The pyramid of flowers is as tall as a beer stein…
photo by SVSeekins
The leaves are wider than a dinner plate…
The plant towers over my head !
It reminds me of something from Gulliver’s Travels into the land of giants. Where else would I find such drama??
But we aren’t in Brobdingnag. Strathcona Park is a real place (and just as magical). It’s these moist rain forests of Vancouver Island that provide the right conditions for Devil’s Club (Oplopanax horridus).
photo by SVSeekins
This could make a great architectural statement in the garden. Shouldn’t I get one?
Actually no. It’s armed and dangerous.
ARMED:
Check out the spikes!
They spiral all the way up the stem and run along the veins of the leaves — on both sides! Yikes!
photo by SVSeekins
C had an adventure hiking through a stand once. Can you imagine? WorkSafe BC does not recommend it.
DANGEROUS:
It’s not just the wicked spines. The luscious red berries look mighty tempting but they’re poisonous. Yup. Bears might chow them down for dessert, but if you’re a people, give them a miss.
The original people of this coast have a long history with Devil’s Club. Uses vary widely, from making fishing hooks to tattoo dye. They celebrate its powerfully medicinal as well as spiritually protective charms.
I wonder how many centuries it would take before I gathered enough nerve to ask anything of a plant so obviously stand-offish.
It’s known for big waves & big beaches, so those didn’t surprise me at all on my recent adventure along California’s northern coast.
I also anticipated being in awe when seeing the giant redwoods for the first time. I expected them to be BIG – – and they are. Sort of.
Now, if I’d just come out of the prairies, where I grew up, the redwoods’ size would have seemed ENORMOUS. But having lived among the big cedar & fir of Vancouver Island, the redwood just didn’t seem AS big as I’d expected them to be.
photo by SVSeekins
What did surprise me was the size of some other plants. Many of these I’d only ever seen as much smaller indoor house plants.
Who knew they could get so big?
photo by SVSeekins
Or were tenacious enough to grow out of cracks in a planter wall!?!
It was these surprises that put me in a state of awe. I oogled.
Locals just smiled indulgently at the crazy woman snapping photos of plants instead of beaches.
photo by SVSeekins
Then we came along some giant statues in a little seaside town called Gualala. They weren’t part of some touristic theme park as I expected. It turns out they’re garden art – really, really BIG garden art!
They looked pretty cool. Even though it was after-hours at the retail nursery, I had to stop & check them out. No doubt other tourists pop by out of curiosity too… This time I smiled indulgently, imagining the character running Iron Dog Fabrication. The dinosaurs are a superb marketing gimmick. I just can’t imagine any customers taking one home.
photo by SVSeekins
Now my imagination recreated California as some giant prehistoric jungle.
Had it somehow been spared destruction from glaciers during the last ice age?
Did flora still survive from those ancient jungles?
Considering the odd plants bordering a trail along the bluffs, I figure it must be true.
Are they trees?
Plants?
What?
photo by SVSeekins
They certainly didn’t look like anything I’d seen before.
On closer inspection I noticed the base of the strange plant looked like a yucca – – only the leaves were a bit fuzzy.
But it was the spike at the top of the thing I found most fascinating.
It easily reached 12 feet into the sky!
Wow.
photo by SVSeekins
I finally found a specimen I could get closer to. It gave me some clues.
It looks to me like the spike is part of a big bloom made up of lots & lots of tiny blue flowers. Cool. At this time of year they’re pretty much done, but still so striking. Can you imagine what this must look like in full bloom?
Still, curiosity tingled. I had to know more about this big stranger.
The answer came from chatting with another guest of the motel we were staying at. She ran a nursery a few hundred miles away, so I figured she’d know for sure.
It’s not native to California, so there goes my theory of the prehistoric jungle.
Apparently echium is often used for dramatic effect in landscape designs, but can get out of hand when it finds a location it really likes. (In Australia it’s actually considered an invasive.) In California it’s on the Watch List, but because it spreads fairly slowly it’s still welcome.
I’d be really tempted to grow echium in our garden if I thought it would survive in our less arid climate. Isn’t it easy to understand the urge to experiment with new plantings, especially big dramatic kinds? But I suppose that’s how invasions get started. What an awful legacy that would be. Imagine being responsible for next big invasion.
Even in California, where big seems to be fairly common, that would be a BIG deal…
Yes, this title is cheeky, but it’s true. It’s no secret I like Naked Ladies. Last fall, I admitted it. At the time, I was referring to Colchicum. The common name made sense to me because the flowers & stems appeared so naked without the leaves as to clothe them.
photo by SVSeekins
Recently, while travelling in northern California, I learned that the common name Naked Ladies can also refer to Amaryllis belladonna. Through the countryside, even in ditches & deserted farmyards, these Naked Ladies danced happily. Everything else seemed to have died back from dehydration. Wow. I figure they’re very sun & drought-tolerant to thrive in those places.
photo by SVSeekins
There’s a very similar pink flower that also blooms in the fall: Nerine Lily. Apparently, it’s also part of the Amaryllis family, but the flowers aren’t naked; the leaves show up along with the blooms. I thought I’d identified some Nerine Lilies in our neighbourhood last year, but now I’m not so sure. Some leaves are showing, but not many. Nerine? Not So Naked Ladies? It’s tricky.
This lovely patch of pink blossoms is in a yard along Mayfair Drive on Mt. Tolmie. What’s especially impressive is how well they’ve stood up through the torrential rains of the past week! Wow! Sun & drought-tolerant… deer-resistant… and downpour-durable!
Just imagine: Naked Ladies– dancing in the rain. Woo hoo !!
🙂
PS – Last night chatting with a couple of Garden Club ladies, a couple other fall-blooming, pink flowers were mentioned.
SK recommended Schizostylis (Kaffir Lily) from the Iris family. (aka Hesperantha)
JJ recommended Crinum from the Amaryllis family.
Garden Variety Life 