Whenever I visit Worldwide Exotics Nursery, I see something I’ve never seen before. It’s a nursery with lots of unusual selections and many of them appeal to the “I gotta have one” mentality of the incurable plant lover. Now that the pandemic is abating, however, much of the nursery’s stock has been depleted. Proprietor Shelley Jennings informed me that delayed beautification of our surroundings has led to a horticultural buying frenzy, especially where the kind of exotic fare she grows is concerned.
Let me start with a plant I wished to take home but could not because of its thorns. The thorns in question are really not hazardous but my two-year-old grandson who never stops running might just run into them. The plant to which I refer is a Thai hybrid of crown of thorns (Euphorbia millii). The typical crown of thorns you see in most nurseries is a compact cultivar that only grows around two feet tall but is sufficiently impressive with its red, pink, white, or yellow bracts – easily mistaken for flowers — that are visible virtually throughout the year. Yet the Thai version of the species at Worldwide Exotics has leaves and flowers at least twice the size of the cultivar that is typically seen. Its vibrant scarlet bracts would make it the focal point of any sun-splashed garden. I should add that this Euphorbia makes a wonderful container specimen due to its minimal requirement for water and fertilizer.
A spiny specimen I wanted but had to forego for a similar prickly reason was yellow barleria (Barleria rotundifolia). Native to South Africa, it has butter-yellow blooms and grows quickly to its mature height of three feet. It will handle both full sun and partial shade, and it’s semi-tolerant of frost and may be propagated easily from seed or cuttings.
Sometimes you look at a plant and think, “This one was created especially for my benefit and I know it will grow well when I plant it.” This happened to me three times during my latest visit to Worldwide Exotics. I saw a cane begonia that looked incredibly robust and now that I have planted it in partial sun – but more shade than sun – I have not been disappointed. Cane begonias are perennials that are generally grown indoors but a few are suitable for outdoor growing as well. The most common cane begonia that you see in nurseries is Dragon Wings. It is a hybrid that grows 2-3 feet tall with dark green foliage and masses of flowers. While my experience with it has been mostly positive, I have never seen it live more than three years in the garden.
Worldwide Exotics’ cane begonia, known as Angel Wings (Begonia coccinea), is much more long-lived, typically eclipsing a decade or more in years and, according to some testimonials, may live for up to half a century. When it starts to look raggedy, cut it close to the ground and it will regrow soon enough. Its rate of growth is fast to a height that tops out at four feet. You can root cuttings without much fuss and they will reach that size in two to three years. Flowers are pink.
When it comes to begonias, we really need to make a distinction between the low-growing bedding or wax begonias (Begonia semperflorens) that are planted everywhere and other begonia types. Bedding begonias look best when mixed with other low-growing flowering plants, but by themselves, especially in rows, take on a rather funeral look. Flowers are either white, pink, or red and leaves are either green or bronze. Mix them with yellow and orange tuberous begonias and mauve to purple perennial geraniums for a more cheery effect.
Cane begonias are mostly for indoor enjoyment but can be grown outdoors on patios and other protected locations. Rex begonias have phenomenal leaves with colors, textures, and variegation that will make your eyes pop out. They grow from rhizomes and are nearly always found indoors but with careful microclimate selection that protects them from frost and direct sun, certain species can sometimes be grown outdoors as well.
Tuberous begonias are truly irresistible. No plants have more sumptuous blooms than they. Tuberous begonias are an excellent alternative to the monotony of impatiens in the shady-to-partially sunny garden bed. Blooming from now until late autumn, the rose-like flowers of tuberous begonias, with their pastel colors, are a universally acknowledged delight. The yellow tuberous begonia is especially prized because blooming plants for shade rarely have yellow flowers.
Stromanthe sanguinea (stroh-MAN-thee san-GWIN-ee-a) is another shade-loving compliment to begonias and was the second “gotta have it plant” that I took home. This is a relative of the prayer plant, so named because its leaves fold up in prayer – as a moisture-saving response — when soil or atmosphere is dry. The species epithet sanguinea means “blood red” and supposedly refers to the leaf undersides which, in truth, are more wine-purple than red. The plant is frost sensitive so will benefit from being surrounded by other plants that will keep it warm on cold nights. It is rhizomatous and is best propagated by division of its clumps in the spring.
The third plant I had never seen but brought home from Worldwide Exotics was Sedum adolphii cv. Firestorm. This is one of those plants that you will probably not see anywhere else. Its leaves are red orange. It resembles the more distinctively orange Sedum nussbaumerianum. Firestorm grows to a height of eight inches and can handle full-to-partial sun exposures.
Worldwide Exotics Nursery is located at 11157 Orcas Avenue in Lakeview Terrace. It is open to the public on Saturdays only from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Prices are eminently reasonable.
* * *
After writing about yellow bells (Tecoma stans), seen with either yellow or orange flowers, ideal for a hedge, and lamenting the fact that I seldom encounter it, I received this email from Anke Raue, who gardens in Rancho Palos Verdes: “The last three years Tecomas have been widely available at Home Depot and Lowe’s. Fabulous plants! Although the tags say they grow to three feet, mine got more like eight feet tall. The bush responds to severe pruning, blooms almost all year!”
* * *
Tip of the Week: If you are looking for plants that bloom now into the fall, spreading Profusion zinnias should top your list. These groundcover zinnias might be considered the sun-loving equivalent of impatiens. Yet Profusion zinnias, available in white, orange, yellow, pink, salmon and red, spread with greater alacrity than impatiens. Within weeks, a single Profusion zinnia planted from a 4-inch container will proliferate into a hemisphere two feet wide and one foot high.
The daisy-like Profusion flowers are 1-1/2 inches in size and are excellent subjects for containers and hanging baskets. Make sure you plant Profusion zinnias by themselves, however, as they would quickly overwhelm and smother any nearby plants.
One of the real bonuses of Profusion zinnias is their resistance to powdery mildew, unlike the traditional zinnias that grow several feet tall. Profusion zinnias are also memorable for longevity of bloom – flowers keep coming until November – that growers of traditional zinnias could only dream about.
Another sun-loving heavy blooming annual for planting now is dwarf Nicotiana. Yes, it’s related to the tobacco plant. It grows to about two feet tall and serves as a perfect flowery understory for a rose garden. Varieties in white, pink, red and salmon are available and some give off a mild scent.
If orange is your color of choice and you have decided to plant orange Profusion zinnias in a sunny bed, offset by orange marigolds and orange Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia rotundifolia), you could also add orange black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) to the mix. Black-eyed Susans are perennials that bloom most of the year and effortlessly reseed themselves as well.
Please send questions, comments, and photos to joshua@perfectplants.com.
