Subject: Pachysandra procumbens

From: [email-masked] (Barry Glick)
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 1995 11:44:32 GMT

An exception to a rule

In most cases, I have discovered that the Asian counterpart of many of
our native plants is much
showier, more robust and in many instances more floriferous than our
specie. Take Claytonia for
example, our native C.virginica is a very early beautiful little
plant. But, although its flowers are lovely,
they are very small and the entire plant is extremely ephemeral. On
the other hand Claytonia siberica
has thicker, more  deeply veined foliage and flowers for months.

One major exception to this rule is Pachysandra procumbens. P.p. is an
East Coast member
of the Berberidaceae (Boxwood) family and is commonly referred to as
Allegheny Spurge. It is
superior to the more commonly used (Asian) Pachysandra terminalis in
virtually every respect.

The Asian P. terminalis is a very aggressive, stoloniferous thug in
the garden.  And although this can
be a benefit if you want to fill in a  very large area, super fast,
its well behaved  American cousin, P.
procumbens,  is a clump forming groundcover that fills in the area a
little slower, but much more
elegantly.

 P. procumbens is hardy in most areas of the US, probably into zone 4,
maybe even 3. In
zones 7-10 it stays evergreen. In colder areas it will be a herbaceous
perennial.

In the early spring, when the ground is bare, P.p. shoots up these
really cool spikes of pink
and white fragrant flowers that last for a week or two. Soon after the
flowers have set seed, the first
shoots poke their heads through the soil and their dark green leaves
begin,to unfold. In deep shade,
the foliage remains a dark luxurious, green all summer. The more sun
that the plants get, the lighter
their leaves are. I planted a row in full sun as an experiment to push
the plant to its extreme. The
plants in the sun  were healthy and productive  but , the leaves were
paler in color, some with an
almost chloritic appearance.  This is definitely a dappled to deep
shade plant!

In the late summer to early fall, P.p. reminds us of the approaching
Autumnal equinox by "opening its
windows to let in more light". This effect takes its form as beautiful
silvery mottling on the leaves that I
can only compare to snowflakes in the respect that no two leaves are
alike. Oh the joy of jumping
around on the ground like a frog from  plant to plant, trying to
select the most striking patterns. In the
end, they are all brilliant and unique.

P.p. is a very easy plant to propagate. You can take leaf cuttings  in
the early spring, but root divisions
are quicker and easier. On a mature rhizome, there many "joints". If
you make a complete cut at each
joint, leaving the plant above it with a few good roots intact,  you
will have several 2"-4" pieces that you
can pot up or lay out in a flat and cover with about a 1/2" of soil.
Root pieces taken in the early spring,
while the plants are still dormant, will produce new plants ready for
planting the same season.

All in all, its hard to find a better, all around,  more useful,
adaptable ground cover plant than
Pachysandra procumbens. And, being a native American plant, you'll
feel like a patriot when
you grow it..

I have several thousand Pachysandra procumbens for trade. If you have
something that you consider interesting, rare or unusual, please send
me an Email.

Cheers,

Barry Glick  [email-masked]
THE CYBER-PLANTSMAN  http://mirror.wwa.com/mirror/garden/cyberplt.htm