Can you name a small evergreen native-to-Florida tree that has good salt and alkalinity tolerance, pretty white flowers, edible reddish orange fruit, interesting exfoliating reddish-brown bark and a reputation for curing diarrhea? Well, it’s Myrcianthes fragrans, Simpson’s stopper or Twinberry.
It’s modestly threatened in the wild. While rarely encountered, it can be found here and there in the landscape trade in Florida. We’ve had this plant for a good number of years at SFA Gardens and it’s performed well, but we like it even better in our Moody Gardens research plots on Galveston Island where it’s held up to epic wind and salt challenges. Of course, there are some negatives. First is cold hardiness. While it’s considered a Zone 8B or 9A plant, we beg to differ. It’s been quite tolerant of freezing temperatures into the teens at SFA Gardens and returned well from near the ground after the February 2021 winter storm Uri event when temperatures fell to -4oF, a record all time low in our Pineywoods Texas home. A second characteristic we’ve observed is that it’s a bit slow to make a strong salable plant. From seed or cuttings, Simpson’s Stopper takes its time.
In the wild in Florida, it occurs naturally in coastal strands and hammocks. There it is reported to have year-round blooms that attract a variety of butterflies and bees. The fruit is appreciated by many bird species and while the sweet flesh is edible to humans, eating the bitter seeds is not recommended. The flowers remind me a bit of widow’s frill, Silene stellata, and are dramatic in full bloom. Each fragrant flower has four white petals and many long white stamens. Leaves are bright green, ovate to elliptic and leathery. When crushed, they emit a citrusy aroma. Fruits start off as greenish ovoid berries that transition into bright reddish-orange as they mature. They are typically born in pairs (hence the name “twinberry”). There are a number of varieties in the trade but they are difficult to find. In general, seedling grown plants in Florida top out at around 20’.
Plants grown in sun are denser and flower more. The champion Simpson’s stopper comes in at 38 feet tall and it’s living in Okeechobee County in Florida. We have a form from Mexico via Adam Black and it appears to differ little from the Florida genotypes. We have a variegated form, ‘Stoppermorph’ but it doesn’t bloom at all and, for us, it seems close to impossible to root. That said, we have found that it is sold by Agristarts as a tissue culture plant.
There’s a dwarf version form called ‘compacta’ on our wish list. Finally, Jim Berry of JBerry Nursery picked out several seedlings from our nursery and has one that sports showy burgundy new growth. Hopefully, we can twist Jim’s arm and he’ll let us have it back once he’s gotten it multiplied.
With so many positives, we think this plant is a Gulf South native that deserves more attention. There’s good opportunity for selecting improved forms and we think this might be a perfect patio container plant that needs protection only from the worst freeze events.
The trialing garden is located at the north end of the SFA Mast Arboretum next to College Avenue and bordered on the east by LaNana creek. It’s home to a wide array of new and exciting woody shrubs. It’s a row crop drip irrigated strategy that allows for easy side by side comparisons. Rows are mulched with pine bark or wood shavings. Light granular fertilizer applications are applied as needed.
A June 2, 2020 inventory includes over 150 varieties, usually three plants of each. The mission of this project is to evaluate a wide range of popular landscape shrubs in side-by-side comparisons.
If I had to pick one favorite this year, I’d pick Hibiscus syriacus ‘Aarticus’ which is better known as the First Editions Summer Ruffle™ Hibiscus, Hibiscussyriacus ‘Aarticus’ PP29104. I can remember many years ago coveting the first variegated Althaea, a sad variety that produced flower buds that refused to open. Summer Ruffles is a showboat. It was found by Steve Bruin, propagator at Lincoln Nursery in Greater Grand Rapids, Michigan Area and Bailey Nurseries introduced the variety about 5 years ago and provided us with test plants. This variegated Rose of Sharon has blue-green foliage with crisp creamy white margins. Lavender blooms come in late May and early June and the summertime show continues if conditions allow. The clone is reported to be three to four feet tall and wide but our unpruned plants are more columnar and will perhaps exceed that height with a little time. In spite of its origin, it’s encouraging that ‘Summer Ruffles’ did not suffer in the low chill winter in 2019-2020 with only 650 hrs < 45oF.
Bald cypress is considered a magic tree in China. While the tree is an “exotic” only in the country for a little over a hundred years, it has found favor with land use managers on a scale that’s difficult to believe unless you see it on the ground . . . work in progress . . . stay tuned
INTRODUCTION: The SFA Gardens kiwifruit research project has been in place since 2010. Dr. Jay Spiers, Auburn Horticulturist, shared thirty plants, six varieties, including both green, gold and male varieties. With a first crop in 2014 and good crops after that, this research project has continued to this day.
First, let me say that golden kiwifruit are complicated. A robust deciduous vine from China, the plants are dioecious (there’s a male plant and a female plant). However, it can’t be just any male. It has to be the right male, one that provides pollen when the female flower is receptive. It’s all about timing. The vine has plenty of attributes. This is a super fruit, one packed with vitamins and minerals. It can live over a hundred years and trunks over 1′ wide are not unheard of. There’s an economic message here as well. In a well managed operation, yields of 40,000 to 50,000 lbs. per acre are feasible. With $2.99 per lb. clamshells the norm in the produce aisle, you do the math. The cost of building a trellis or pergola system is high ($10-$20,000 per acre), due no doubt to the engineering needed to deal with 60,000 lbs per acre weight. Add up the trunks, branches, leaves, fruit and get a big rain, well, that’s a challenge. The green and golden kiwifruit impact on the global market place is exciting. It’s a new crop that has succeeded. Increasing market share is a global kiwifruit talent in the last few decades. Part of industry growth is simple economics and having tasty fruit in front of consumers. That said, the research project with kiwifruit at SFA Gardens is recognizing challenges that didn’t exist in the first ten years.
09/01/2024 update: A kiwifruit project was supported by Texas Department of Agriculture, USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant for three rounds. This external funding ended in December 2021 but I can report the project survives via external funding. While we have a foundation of promising varieties, we are also evaluating new genetics from the breeding program at Changsha, China. We are collaborating with a number of far-flung kiwifruit businesses. We work primarily with Nick Steyn, TopFruit, South Africa and Ross Stevenson, kiwifruit grower/businessman, Auckland, NZ. SFA Gardens is now home to elite genetics of golden kiwifruit. The first Kiwifruit varietal trial was planted in 2010 at SFA. This resulted in a first-ever-in-Texas crop of golden kiwifruit, Actinidia chinensis, in 2014. Our plots have enjoyed seven good to average crops out of the last ten years. This project is a collaboration with Dr. Tim Hartmann, Texas Agrilife Extension Specialist, College Station, Texas. On March 23, 2023, SFA endured a dip to 27F after a month and half of warm temperatures. Open flowers, small premature fruit and foliage shoots were burned back. We lost the crop. The vines regrew well from the trunks and branches. Judging from consumer evaluations in past years, the golden kiwifruit receive high marks in taste, texture and an edible skin. Pests have not been an issue but with several new insects on the horizon that may change in the future. Vine vigor has been as good as anywhere in the world. Still, the last three years suggest we dwe didn’t recognize in the first seven years of this project, including 1) hard freeze damage on young plants, older plants seem quite unfazed into single digits, 2) late spring frosts with open flowers is an issue, 3) Variety selection, 4) Pollination issues; kiwifruit are either male flowers that provide pollen nearby to kiwifruit female flowers, we have one proven performer for early season, CK3, and need additional males to cover mid and late flowering varieties and selections under test, 5) tolerance to alkalinity. It’s encouraging that most older vines survived the Feb 2021 -4oF record hard freeze. The summer droughts in 2022 and 2023 have been record breaking and intense. A late December 24, 2022 freeze to 9F was a shock on plants and some were damaged. The recent (Jan 15, 2024) freeze saw temperatures fall to 10F with over 70 hours below freezing. Conclusion: the last three years of climate challenges have been intense. With Dr. Hartmann at TAMU, three farmer cooperators and working on kiwifruit, we will soon have a better understanding of the economic potential of green and gold kiwifruit in the Gulf South.
THE GENUS ACTINIDIA: There are over 60 species of Kiwis in southeast Asia. While native to China, New Zealand can be given credit for introducing the fruit to the global marketplace in a big way. Commercially, the green kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) dominates world production and has an interesting history in the global market place. Golden kiwifruit (Atinidia chinensis) are a relative newcomer and production is growing at a very fast clip. Demand continues to increase. There’s another market kiwifruit, Actinidia arguta, the kiwiberry which is smaller, smooth skinned and lacks the storage ability of green or golden kiwifruit. It’s sweet but has a short shelf life. For the serious student, Dr. Huang Hongwen’s 2014 publication, “Kiwifruit: The Genus Actinidia”, is the definitive text. With over 313 pages, it’s an intense coverage of the genus (Science Press Beijing; ISBN: 978-0-12-803066-0).
Fig. 1. Green and Gold kiwifruit
KIWIS IN CHINA: I have been working short term consultancies in China since 1997. Most of my work is focused on the Taxodium Improvement Program (baldcypress) at the Nanjing Botanical Garden with Professor Yin Yunlong’s team, and the Blueberry Research Institute program of Professor Yu Hong and retired Professor He Shanan. Over many years we have become fast friends and I have been witness to the dynamic growth of China’s nursery and blueberry industry.
Over the years, I had seen Kiwifruit plantations and had some interest but it wasn’t until our first crop of golden kiwifruit at SFASU that my interest was boosted. I wanted to visit the kiwifruit program at the Hubei Fruit and Tea Institute and during an Aug 2015 visit, Yu Hong made it happen. My host was Dr. Lei Zhang (English name ‘Jane’). Jane is a high energy young scientist who recently coauthored a publication on the genome Actinidia (kiwi) in Nature Communications in 2013. I remarked at our first meeting that after such an accomplishment at such a young age, the administrators would only be satisfied now if she came home with the Nobel Prize. Everyone thought that was hilarious – and probably true. In addition to cultural studies with kiwi, she had an active breeding program in place with twenty advanced selections in final evaluation stage and many others further down the pipeline. While at the Institute, we met with Zhongqi Qin, Director of the Institute, who provided us with gracious hospitality and a tour of the research farm. I enjoyed meeting Professor Yang Fuchen, who works with blueberries and pears, and it was great to see healthy blueberry plants in his studies.
Fig. 2. Dr. Lei Zhang (English name ‘Jane’) at the Hubei Fruit and Tea Institute (Aug 2015)
While at Hubei, I learned that our two Auburn-introduced varieties, Actinidia chinensis ‘AU Golden Dragon’ and ‘AU Golden Sunshine’, were actually named ‘Jinnong’ and ‘Jinyang’ in China. Jane told me that ‘nong’ pronounces similar with ‘long’ which means ‘dragon’ in English, and ‘yang’ means sun and sunshine. Both were selected in the 1980s, after an extensive field investigation which began in 1978. ‘AU Golden Sunshine’ was selected from the wild in September, 1982, in Chongyang country and was then grafted in the garden in Hubei. ‘AU Golden Dragon’ was a large fruit taken from a distillery and the seeds of that fruit sowed. The seedlings bore fruit in 1985 and ‘AU Golden Dragon’ was selected from that population. The golden kiwi, A. chinensis, is less popular in China than the green fleshed varieties of A. deliciosa, except the variety ‘Hongyan’, which is red fleshed with a short shelf life. She was surprised that I thought eating the skin of the golden fleshed varieties was fine. Of course, this is a country where citizens often peel grapes.
Professor Yu Hong and I also made a visit to the Wuhan Botanical Garden. This germplasm repository is home to over 50 Actinidia species, 81 varieties and over 1000 genotypes, many from the wild. Plants were in good shape, the irrigation system was in fine form and harvest was about a month away.
Over many visits, my general observations is that Chinese growers like to use raised beds, build a strong infrastructure with concrete posts and high tensile wire. They know what they’re doing. Growers prefer a well drained condition for the plant; raised beds and berms are typical.
VARIETIES: The varietal picture for golden kiwifruit in the Gulf South is rather simple – and sparse. However that will be changing soon. There are essentially three female varieties and one male variety with considerable promise at SFA Gardens. We need more. Dr. Hongwen Huang was a PhD student at Auburn (1990-1994) and provided the original cuttings of ‘AU-Golden Dragon’ and ‘AU-Golden Sunshine’ to Dr. Joe Norton, his advisor during that period. After a very productive career as Director and Professor at the Wuhan Botanical Garden, he is currently the Director of the South China Botanical Garden. After several years of fruiting, Auburn University and the Hubei Institute of Fruit and Tea signed an agreement, the two varieties were patented in 2007 and plants are on the market, albeit there have been a few issues on availability and pricing. The three patented Auburn varieties are ‘Golden Dragon’, ‘Golden Sunshine’ and ‘Gulf Coast’. Recent note: After exclusivity for many years, the varieties are available for licensing from Auburn.
The production data from our small research plot is below (will update this soon with 2019-21 data).
Table 1. Golden Dragon Production eight vines, 2014-2018 at the SFA Gardens. CK3 every third plant down the row. The 875 lbs extrapolates to about 42,000 lbs per acre.
Table 2. Eight vines ‘Golden Sunshine’ in a line with ‘Tiger’ every third plant. ‘Tiger’ fails to flower successfully. Note 2018 season was hand and bee pollinated.
UPDATE: At this update, we have had six crops out of eight with Golden Dragon and CK3 as the pollinator. Applying pollen by hand has helped our other varieties. On the varietal picture, we have a new army of selections we are evaluating. Most originated from the Yanoon breeding program, a Miko Asia, Ltd. introduction, now managed and licensing by TopFruit in South Africa.
HARVEST CONCLUSIONS: In the SFA research plots, there appears to be a correlation between chilling hours and yield. We are also convinced there is only one male variety (CK3) functioning as an effective pollinator. ‘Tiger’ and ‘Author’ exhibit poor flowering. It’s fortunate that the flowering of ‘CK3’ coincides with the bloom period of ‘AU Golden Dragon’, perhaps explaining the good yield of that variety. ‘AU Golden Sunshine’ is slightly later flowering and misses some of CK3’s floral strength, catching it as the flowers wane. With that in mind we decided to hand pollinate. in 2018, pollen was flown in from Doug Phillips, a California grower, the effort facilitated by Ross Stevenson of Miko Asia, Ltd. Ross is a New Zealand kiwifruit grower with production in Chile and other countries and is perhaps interested in expanding his efforts into East Texas. In 2018, flowers of both Golden Dragon and Golden Sunshine were hand pollinated and both varieties produced a fine crop.
CONSUMER SURVEY: The general consensus is quality is good. For the 2015 harvest of ‘Golden Dragon’ fruit, over 60 participants were given a bag and a survey form. On a 0 to 10 scale (with 0= horrible and 10=fantastic), the crop came in at 8.84. In our original planting, we have three female varieties, ‘AU Golden Dragon’, ‘AU Golden Sunshine’, and ‘Au Fitzgerald’ coupled with three males ‘CK3’, ‘Tiger’, and ‘AU Authur’, respectively. AU Golden Dragon’ has been the high performer at SFA probably due to its close proximity to the great flowering of the male ‘CK3’. As part of the 2018 crop, we undertook a Consumer preference survey with 110 respondents that yielded the following information: 1) only 21% had ever eaten golden kiwifruit. 2) on a 0-10 scale, golden kiwifruit averaged 8.72 on an overall quality index. 3) 83% who ate golden kiwifruit thought eating the skin was fine. 4) 72% preferred golden kiwifruit over green. 5) 96% said they would buy the fruit in the grocery store. Our conclusion here is that our golden kiwifruit crop passed muster.
ROOTSTOCKS: For a Texas industry to develop, it’s generally accepted that golden kiwifruit need to be grafted on an accepted rootstock. Most commercial plants are grafted on A. deliciosa, in particular. While this has to do with resistance to diseases (Psa, in particular), there’s perhaps another reason in support of rootstocks. By grafting golden kiwifruit to a green rootstock, the resultant vine is less vigorous than on its own roots, thus there are fewer hours pruning and training. While SFASU planted rooted varieties of golden kiwifruit and they have performed well on their own roots, it is still the general consensus that using a rootstock is advisable. We are taking that tact. In 2017, Ross Stevenson of Miko Asia, Ltd., sent seed of “Bruno’ to the SFA Gardens. The seed germinates readily after two months stratification, cold and moist. ‘Bruno’ is a green kiwifruit variety often used as a rootstock. Seed was germinated in community and 4000 plants potted at the SFA Gardens greenhouse. Plants can be transferred to one gallon containers and grown through the winter (Dec 2017-Mar 2018) in an outdoor nursery. Photoperiod interruption seems to help. Plants can go to field in spring after last freeze expected.
Fig. 6. Young ‘Bruno’ plants in one gallon containers ready for their second winter.
Young kiwifruit plants are more susceptible to freeze injury in the first few winters but older plants are quite tolerant of temps into the low teens and even single digits. In January 2018 a very hard freeze (two nights at 10oF) killed almost 50% of the 4000 plants, in spite of being covered with pine straw and frost fabric. The remainder recovered well and have enjoyed a vigorous growing season. Over 2000 healthy plants are being prepared for the winter ahead and will be planted in cooperator fields in March 2019. These plants will be grafted to improved varieties of golden and green kiwifruit beginning in 2020. Related to the rootstock project, we have received notification that seven cultivars of green and golden kiwifruit varieties (a Miko Asia, Ltd. introduction) will be released from USDA, Beltsville, MD quarantine to our Texas program and a cooperating farm in California in February 2019. Those plants will be multiplied at SFASU and TAMU to provide scion wood for grafting to the rootstocks set in the field.
SPACING: Vines should be very long lived. The first consideration is whether to go high density or not. If growers are interested in higher returns during the early years (years 3-5), then a closer spacing is in order. For high density, the strategy we recommend is that rows should be 12′ apart and plants should be 9′ apart in the row (403 plants per acre). As a high density orchard matures, every other vine can eventually be removed. A final density would be 18′ apart in the row (201 plants per acre for the final density of the orchard).
PLACEMENT OF POLLINATOR PLANTS: Placement of the male pollinator plants is important. Generally, one male plant per 5 to 8 females is considered average. Male branches can be grafted high on the females and marked so they can be pruned accordingly after flowering. There are all female orchards with pollen brought in and applied by hand, via airblast with air or water as a carrier. It’s relatively easy to tell males and females apart. The male flower has robust anthers but the pistil is rudimentary, dies away and often leaves a black lesion. The female flower has anthers but the pollen is sterile and there are multiple pistils present.
Fig. 6 Female flower on left and male flower on right
FERTILIZATION: There are few fertilization studies with kiwifruit in the deep South. Our experience lends itself to light applications of a complete. We have not fertilized our older vines for several years and they remain quite vigorous.
INFRASTRUCTURE: A strong pergola or arbor is required. The infrastructure needs to support a total weight of at least 60,000 lbs. per acre (vines, branches, leaves, rain and fruit). End post assemblies must be substantial. Line posts are less problematic but wind issues must be considered. The wire must be high tensile strength with little stretching. and is the main support for the arms of each vine.
Fig. 7. Wayne Bassett and Tim Hartmann at the Grow AuKiwi farm near Auburn, Alabama
PRUNING AND TRAINING: Whether high density or not, the structure of the vine is best as a single trunk to 6′ tall that ends with two arms running laterally. This will be the permanent feature of the vine. From the two arms will emerge shoots that should be trained to be the fruiting arm for the next year.
WINTER FREEZES AND SPRING FROSTS: We have learned the hard way that young vines are susceptible to low winter temperatures if they fall below10oF. Once flowers open in late March and early April they are, of course, susceptible to very late frosts. Fortunately, kiwifruit bloom late enough to avoid most spring frosts (i.e., peaches characteristically bloom two to four weeks earlier). Sprinkler systems for frost protection can be designed to protect vines into the low twenties.
A unique problem that has arisen with Kiwifruit is the tendency not to slide into dormancy gracefully. 2018 has been a real benchmark in some respects. Before we had our first frost, we experienced in early November 2018 a first freeze in Nacogdoches, TX, which was quite harsh with two nights a 27F. While our young container plants were unfertilized since July and placed under a lower watering regime, they still appeared vigorous before the freeze. At College Station, Texas, the research plots saw temperatures to 24.7F and damage was more severe on the young vines there. Winter freezes at Auburn and at the GroAuKiwi field have damaged young vines. This reality suggests that young vines need winter protection for the first few years in the field. We have gone to a chicken wire tube stuffed with pie straw.
Fig. 8. Young vines in the field protected with a poultry wire tube filled with pine straw.
Fig 9. One gallon ‘Bruno’ container rootstocks covered with frost fabric for the first Fall freeze (November 2018). Two nights at 27F – foliage damage along edges – no wood damage.
TEEPEE SYSTEM: For maximizing production, growers in New Zealand have pioneered the teepee system. This system encourages shoots from the arm to climb strings on a teepee. The next winter, those long woody shoots are “laid down” over the wires of the pergola and clipped to create a roof one BRANCH thick. In the spring when growth resumes, the grower chooses shoots from the arm again and trains them to a teepee. So at any one time, there are young shoots clambering up strings, as well as a horizontal layer of shoots that were laid down in the winter. The cycle repeats.
Fig. 10. Dave Creech with the first “teepee system” of training in Texas.
PESTS AND DISEASES: Psa, Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae, is a bacterial disease and no doubt the biggest threat. The introduction of (Psa) severely damaged the New Zealand kiwifruit industry which recovered quickly with a rigorous sanitation program and the introduction of several disease tolerant yellow-fleshed varieties. While Psa has not been found in the Gulf South, the general feeling is that it will arrive. Golden kiwifruit is considered more susceptible than green, thus the recommended use of a resistant rootstock. As for insects, scale has been a problem on a few of our older vines but is easily controlled with a dormant oil spray. Our crystal ball suggests that the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) is a looming threat. It was a major problem in the 2018 Alabama harvest. There have been occurrences in Texas so it’s probably just a matter of time. The Spotted Wing Drosophila is another pest new to Texas and it may be a severe problem in the years ahead. One dilemma for growers is that so few pesticides are currently labeled for Kiwifruit – simply because it’s a new crop and there has been no acreage of impact here in the Gulf South.
Fig. 11. Brown marmorated stink bug (Jay Spiers image)
TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE GRANT. Since 2016, this project has been substantially funded by a Texas Department of Agriculture Specialty Crops Block Grant. We are excited to be working with Tim Hartmann and colleagues at Texas A & M University as they ramp up evaluation and research plots. In the next few years, we’ll know if kiwis are an exciting new commercial fruit for Texas – or not. Even if they’re a go in scattered small farms of the South, I’m convinced there’s a potential bigger opportunity available – one that capitalizes on mass markets and wholesale/retail nurseries to supply plants to homeowners. In the next two years there will be a transfusion of new potential varieties. Never underestimate what good gardeners can do with the right plant material. In the spring 2019 we will be planting four new cooperator sites (Two in the Mt. Pleasant area, Tyler, and Simonton, Texas).
Texas Agrilife has several recent kiwifruit fact sheets available here:
After visiting California kiwifruit growers, we can count a few comparative advantages in East Texas: Land Cost, no need for overhead shade or fogging, Irrigation water is often readily available at low cost, and perhaps labor costs are lower. Disadvantages would include no history of production, processing or marketing and the unknowns of low chilling and spring frosts. Issues with pollination appear important to the long term success of plantings. In the next few years we will have the answers. Until then, we’ll keep planting and studying this fascinating new crop in Texas.
SFA Gardens and the USDA released ‘Earlibirdblue’ in 2011. It’s a southern highbush blueberry recommended for use in homeowner plantings. This variety, tested as MS 108, resulted from a cross of G144 X US 75 made at Beltsville, Maryland, and selected by Arlan Draper and James Spiers in 1979 at Poplarville, Mississippi. G144 resulted from a cross of 11-93 (Jersey X Pioneer) X Darrow and US 75 originated from a cross of Florida 4B (native V. darrowii clone) X Bluecrop. The original seedling of Earlibirdbllue was propagated and established in field trials in AL, MS, and TX in the mid 1980’s to early 1990’s to evaluate performance. Earlibirdblue was evaluated in test plots at Mill Creek Blueberry farm near Nacogdoches, Texas for over twenty years.
Earlibirdblue at Mill Creek Farms has a short stature
Earlibirdblue was released in 2011 (HortScience May 2012 vol. 47 no. 5 536-562) and the description was as follows: A garden and landscape southern highbush blueberry suited to Texas conditions. Origin: USDA-ARS, Poplarville, MS, USDA-ARS Beltsville, MD, and Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX by S. Stringer, A. Draper, J. Spiers, and D. Creech. G 144 x US 75; crossed 1977; selected 1979; tested as MS 108; introd. 2011. Fruit: medium; good color and flavor when allowed to hang for several days after turning blue; skin may tear at the base of the pedicel, making this cultivar unsuitable for shipping. Plant: moderately vigorous with a relatively short stature, 1.5–2 m; spreading growth habit; attractive, dense, green foliage; consistent productivity; easy to prune and easily integrated into the home landscape; ripens 4–8 weeks earlier than many rabbiteye blueberry cultivars; flowers develop and bloom sufficiently late to avoid most frost damage; chilling requirement ∼500 h; propagation from softwood or hardwood cuttings.
Plants of ‘Earlibirdblue’ are moderately vigorous with a relatively short stature (4-5 ft.), have a spreading growth habit, attractive dense green foliage and are consistently productive. The relatively low plant height produces a shrub that is easy to prune and is easily integrated into home landscapes. In the gulf coast region of the U.S. ‘Earlibirdblue’ ripens early with a fruit ripening period of early to mid May, which is four to eight weeks earlier than most rabbiteye blueberry varieties grown in the region. Although early ripening, ‘Earlibirdblue’ flowers develop and bloom sufficiently late to avoid most frost damage and associated yield reductions.
There are a couple of reasons this unique variety was released as a homeowner variety – and not a commercial variety. ‘Earlibirdblue’ really needs to hang a little longer on the bush than other varieties to fully sweeten up. Berries are tart if picked too early. In fact, prior to releasing this cultivar, there was some resistance to the release. In fact, I remember Arlan Draper suggesting we name it Texas Tart – which is not exactly the best name for a blueberry. Commercial growers are quick to harvest berries the moment they’re “blue”. ‘Earlibirdblue’ needs to hang on the bush a few extra days to truly sweeten. Plus, when picked there’s a slight tear problem at the base of the pedicel – and that could be a serious commercial issue but it’s not that important for the homeowner. The bottom line is that we now have a short stature, very early ripening blueberry variety that has produced well consistently for the past twenty years in our region.
One reason for Earlibirdblue’s consistent production is that it doesn’t bloom that early. In fact, here’s a long ago (03-29-2010) image of the plant at Mill Creek Farms which shows the shorter stature and the lateness of bloom which helps the variety avoid a late frost.
A long row of the dwarf Earlibirdblue 03-29-2010
The exact chilling requirement of ‘Earlibirdblue’ is estimated to be approximately 500 to 550 hours less than 45F. Although ‘Earlibirdblue’ may be somewhat self-fertile, productivity of southern highbush blueberries are enhanced when bushes are interplanted among other southern highbush cultivars having a similar bloom period. When planted in rows, plants of ‘Earlibirdblue’ should be spaced 5-6 feet apart in well-drained soils of modest acidity, and plants benefit by a generous application of pine bark mulch, particularly in the early years of establishment.
‘Earlibirdblue’ is expected to be a valuable addition to blueberry cultivars grown for utilization as part of an edible landscape.We recommend that homeowners situate ‘Earliirdblue’ plants in full sun and provide for strong drainage for the root system. A good sandy loam with composted pine bark fines or peat moss mixed into the top 1′ of soil and then mulched a few inches deep in pine bark. If possible, plant in a raised bed. While daily drip irrigation during the dry season is recommended, timely sprinkler irrigation is equally beneficial.
Scuttelaria suffrutescens, the pink-flowering skullcap from Mexico has surprised Southern gardeners with its charm and durability. This is a neatly mounding sub-shrub to two feet tall and about that wide with fine leaves and twigs. It’s a bright pink addition to the front of any border or as specimens massed. P.C. Standley describes the type specimen from Coahuila, Sierra de la Silla near Monterrey, as a small shrub. While more popular in the gardens of central and west Texas, this plant deserves greater use in the dry, sunny gardens of East Texas with Zones 8 and 9 most suitable. We have found that good specimens always elicit some kind of urge to pet the plant – probably because the mound appears and happens to be very firm to the touch. The plant has a bright show in May and early June and the blooming period persists throughout the summer and fall under decent horticulture.
SFA Gardens, the original pink form of Scutellaria suffrutescens
There are a number of pink-flowering forms of this species now appearing in mostly western nurseries but the form that we are displaying in the Arboretum carries an interesting history. It was found during an expedition to Mexico with Lynn Lowrey and Ray Jordan in October 1987. From the Friends of the Arboretum Newsletter # 5, the chronicle of an expedition to the San Madre Oriental mountains I wrote that, “after backtracking east to the main road that runs between Montemerellos and Monterrey, we made one last side excursion to Chipinque. The entire log of that trip can be found here:
. . . and I just noticed that some of the pages are out of order! To be corrected later. The mountain town and associated forest is home for thousands of Mexican redbuds, numerous oaks, and a forest floor of salvias and penstemons. On one hike, a large-flowered Phaseolus vine was spotted, and, according to Lynn, the best find of the trip, a skullcap colony, Scuttelaria species. This rhizomatous, perennial herb made a strong attractive ground cover in a few sun-lit forest pockets.”
Long ago image of Lynn Lowrey, John Fairey, and Meg Hoey cleaning seed in Mexico
Actually, as I remember the find, I said, “Lynn, what’s that plant with the pink flowers,” and Lynn responded, “what flowers?” Amazingly, I came to learn that Lynn was red color blind and could only discern reds, pinks and greens at close distances.
This particular trip had as a goal primarily the collection of oak and other fall seeds; in the case of the Scuttelaria, a few cuttings were taken and rooted easily at SFA. We have found that propagation is easy any time of the year with mist and plants should be moved soon after the first root initials make their appearance. Leaving cuttings in mist after rooting too long can result in dead cuttings.
This is full sun plant for the South and should be give sharp drainage. A raised bed is perfect. In the Arboretum, we have had good success with dry-loving plants by using sandy loam berms and a thin layer of crushed decomposed granite as a mulch. The plant responds to fertilizer. Some attention should be given the plants during the first two establishment years and we have not found the plant to be particularly rhizomatous, behaving instead like a green stiff mound throughout the year. Most surprising, the plant survived the December 1989 dip to zero degrees F at SFA Gardens.
Scutellaria suffrutescens ‘Texas Rose’ features a darker bloom
In a recent conversation with Tim Kiphart, SFA Horticulture alum, I learned the following. In 1990, Tim and Pat McNeal, Horticulturist from Austin, Texas, returned to the very same location as our original find. From a batch of seedlings, Tim selected a deeper pink/rose colored form and he later provided Tony Avent of Plants Delight, Raleigh, NC. The only cultivar name I’ve ever seen is ‘Texas Rose,’ a name coined by Tony Avent. Tim feels that seedlings result in better plants with better form than cutting grown. Cuttings do root easy and grow off well. As a small globe here and there, or as a very low statured ground cover, this is an interesting plant useful in the dry landscape.
Sometimes I think we might be better students of history. Right now, the big item in the American news scene is we need to build a big, beautiful wall between our country and Mexico and Mexico needs to pay for it. The whole conversation brings back a memory. Almost twenty years ago I was scrambling in the forest at the base of the Ming Great Wall in Nanjing, China. Now, this is one serious wall. The average height of the wall is about 40 feet with a width of 24’. In its original form, the wall ran about 22 miles and it took 200,000 laborers 21 years to build way back in the 14th century. The top of the wall was wide enough to support an army and I can imagine the poor plight of folks trying to climb up and over the wall with a barrage of arrows, spears, giant rocks and giant pots of boiling oil raining down. It was meant to protect the city. It eventually failed, of course.
Ming Great Wall of Nanjing, China
Professor Yin Yunlong of the Nanjing Botanical garden, now a longtime friend and kindred spirit, had asked me if we could take a look at a new problem on the wall. We had stopped on the road below and scrambled through the forest to the base of the outside face. It seems there was a fast growing vine that had taken over a stretch of the wall, its tendrils and roots invading the seams of the giant carved stones that made up the wall. The wall was being degraded. It didn’t take long for me to recognize that the culprit was an old American friend, Campsis radicans, our southern USA native trumpet creeper. This wasn’t the rarely-encountered Chinese species (Campsis grandiflora) with larger flowers and a less rambunctious nature. No, this was our southern USA native. I can remember Yin remarking, “Dave, how do we kill this terrible noxious weed?” Without thinking, I said “Hey, this isn’t a weed; this is a cool American plant!” Thus I arrived at a narrative I use to this day. My native is good. Your native is bad. Some call it elitism. Others call it discrimination.
Our original Campsis grandiflora in the Arboretum’s Lines of Vines
Campsis grandiflora is different. It’s less of a thug. With outlandish orange-salmon-yellow flowers to fully three inches wide, this bright petunia-on-a-stick will shock and amaze. Actually, after we first started growing the Chinese trumpet creeper at the SFA Gardens, I would get more phone calls on this species when it was in bloom than almost any other vine in the Arboretum. Here in East Texas, flowering comes on in a surge in late spring and early summer, lasts a month, and then throws a few flowers off and on for the rest of the year, depending on the degree of pruning and training. JC Raulston of NCSU was a fan and I think we received our very first plant from him. I’ve seen it here and there in the South but it’s never really seemed to catch on. Actually, most of the large flowered Campsis encountered are really the hybrid of our native C. radicans X C. grandiflora, which have been exploited and promoted – some even sold as C. grandiflora.
Campsis grandiflora in Suzhou, China
The simplest way to separate the two trumpet creeper species and their cross is by carefully looking at the calyx (all of the sepals, or the outermost whorl of the flower): Chinese trumpet creeper features a greenish calyx with long, pointed lobes; the American trumpet creeper enjoys a darker calyx with shorter lobes that aren’t quite pointed; and the cross lies in between.
Campsis radicans, the cross, and C. grandiflora
Much less invasive and obnoxious than our native C. radicans, C. grandiflora is often difficult to root especially if adult wood is used.Once rooted, the plant is also tricky to time flowering in the container. If young, vigorous juvenile wood is rooted, it can take a while to see flowers. They’re unpredictable. Looking at a sea of non-flowering Chinese trumpet creeper is not exactly what the nurseryman has in mind. Now, there is a cross between the two and the hybrid is often referred to as Campsis X tagliabuana, most often represented in the USA nursery industry as ‘Madame Galen’. This trumpet treeper features a large, showy bloomy often orange to red that appears in summer. There are other varieties.
A hybrid named ‘Seguin’ by Mark Bronstad, Doremus Nursery, Warren, TX
There’s another dilemma and this further complicates the picture. C. grandiflora is self-sterile. That is, until we can find “wild” Campsis grandiflora in China and bring in a good number of seed or seedlings, it’s going to be hard to improve the species. The original Raulston clone is the same clone as the old clone in Florida and the old clone in Texas. Being self-sterile, there’s no opportunity to explore the diversity in the species. A bummer. So, on a return trip to China years ago, I made the ask. Evidently, it was thought to have disappeared in the wild – and all the Chinese trumpet creepers in Chinese landscapes are one clone. Well, Professor Yin said he finally located some seed. I was elated. They arrived out of USDA quarantine. I grew them for a year or two and then planted them in a long row along a fence. In a year they bloomed. ALL C. radicans, and not a particularly superior form at that. My breakthrough was now a breakdown. The saga continues.
Our native is often cursed for its invasive nature. I’s a swallow your house kind of thing. It suckers and sneaks around in the dark to emerge here and there. Eternal vigilance is the order of the day. If trained properly, however, and put in the right spot, it can be controlled. I saw a nice plant in Little Rock, Arkansas that had the situation whipped. The vine was planted in a crack between a sidewalk and a large building. Beautiful treatment.
Containing a native trumpet creeper with concrete
I planted a yellow form of our native in what I thought was a good spot. It couldn’t escape and I just had to remember to return ever few years to whack it back. It worked for years until I returned and noticed the business had killed it. Struck me as a brilliant strategy. Obviously the 2 mph speed bump sign didn’t slow the species down.
Campsis radicans ‘Judy’ planted on a support wire in Nacogdoches, TX
A cheerful very old American Trumpet creeper at Biltmore many years ago with Janet Creech
In a battle to the death, our USA native can take the Chinese form with one shoot tied behind his back. It’s not even a fair fight. It’s Texas tough, showy, a heat lover and if you wait a few hundred years, you can have something folks will marvel at.
There’s only one Anemone that’s been bulletproof for us in East Texas. Years ago I was sauntering in the landscape of Alice Staub Liddell, a past-President of the Houston Garden Club of America. There’s a garden named for her on the campus of Rice University. Alice was a Houston socialite, philanthropist and friend. She was a close friend of Lynn Lowrey and we actually travelled together for several weeks in the mountains of Mexico in the 1980s. In her garden, I spotted an Anemone that Lynn had given her for safekeeping and I was quite impressed. While I had long admired the species, I had trouble getting them to thrive in East Texas. They would grow and flower but seemed to slowly decline over the years. I asked if I could divide the plant and she said, yes, of course. At SFA, the plant thrived and we passed it around here and there under her namesake. I’ve concluded it’s quite heat tolerant. I think it’s a hybrid and the official epithet would be Anemone X ‘Alice Staub’.
Taxonomically, Anemone × hybrida Paxton is normally considered a hybrid of Anemone hupehensis var. japonica and Anemone vitifolia, but, to be honest, I’m not sure from where ‘Alice Staub’ was originally derived nor it’s early history. I do remember Alice remarking it was one of the only Anemones she had found to do well in Houston soils and climate. There’s a clone that can be found in various mail order nurseries called ‘Alice’ and it may be the same. It forms large mounds of dark green interesting foliage and features 2-inch pinkish blooms on stems to three feet. It does run a bit cheerfully in the garden and appreciates morning sun.
Time passed and over a decade ago I gave a few to Janet and they prospered at her home in Shreveport. Years later I wanted to propagate it and I couldn’t find the plant at the SFA Gardens. I assumed it was extinct at SFA. I asked Janet if I could divide her plants and she acquiesced just as long as I promised I would bring her back some plants. I brought a bag of small plants back to SFA and remember turning them over to Dawn. Dawn denies that. She could be right. Before I knew it, I was Anemoneless. Janet never forgets anything and after some time began to ask, where are my plants? I said they are in process. Fortunately, Dawn finally recognized that my marriage was now in trouble. She found the plant somewhere in the garden, propagated plenty and we were back in business. The plant will be featured in the Spring 2018 plant sale and my marriage is back on track.
Sarah Weatherford, Student Assistant, with Anemone X ‘Alice Staub’
Anemones are interesting plants. There are over 200 species in the Ranunculaceae and they are generally native to temperate regions. Robert Fortune introduced the plant to England in 1844 from China, where he reported it was often found planted around graves. Anemone are appropriately called “wind flowers” as they sway on long stems in the slightest breeze. Jeff Abt, who just retired as the garden writer for the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel really liked this plant and recognized it as a fine perennial in one of his long ago columns. Heidi Sheesley of TreeSearch Farms in Houston may be a sole nursery source and Heidi reports it’s the only Anemone that can perform in the heat and humidity of Houston. Dawn has featured the plant in our SFA Gardens plant sales and she deserves kudos for resurrecting it and bringing it back into our Nacogdoches family.
Magnolia pyramidata, the Pyramid magnolia, is a very rare tree, and in Texas it’s restricted to the eastern counties of Jasper and Newton in deeply wooded sandy ridges. You can tell it from southern magnolia and sweet bay by the deciduous leaves, about 9 inches long and 4 inches wide, with earlike lobes at the base and whorls around the stem. The terminal flowers are white and fragrant and the rosy-red seed pods are two and a half inches long and longer. To grow successfully it needs acidic, sandy, moist soils and at least a little shade. It makes a nice small tree and the seed pods are a real plus in late summer.
It calls home the rich woods and river bluffs, mostly in the coastal plain, sometimes lower piedmont. Never abundant, it is found in small colonies in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippii, South Carolina and Texas.
Magnolia pyramidata differs from the allopatric M. fraseri in being a smaller tree with a narrower, pyramidal habit; M. pyramidata is very local and nowhere abundant. Morphologically, M. pyramidata differs from M. fraseri in the pandurate leaf blades, smaller flowers and stipules, fewer stamens and pistils, and smaller follicetums. Magnolia pyramidata is occasionally cultivated, but it is less hardy than M. fraseri.
Seed are easy to germinate if not allowed to totally dry out. A month of stratification is sufficient.
In the last year, we have enjoyed hosting a number of botanists to the East Texas population. These expeditions are adventures in the special places of East Texas. We are unsure of the record tree, but an old report suggests that the largest known tree of Magnolia pyramidata may be in Texas. Over twenty years ago, this tree was 11.9m in height with a trunk diameter of 69 cm, was recorded from Newton County, Texas (American Forestry Association 1994). We will get it remeasured. In an expedition in August 2016, Keith Stephens led a motley crew of botanists, including Darren Duling, Greg Paige, Andrew Bunting, Peter Loos, Jerrel and Darrel Durham and others to the big tree on Campbell land. I am still looking for the circumference data and will post later.
Measuring the big one
Greg Paige of Bartlett Tree holding a branch with a fat seed pod
Emma Spence of the Morton Arboretum visited East Texas and collected tissue samples for DNA analysis. She was on the final leg of an across the South expedition to gather tissue from the different populations across the South. She was unable to find ANY wild populations left in Louisiana and it was apparent that development has taken a toll in our sister state to the East. The East Texas population is on Campbell Group land and Keith Stephens was wonderful to show us around with Emma. She was quick to announce that the colony population was greater than any of the sites in states to our East, estimated at over 1000 plants.
Emma Spence of the Morton Arboretum collecting tissue in July 2017 in East Texas for DNA analysis
For now, the champion tree is in Florida and in 2010 enjoyed a 68″ circumference and a height of 102 feet with a crown spread of 39′. Good friend Richard May was the finder of this amazing tree near Gadsden, Florida and took a couple of images for us to share. I now have pyramid magnolia envy.
Richard May and Forest Service lady in 2010 in Florida
Dave Creech 