Tuesday, August 22, 2006
A Safe Obsession... Pollia Japonica
I recently trumpeted my firm intention to sharply curtail my new plant purchases, realizing (and I am probably the last person in this neck of the woods that came to this realization), that I already have a few plants past complete horticultural insanity. Well then, Pollia japonica is now blooming... a new addition this year, it has very shiny, ginger-like leaves, and modest white flowers on stalks. It is amazingly vigorous; being stoloniferous it is already throwing underground stems all over the place, obviously planning on taking over a major part of its flower bed, much to the consternation of its plant neighbors. It will have dark blue-purple berries in the fall. I had never heard of this genus before, and it's not even listed in Dan Hinkley's marvelous book, 'The Plant Explorers'. I have learned, however, that there are close to forty species of Pollia, mainly native to Nepal, China, and Japan, and Pollia hasskarlii is a stunner, with much larger flowers than my pollia. I could easily be ensnared in yet another plant obsession, but fortunately japonica seems to be the only species that I can find that is available in this country... a close call.
// posted by IBOY @ 11:29 AM 
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Oh, you can buy too many plants? Don't let anyone talk you out of a plant you really want. There is always room for one more, right!?
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