December 2011
Volume II, Number 6.
An Anniversary, Native Azaleas R Us, and a legendary Yellow Hibiscus.
Gentle Readers,
The newsletter has been on vacation for some time, and a good bit has transpired during its absence. The first anniversary of our enterprise came and went, and, in accordance with our business plan, we are still too small to fail. We have started a sustainable gardening project and related website called HeirloomOnions.com. Response has been excellent to the point that most of our perennial onion varieties are already sold out (sorry). And after all, a man can never have too many half-finished websites. But the big addition to the nursery product lines is to follow in the next paragraph.
Native Azaleas R Us
I'll probably get a cease and desist order from that big toy company for that heading, but we now have six species of native azaleas in stock and ready to go. These are not the little rooted twigs that most people sell, but are one gallon, three year old, mostly blooming size plants. We currently have:
Rhododendron alabamense: Alabama Azalea. Mid season fragrant white blooms with a prominent yellow spot. Plants rarely exceed 5'.
Rhododendron arborescens: Sweet Azalea. May blooming extremely fragrant white flowers on large plants (hence the name "arborescens").
Rhododendron austrinum: Florida Flame Azalea. Early yellowish orange colored blooms on a plant that can reach 10'.
Rhododendron flammeum: Oconee Azalea. Reddish yellow to red blooms in April on an extremely heat tolerant plant. Native to Georgia and South Carolina.
Rhododendron prunifolium: Plumleaf Azalea. Legendary rare red flowered species from Georgia and Alabama that blooms in July, August, or September.
Rhododendron viscosum: Swamp Azalea. Late spring white blooming low plant that tolerates more moisture than most species.
We sell these plants via mail order for $14.95, though the usual pick them up at the nursery discount applies as well. The current rhododendron web pages are just skeleton pages that still allow for the plants to be purchased online via the shopping cart (see above half finished web site comments). By spring we also hope to add R. canescens, R. eastmanii, and R. periclymenoides. We can also try to track down any other varieties you might have been looking for.
A Legendary Yellow Hibiscus
This one definitely fits into the "incredibly strange" category. Back in the summer a learned gentleman sent me an email asking if I had ever seen the yellow hibiscus that is native to Warrior, Alabama, just down the road from here. Not only had I never seen it, but I had also never heard of it, though it was formally classified as Hibiscus incanum by Dr. Asa Gray of Harvard (that's the same Dr. Gray that named Neviusia alabamensis, the Alabama Snow wreath, in the 1860's).
Of course, after a few emails went back and forth, I was finally told that no one has in fact recorded seeing the plant since the 1880's. There is a specimen still gathering dust at the herbarium at Harvard, though no one has undertaken an expedition to try and rediscover the plant--if it in fact still exists. Last summer's drought and heat wave kept me away from area, but next year, weather permitting, I might just have to launch my canoe on the Locust Fork and see what I can find. And I won't keep any secrets. Promise.
The Fine Print
All newsletters will also be posted and archived on our blog for those who wish to add a public comment. Anyone irritated, annoyed, or in any way flummoxed by this newsletter should email me, Jeff Cupp, through the website http://mulberrywoodsnursery.com and be forever removed from this mailing list.
