Yes it's nice.
Though to be completely honest, I'm beginning to have a feeling of "so many Araliaceae, so little time." I just noticed Far Reaches added Schefflera delavayi to their restocked plant list...for $45. And I was thinkin'...ehhhh...is it really that special? Yes the flowers are kinda showy for the family. The leaves are, well, evergreen, and sorta resemble Daphniphyllums in a slightly more whorled arrangements. But to be honest, I can think of 25 rhododendron cultivars or hybrids I'd rather pay $45 for. Some of which would easily beat it for foliage as far as I'm concerned. I think the BVT X macabeanum hybrid I own is showier.

I did buy Trochodendron 'Curried Gold' from Cistus, but it was, alas, lost from neglect. It was a very tiny rooted cutting; and that was before I'd built my growing-on frame, which is where I plan to keep newly rooted BLEs during their first 1-2 years outside. And I have a Metapanax davidii which was eaten or mauled by something which it was small, it is finally recovering now but will spend at least one more winter in the garage.

I think this plant is hardier than any of the Scheffleras.

My gallon-sized Trochodendron that I planted out this summer died from possibly a soil-borne fungus. Not sure. Really disappointing. I'll have to try again in another location.

I have a small make-shift 'frame' out of 2-piece tomato cage that I cover in winter and sink pots into. I figure if they don't make it in there, they are not worth planting out. Good place to keep smaller camellias for the winter. They usually are blooming in there as I pull off the covering (plastic) in spring.

I'd like to build a more permanent cold frame out of wood and window sash some day.

Do you have pic of your frame?

Trochodendron can be epiphytic in nature, where it has been seen growing on Cryptomeria. In my area it often has the kind of leaf spotting or blotching that may be associated with inadequate soil aeration. Hasn't stopped one at the Kruckeberg Botanic Garden from growing as high (or higher) than the house, but it would sure look a lot better if it wasn't partially discolored.

Monrovia has been listing Metapanax delavayi, Pseudopanax laetus, Schefflera brevipedunculata and S. taiwanaiana, with at least three of these having been seen at independent garden centers here in recent years. I have a couple of them myself, although they haven't made it into the ground yet and I don't remember which two they are.

The Metapanax looks like a tropical foliage plant, with big, shiny, soft leaves and does, in fact, turn out to have an established history of being tender that presents itself when print references are consulted. When I asked Mike Lee of (now closed) Colvos Creek nursery about it he said he had known it for years - from his visits to California collections.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Dan Hinkley Plant Collection® : Monrovia

This post was edited by bboy on Fri, Nov 14, 14 at 13:04

Bboy, as always, thanks for your excellent and informative post. The main reason, in fact, that I settled on Metapanax davidii as my wacky looking Asian Aralia of choice was because I saw a blog post at Swarthmore saying they'd had one in the garden for a while. Granted they've had a string of mild winters, as have I, but I'm likely a wee bit milder than them so I think the plant at least has a fighting chance. Kind of like my rationale for trying Cinnamomum wilsonii. The one at NCSU was totally undamaged this winter, and sticks out in the garden looking like something that was just airlifted in from a freakin' Costa Rican mountainside. (i.e., insanely tropical) They hit 7F, which was my previous 10 year low before this winter. I'm taking a big gamble it will have enough mild winters to establish itself here, but I had to try. (FWIW various Mexican evergreen oaks at NCSU looked like sh-t after the winter, as well as most of the various hardy citrus. So the Cinnamomum is no lightweight and I know my plant came from that plant via cuttings...no seedling varability to worry about) I'm still going to get it up to 5', 1-1.5" caliper before trying it outside.

This post was edited by davidrt28 on Fri, Nov 14, 14 at 18:33

Or maybe you were talking about M. delavayi?

btw dave, i'd be happy to post a picture of my box when I can get a good one.

I just bought this plant, Dendropanax davidii from a nursery in Brooklyn NY. Research indicates the plant is hardy in Zone 7. Unprotected Fatsia plants made it through the harsh winter here around DC, so I have hope for this plant.

Here is an interesting write up.
I am assuming Nothopanax davidii = Metapanax davidii = Dendropanax davidii? Maybe I'm wrong.
jcr what nursery in Brooklyn has plants like this? I can only begin to imagine the overheads associated with operating a nursery in such a "hip" location.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://sfagardens.sfasu.edu/UserFiles/File/ArbNewsletters/spring08.pdf

Dave, I got a couple pictures of the box for you.
The size is roughly 48X48". In retrospect I should probably have made it bigger, but it was truly spur of the moment because I saw the fiberboard siding material, intended for sheds, for sale as 2 remnants at HD that were about 48"X40". Yes, on the junk lumber cart. Just small enough to fit in a sedan, and only a couple bucks a piece IIRC. I instantly came up with a plan how build it and bought most of what I needed on the spot. Some of other wood was my own scrap or also from the junk lumber cart. Anyhow it was around $50-60 IIRC, because some things are pricey like the hinges and rubber coated chicken wire. I completely lined the bottom with wire mesh, to hopefully keep rodents from digging in. The only semi-permenant plant so far is a Rhododendron 'Goldstrike' rooted cutting, which weathered last winter handily in the box. However, next year I plan to move all rooted cuttings into this after their first year, have them do 2-3 years in here, then transfer to the garden. Also my 2 (hopefully 3, still not sure about one) successful rhododendron grafts will go in here for a couple years, so the graft can fully heal without an animal or the wind disturbing it.

In some sense the size is good because this is about a 200' walk from my only water spigot, and it's just about what a 2 gallon watering can can water if it got dry. As it happens, I haven't had to water it at all in the past couple years. At the moment I've let some forsythias overgrow it for shade, but I will eventually cut those back as an Abies firma to the east gives it some more shade. The adjecent rhododendron will have to go this winter or next spring.

The main annoyance is that slugs can still get in there, and they are actually sheltered from my many toads that keep them under control. It doesn't affect shrubs but a couple herbaceous things were eaten. Next spring I might try to locate some fine copper mesh and dig it in next to the galvanized wire mesh lining the bottom, but first I need to research whether that will cause a galvinic corrosion problem. It's possible that fine aluminum window screen will work as well. I highly doubt the slugs will then have the intelligence to climb all the way over the top of it and come through the top mesh...but who knows.

This post was edited by davidrt28 on Sat, Nov 22, 14 at 12:58

another pic.
yes, I did buy a pint of sample paint and had them try to match the color of the fiberboard siding material.
I don't think that stuff is supposed to have its edges open, but it seems to be holding up. I built it 3.5 years ago. I probably should have painted the top edges, oh well.

You can see a dead potted 'Wee Bee', which is the only Ericaceae to die on me this year. I'd taken a bunch of other potted stuff out when I took this.

"My gallon-sized Trochodendron that I planted out this summer died from possibly a soil-borne fungus."

If you bought it at the local nursery that wanted $120 for a plant of that size, by all means, I'd request a refund or replacement! If you bought it from a mail order specialist like Camellia Forest, who are truly making a contribution to American Horticulture, please don't.

btw I didn't use anything like acrylic glazing, these are for plants that should be hardy. Just the wind protection makes a big, big difference. Glazing would have to be removed or lifted on warm winter days. I actually now have some scrap from another project that didn't work, and could in theory drop it over the frame when it gets really cold. (If you need to buy acrylic sheets, buy it from a Home Depot near a big city that has a good turnover of material. I'm convinced that what I bought in Aberdeen, MD, was old and brittle. When I tried to score it per the instructions of the scoring tool, the whole piece started cracking up.)

david,

Thanks for posting images of your frame. I would be building one with a glass window sash. I don't think the screening would be adequate protection for my purposes. And if you build the back high enough, you can install an automatic vent that opens with warmth. So that's probably what I'd like to do.

I'm not sure that siding is the best to use for water and ground contact. All edges would need to waterproofed or covered over somehow, otherwise water/dampness will penetrate and it will all fall apart, I think.

I saw a You Tube video where a guy bought cedar fence pickets cheap, and used that for his cold frame. That would be a good material I think.

The trochodendron was from Forest Farm. I grew it for over a year in a pot and it did just fine. Even 'planted' the pot in shade and it did fine, until I planted it directly in ground.

"I'm not sure that siding is the best to use for water and ground contact. All edges would need to waterproofed or covered over somehow, otherwise water/dampness will penetrate and it will all fall apart, I think."

Probably true except it only barely touches the ground, and it hasn't shown much signs of degradation. I think it's some kind of material that has non-cellulose binders or preservatives. Not as durable as true composite lumber, but closer than interior grade fiberboard. Again, it was completely spur of the moment and I wouldn't necessarily do it the same way again.

Yes I sometimes observe what you mention here with more fussy rhododendrons. I had a couple R. rex that did fine in pots for a year or two. When I planted them out, they died. It's hard to conclusively say it was one thing or another - it might have been multiple things. Yes, it makes it easier for root rot organisms to find them. Also, if the texture of the potting soil and native soil is different - and it will be - you run the risk of the "bathtub effect". For this reason I now plant _anything_ that was container grown a good bit higher than the level of surrounding soil. Like, 20% higher, not the inch or so sometimes recommended. It seems to help reduce the likelihood of such problems...and more significantly, I've actually rejuvenated rhodies that seemed to be suffering a non-descript sort of malaise by lifting them. Probably not necessary or even desirable in places with sandy soil. Although the soil at Rarefind is oddly "rolling" for the pine barrens of NJ none of the new rhodies there are planted on mounds. (Ron once explained to me why - very obscure historical reason the precise details of which escape me. It's manmade in any case, but not by Hank, it was done 100 year ago. There was a cement kiln there or something)

BTW...was it the tube size from Forestfarm? I love Forestfarm - God bless them - but you have to be careful with that size on the east coast. For iffy plants it's a little too small, and the shipping seems to be harder on them than the gallons. You probably wish you'd given it another year in the pot, and I feel the same way about the 'Curried Gold' I bought from Cistus which was also tiny. That's why I'm giving my Metapanax a few more years before planting out. OTOH my Escallonia 'Mislabeled According to Bboy' was a tube, I planted it in a year with good rains, and I don't remember ever having to water it.

Yes it was a tube size initially, but grew to about a two gallon by the time I planted it. :-(