The Garden in January

wcutler · Feb 5, 2016

Here is the text of Douglas Justice's blog for January, sent out to subscribers (you could subscribe here: Newsletter | UBC Botanical Garden) but not yet available on the website.

The Garden in January
The new year brings with it the promise of increasing daylight. My favourite formal greeting at this time of year is an ancient Latin salutation, Sol Invictus (the invincible Sun), which celebrates that very certainty (of increasing daylight, that is), but January also brings, statistically speaking, our coldest weather. It's not surprising that gardeners are often nervous about a potential deep freeze at this time of year. In general, however, the worst damage to plants by cold temperatures nearly always occurs in November or March, when plants are not so safely in a state of dormancy as they are now. And while I'm on the subject, I should add that "winter damage" is often a result of leafy plants drying out. If one is timid about such things, it's probably best to fill the garden with deciduous shrubs, herbaceous perennials and conifers. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but one then misses out on so much more. To wit: what would Vancouver look like without its broadleaved evergreens?

One of the most important broadleaved evergreen plant groups in the Botanical Garden is the Ericaceae (heather family). Rhododendrons are members, and arguably, one the most important groups of garden plants, both here at UBC and throughout the temperate world (though it has to be said that not all rhododendrons are evergreen). Still, the family is rife with excellent evergreen plants. While the heathers are an obvious choice to write about in January—Erica carnea 'March Seedling' is flowering now in the Winter Garden, for example—there are other more unusual ericaceous delights to be found in the Garden.
After Rhododendron, the genus Arctostaphylos is probably my favourite. Arctostaphylos comprises about sixty species of shrubs to small trees with often superbly sculptural stems decorated with peeling or flaking bark. With a couple of exceptions, they are evergreen and known as manzanitas (manzanita is Spanish for "little apple," in reference to the shape of the fruits). The genus is closely related to Arbutus, with which it shares a number of features including urn-shape flowers in drooping panicles and peeling bark. The E.H. Lohbrunner Alpine Garden has an excellent collection of many of the hardier species, and they are worth a look at any time of the year.

Our own native manzanita, Arctostaphylos columbiana, is known as the hairy manzanita because of its white-hairy stems and leaves. It typically blooms in April with clusters of pink or white flowers, and the species grows to form a rounded bush some 3 m tall. Hairy manzanita is normally a challenging plant to grow, but there are several thriving in the Garry Oak Meadow and Woodland Garden. The distribution of this species is primarily south of BC, particularly around the Columbia River in Oregon, and south into California. The range only includes southwestern BC near the ocean, but where it intersects with the range of the more common and hardier, prostrate-growing A. uva-ursi (kinnikinnick), they hybridize. The result is Arctostaphylos × media, which although variable, is generally intermediate in shape and size between the parents. The particular selection of A. × media we have is a reliable winter bloomer, and there is a magnificent specimen at the top of the North American section of the E.H. Lohbrunner Alpine Garden, and another, smaller one by the stairs overlooking the Food Garden on the south side of the Garden Pavilion. These are handsome plants even without flowers, but as long as the temperature doesn't plummet, the flowers are a constant feature through the winter.

Submitted by Douglas Justice, Associate Director, Horticulture and Collections
Click to expand...

Here are just a few photos:
Arbutus menziesii

Arctostaphylos x media

And another Ericaceae, Rhododendron pentaphyllum, with fiery leaf buds

Unrelated to the blog, and we're pushing it here for flowers, here's Phillyrea latifolia 'Spinosa', an Oleaceae, just coming into bloom. Nadia found the one open flower.

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The Garden in January

wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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