows the garden shortly after planting but the matured article has to be seen for yourself. The garden has matured beautifully and the Irish yews we donated are looking fantastic and were in berry when I visited. Maintenance of the Garden is meticulous. Its very easy to see that Gaírdín an Ghorta is a valued part of the community and shows great respect to the design and commitment that went into the concept from the start. Gáirdín an Ghorta (The Famine Garden) was opened on the 15th of October 1999. I visited by coincidence 10 years later to the day. It has matured into a tiny national treasure giving testament to a momentues and history changing event for many people around the world whose ansectors fled a God foresaken land. This all hidden away in a small country village in County Kilkenny.

Biological control of plant pests

Biological Control measures at FitzGerald Nurseries

At FitzGerald Nurseries we have a strong commitment to achieve pest control through biological methods. Strict hygiene and close observation of crops is necessary to prevent pests establishing in the first place. Staff are being trained to identify pests, biological predators and they are familiar with Integrated Pest Management methods.

The following are pests successfully controlled at our nursery using Biological controls:

Vine Weevil (Otiorhynchus sulcatus):
We treat all our crops with a nematode (Steinerema) in April when general temperatures are above ten degrees centigrade and again in September by drenching with Nemasys L. The timing is very important to catch the Weevil larvae before they pupate. These treatments have given us practically 100% control on all our crops whether indoors or outdoors. It also means that we don’t use harmful chemicals in our composts or as sprays and have no subsequent handling problems with staff and customers.

Scarid Fly( Bradysia):
Up until 2007 scarid fly were causing problems in our young plant propagation areas. We introduced Nemasys F, a nematode formulation that achieves very good control and changed our cultural and watering practices. Nematodes are applied as a drench through the irrigation lines every two weeks all year round. This has the effect of never giving the Scarid a chance to build up their population to any great level. It also helps to control Thrips that occasionally occur. We find that it is cost effective (especially when done using the irrigation lines) compared to hazardous chemicals that did not always work well. There are no problems with re-entry periods for staff working and no effect on other biological controls we have in the plant propagation areas.

Spider Mites (Tetanychus):
In previous years two spotted Red Spider Mite have been a serious problem to contain and was a major problem to control with chemicals. Last year as a test we introduced predator mites (Phytoseiulus persimilis and Amblyseius californicus) in a contained area that was infected with Red spider mites on Clematis. We found that it not only contained the infection but eradicated it within one month and kept the plants ‘clean’ for the rest of the year. The mites were introduced at a rate of 10 per M2 every two weeks until control was achieved and then they were introduced at 5 mites per M2 after that until September.
After that initial success we then decided to go nursery wide and treated all covered growing areas since last April at a low rate(5 mites per M2) until the end of May and then at a higher rate in the months of July and August(10 mites per M2). During the one hot spell in June we used the Amblyseius as they cope better with warmer extremes in temperature than Phytoseiulus. We will again lower the introduction rate for September as the chances of infection reduces again. So far there are massive improvements in the health of our crops this year and we believe that next year there will be even less Red Spider Mite because we have broken the potential of eggs being laid over winter. Apart from the joy of not having to use chemicals, there where no upsets to deliveries or staff by having to apply chemicals.

Thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis):
We have occasional break outs of Thrips mainly on plants brought in to the nursery. We find that the application of Nemasys F reduces their numbers but we also introduced this year Amblyseius cucumeris to our arsenal of predatory mites. They quickly brought a problem area back under control and have kept it virtually free of Thrips since then. They also have the ability to survive on flower pollen etc, when there are no other forms of food for them available so they are always ready should another Thrip come along.

Summary:
Apart from the introduced predators we have noticed that other naturally occurring predators have made their presence felt since we have hung the sprayers up. Mainly Aphid are being much reduced by a parasitic wasp and some lacewing are noticeable too. Spray deposits are not a problem any more on our shiny leaved plants and so the crops look healthier as well.
This we hope is just the beginning of our long term plan to eliminate insecticides and fungicides from our production but already we are glad to report our main aim to eliminate insecticides is becoming a reality. We are working on a range of activities including use of recycled composted waste for our potting substrate, water recycling and rain harvesting. It is satisfying to be making progress on this ongoing commitment to sound modern environmentally friendly practices.

See also this blog post http://fitzgeraldnurseries.blogspot.com/2009/05/myplant-water-collection.html

MyPlant Team.

http://www.myplant.ie/

International Plant Propagators Conference visits Ireland

International Plant Propagators Society World Conference.

For the first time in the organisations history Ireland hosts the International Plant Propagators World conference. This conference will not return to Ireland within the next 30 years so its a great privilege to be honoured with so many prestigious plant propagators and growers from all over the globe. Visitors from New Zealand, Australia, USA, South Africa, UK, Scandanavia and a number of other countries will be converging on Kilkenny from the 15th of September to 18th of September at Lyrath Estate Hotel convention centre.
On Wednesday 16th approximately 100 delegates will visit FitzGerald Nurseries and trials field where the official tree planting ceremony will take place beside our 2000 year old Celtic ring fort where the first farmers in this area would have settled. Its fitting that this planting takes place adjacent to where the first Celtic agricultural activities occurred in this immediate vicinity. Visits to local nurseries in Kilkenny, Waterford and Tipperary are planned and full schedule of events can be found here. http://www.ipps.org.uk/conference.html
The International Plant Propagators Society was founded in 1951 and is now organised into eight Regions world wide. Each Region is run by its own local committee chaired by its own President, Bernard Brennan is the President of the GB&I region for 2009. Each IPPS region manages its own financesThe IPPS Region of Great Britain and Ireland, includes members not only from the UK and the Republic of Ireland but from most other member states of the European Union as well as many countries in Eastern Europe. In fact more than 20% of the 450-strong membership is based in ‘continental’ Europe.The Region organises a series of area meetings on an annual basis where leading nurseries, research locations, outstanding gardens and centres of horticultural excellence are visited and ideas and expertise are openly shared. Workshops are offered to help transfer and share current best practice within the plant production industry.Annual Conference brings together leading experts from the industry who share their well researched and accumulated wisdom with members. This technical expertise and knowledge is shared with the industry at large through the IPPS Proceedings.

Follow this Blog and watch out for further blog reports and pictures on on Twitter @PatFitzGerald during the conference over the coming week.

Plants for the Autumn Balcony and Patio

August can give us the best attributes in many plants as they celebrate their prime but we know deep behind this last celebration of summer lies the inevitable story of passing time. We should however be aware that many plants celebrate their full flush of beauty through Autumn and winter months. Colour and form is not exclusive to Summer months no more than enjoyment of life is the exclusive domain of youth.

As the cooler and shorter days of Autumn draw close, leaf and flower colours begin to fade, the inevitable march towards winter continues. Each year Autumn seems to catch us by surprise as if we wish so hard winter would not come we manage to forget it does sooner rather than later with Autumn acting as it crier. This year is no different but there is perhaps a natural ease in forgetting and just enjoying what we have in the here and now.

There are so many plants available to us these days that only commence their swagger as the Autumn bells begin to toll for their less hardy neighbours. As light begins to fade the days draw shorter and the coolness of the night changes the appearance of the world our options for colour also shorten. However plants such as Libertia ixiodes Goldfinger, Carex trifida Rekohu Sunrise, Fascicularia bicolor the various genera of sedges such as Carex and Uncinia striking plants like Phormium cookianum Black Adder, the brash and bold Fatzia japonica variegata and many other such foliage plants come to their own. Evergreen shrubs and foliage plants give us options to colour our lives during this period. In colder climates that suffer from freezing temperatures some of these plants will require some protection or greenhouse / conservatory protection during the worst of the freeze ups. Its always a good idea to experiment with other more traditional plants such as clipped Buxus, Ilex and Privets mixed in association with these colour wonders.
Before the summer colour totally fades now is a great time to begin to window shop. Take a look at what suggestions are in magazines and the various garden blogs then be ready for the change. When those summer containers have finally sang their last verse you are ready to change the music. See some suggestions on our http://www.myplant.ie/ website and do your own web searches for other ideas.

Todays Babylon

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon also known as Hanging Gardens of Semiramis and the walls of Babylon (near present-day Al Hillah in Iraq) are considered one of the original Seven Wonders of the World. They were built by Nebuchadnezzar II around 600 BC. He is reported to have constructed the gardens to please his wife, Amytis of Media, who longed for the trees and beautiful plants of her homeland. The gardens are reputed to have been destroyed in an earthquake after the 1st century BC. However this desire to have such a place and this longing for beautiful spaces has not changed through the passing of time.

As Landscape design businesses, Magazines, Nurseries or Garden Centres we have developed a strategy to highlight and respond to this real need. Is there currently an increased trend towards people using their living spaces as places of refuge and comfort? Are people longing for the once familiar safe feeling provided by natures cocoon? No matter how streetwise, world hardened and sophisticated we have become for most is that longing still in our genetic makeup. If the answers to these questions are yes then the time may be right more than ever before to give people what they want and explain more clearly we are providing a unique service more than just the obivous physical goods. The collaboration between nurseries, architects, designers and landscape contractors come together to provide that place whether it be on the scale of Babylon or your own tiny urban / rural garden cocoon.

Have governments understood this human need fully? This need is greater during times of trauma be they economically induced or simialr to the needs of Amytis of Media all those centuries ago.

We have been reading stories from all over the world where our wise leaders have been cutting back on spending on parks and public gardens. With tighter budgets large and small businesses may also underestimate or ignore the need for these spaces for staff to unwind before, during or after their working day.

Isn't there some economic formula which says supply should be dictated by demand and or need? There is enough research to show that investment in nature and creating natural spaces are always wise investments financially. Investment in the manufacture of buildings, cars, planes and other products such as financial packages have historically taken priority and I guess that is how the world is. Or was! It didnt work fully to our favour and maybe now is a good time to tweak towards natural solutions to old problems.

Can we ever look forward to a time when policy dictates the planted environment must be financed and planned to show buildings and steets can be accomodated within the plan rather than making nature fit our buldings and streets.

The environmental age has arrived, people want nature more part of the sustainability solution when they go home, or indeed go to work. Nature does not just provide us with a means to energy we use to power our appliances it also gives us the energy provided by well being. The good news for mankind is that there is an ample supply of skilled businesses that can supply such a services that will be able to harness renewable resources to provide both forms of energy.

Our business is to simply and effectively provide a diversity plants that will fit in your immediate environment and we take it seriously.

http://www.myplant.ie/