Whether we know it or not, most of us are familiar with the genus Vaccinium as it has among its members several current or potential commercial crops, such as blueberry, cranberry, bilberry and huckleberry. Vaccinium delavayi, however, is strictly ornamental and very unlikely to be our next export success.
The name vaccinium is an ancient one taken directly from the Latin vernacular: it was used to refer to Vaccinium myrtillus, the delightfully named whortleberry. Vaccinium delavayi takes its specific name, like so many Chinese plants, from the French Jesuit missionary Abbé Jean Marie Delavay (1838-95), who discovered the plant and introduced it to cultivation. He was also responsible for such well-known plants as Abies delavayi, Magnolia delavayi and Osmanthus delavayi reaching our gardens.
Vaccinium delavayi, a native of Burma and south-west China, is a hardy evergreen shrub with small, rounded leaves that are tough and leathery. In spring it produces clusters of small, bell-shaped to almost globular, white flowers that open from pink buds. The flowers are very much in the style of Pieris, Gaultheria, Andromeda and several other closely related genera in the erica family.
Pretty as the flowers are, the real appeal of this little blueberry lies in the deep bluish-black berries that follow. They are just like small blueberries and have a similar flavour but are rather acidic unless very ripe. Although it seems a shame to pick the berries, you might as well because the birds will have no such reservations.
While scarcely a spectacular plant, Vaccinium delavayi is attractive throughout the year and is always interesting, whether in flower, fruit or just as a neat foliage plant. It is an ideal specimen for a rockery or partially shaded corner. It grows to about 45cm high × 60cm wide and can be kept trimmed to a small mound. However, any pruning will adversely affect either the flowering or fruiting.
As any blueberry grower will tell you, Vaccinium plants prefer acidic soil conditions. The small ornamental species are most at home when grown with other erica family plants such as dwarf rhododendrons, evergreen azaleas, ericas, callunas and pieris.
The native New Zealand Gaultheria species are interesting plants to combine with Vaccinium delavayi. Gaultheria crassa, in particular, looks very like its Chinese relative and provides a good illustration of how plants that evolve under similar conditions often resemble each other despite occurring thousands of kilometres apart.
Other small native berrying plants, especially those of the epacris family, also make good companions. An alpine rockery with good berrying forms of Pentachondra pumila, Leucopogon fraseri, Cyathodes empetrifolia, Gaultheria crassa and Vaccinium delavayi would be full of interest and colour throughout the year.
You won't find Vaccinium delavayi in every garden centre, but it shouldn't require too much of a search to locate a specimen. Try looking in the perennials as well as among the shrubs, as it's often sold at a very small size and tends to get lumped in with the rockery perennials.
I am a garden book author and horticultural photographer based in Christchurch, New Zealand. I run a stock photo library called Country, Farm and Garden (http://www.cfgphoto.com). This article may be re-published provided this information is published with it and is clearly visible.
________________________________________
MORE RESOURCES:
RELATED ARTICLES
________________________________________
Wooden Garden Furniture
Wooden Garden Furniture can be the ideal solution to various seating problems in your garden. You can add new seating areas to your garden by perhaps turning a path into a destination for a sit down or consider adding a few pieces of wooden garden furniture to less frequented corners of the garden.
________________________________________
Chicken Soup for the Soil
Keeping Your Soil HealthyYour soil is the most important part of your garden, but too many people forget to nurture their soil. Soil is a living thing, containing microbes, fungi, insect life and general "creepy-crawlies" vital to plant health and vigor, as well as a receptacle for chemicals and trace elements.
________________________________________
Orchids Plus More Newsletter - December, 2004
Newsletter Name Change?After several of you made suggestions to me to shorten the name of the newsletter we have decided that it may be a good idea. But first I'd like some suggestions from you, our readers.
________________________________________
Light Up the Night! Quick Facts about Outdoor Lighting
When the days start to get shorter, the darkness may drive us inside from our porches, patios or decks. Don't despair - outdoor lighting can lengthen the day and dramatically extend the potential of our outdoor living spaces.
________________________________________
Want to Build a Pond?
A pond, logically, the first question you should ask is WHERE? Do you have a huge yard with a lot of trees and shrubs and flowerbeds? In other words what is the present landscape like? Would you prefer your pond in a sunny spot or in the shade? That may not seem too important, but if you should decide to surround your pond with flowers, it becomes very important. It seems (to me at least) that there are many more varieties of flowers that are sun lovers rather than ones that prefer shade.
________________________________________
Plan for Winter Plantings
Part four in a seriesIt's hard to think about winter when our gardens are in full bloom and the vegetables are ripening on the vine! But we must keep winter in mind when we are planning our landscape. Afterall, we have to look at our landscape all year long, including winter.
________________________________________
Garden Swings Create an Enchanted Garden Setting
Nothing invites one to sit and enjoy a lovingly created and tended garden quite the way that a garden swing does. Only from the perch of a gently swaying garden swing can one fully appreciate the bounty of nature complete with the subtle flowery and earthy smells of the garden.
________________________________________
A Garden Pond in Your Landscape - Want Water in Your Yard?
A Garden Pond in your Landscape - Want Water in your Yard?Thought about adding a garden pond? Should you?Here are the pros and cons to consider:On the pro side:A garden pond adds an entirely new dimension to your garden!Where before the living things were limited to plant life,the pond will have fish (must does not need to).The water will attract birds and other animals which makefor wonderful watching and viewing.
________________________________________
Garlic: The Stinking Rose
Garlic (Allium sativum) has been used for centuries for both cooking and medicinal purposes. Known as the 'stinking rose' and Russian penicillin, its medicinal purposes have been documented for centuries and have always been a popular remedy for colds, coughs, and sore throats.
________________________________________
How to Control Poison Ivy
Poison ivy is found throughout southern Canada and most ofthe United States except Alaska and Hawaii. It is readilyfound along road sides, fences, railroads, and streams.
________________________________________
Fall Pond Cleaning
Doing a full pond cleaning during the colder winter months can bevery stressful on your fish. However, if the pond is reallydirty and full of 'muck' - then you may want to consider itbecause all of the decaying organic matter in the pond can causeproblems if the pond ices over, and this begins to de-gas androt.
________________________________________
Adirondack Chairs - The Proper Way to Care for Them
The Adirondack chair is unlike any other chair every made. First designed by Thomas Lee in the early 1900s, this chair is amazingly comfortable, very affordable, and a chair that could easily be used for indoor furniture or outdoors by the pool or perhaps on the deck or patio.
________________________________________
Sculpture Can Bring Life to Your Garden
I should know: I've been a sculptor most of my life, and I have plenty of years behind me of experience. Most of my sculptures reside in the gardens and landscaped outdoors of residences.
________________________________________
Get your Garden Cooking with Friable Soil
Oh sure, fried green tomatoes are ok; but I'll take an extra helping of friable soil any day! This is the desire of any gardener who attempts to sink a shovel into the clay found in our area. Clay just does not make a great sandwich.
________________________________________
How to Grow Sweet Corn
Purchased corn, whether on the cob or in a can can't compare for taste! Sweet corn is easy to grow in the flower and fruit gardening guides home garden with just a little know how and a few corn facts.Corn needs warm soil temperatures (50° - 65° Fahrenheit) to germinate.
________________________________________
Fertilizers - What you Need to Feed Your Lawn
Just like humans need food, water and shelter to survive, lawns depend on certain elements to live, sixteen to be exact. Most of these elements are already found naturally in the environment, but several others need to be added to your lawn.
________________________________________
Preparing The Garden For Winter
Are you like me? Sad to see the summer end but at the same time relieved that there is one less task to tend to. Weeding, watering, pruning, and more weeding is over for this year and with a few more chores the outdoor gardening year draws to a close.
________________________________________
Koi Pond Aeration
To achieve Koi pond aeration, there are some things you can do. One, you can go to your local hobby store or pet supply store and purchase one of those small air pumps, hook some tubing to it, along with an air diffuser or sometimes called an air stone, and place it in your pond.
________________________________________
Imagine Your Own Orchid Garden In A Pond
Who doesn't love to hear the water rushing and flowing through a very pretty orchid garden in a pond? Yes, this does not have to be only a dream. You can make it a reality.
________________________________________
How to Attract Butterfly Activity...
The flittering of the butterfly through your garden is no accident if you planned your garden carefully. The adult butterfly flitters from flower to flower - sipping nectar from many flowers in your gardens, while other adult butterflies search for areas to lay their larvae.
________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment