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A large shrub or small tree from the west coast of North America. I got it years ago because I liked the silvery leaves and have planted it in a number of places
round the garden (because it propagates easily). I plant it, it grows too large, I cut it down again. This is part of the regrowth process - I need to propagate it again
because this stump is in the way. The large silver catkins expand into long yellow fingers of fluffy anthers (mine is a male). Christopher Newsholme says: "A native of western coastal regions of North America, from Alaska southwards to California. Outstandingly ornamental either as a shrub or as a tree, with silver-white broad leaves and very attractive male catkins, it grows rapidly in deep fertile soil. The leaves greatly increase in size when coppiced as a small shrub. It is never far from the sea in its original habitat and should be successful in exposed seaside gardens elsewhere." Trees and Shrubs online says: "Although introduced to Kew towards the end of the last century it is scarcely known in gardens and deserves to be more widely grown, judging from the plants in the Hillier Arboretum, which make stiffly branched shrubs of picturesque habit, about 6 ft high (1979). They are male and we are told by the Canadian authority Dr George Argus, who kindly confirmed their identity, that they represent the tomentose form of the species." |
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