Exotics in our Gardens

All but three are ‘naturalized’ and flourish in our cold and sun.

 

 

Hyacinth Bean (Dolichos Lablab)

 

A native of tropical Africa and grown in Africa and Asia, the plant is believed to be very old.

Traditionally used for food and animal feed, it needs careful preparation because it contains poisons. 

Long an ornamental plant in the US. 

 

 

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Hyacinth Vine at Winterthur, Delaware in the autumn

 

 

 

The Dove Tree  (Davidia Involucrata, Nyssaceae)

 

Native of China, the only member of its genus, also called Handkerchief Tree. 

It grows, five-trunked, in a courtyard within view of windows of Winterthur museum with a weeping Norwegian spruce and daffodils for company.

It blooms in May.

 

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Dove Tree, Winterthur, Delaware in May

 

 

Empress Paulownia (Paulownia Tomentosa)

 

“This tree was originally from Japan, and arrived in Britain in 1840, having arrived in France a few years prior to that.

The Paulownia…was named for Anna Palowna, the hereditary Princess of the Netherlands, who was also the daughter of the Empress of Russia.  And so it was an empress tree from the very beginning of its nomenclatural life” 

from Philadelphia Historic Plants Consortium website. 

 

It is widely planted in the city of Philadelphia and its surrounding gardens and parks.

 

 

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Empress Paulownia at Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania, from whose website this photo

 

Empress Tree 2 (Paulonia)

Empress Paulownia in Winterthur, Delaware

Empress Tree 1 (Paulonia)

Empress Paulownia in Winterthur, Delaware

Empress Paulownia in Winterthur, Delaware

 

 

 

Angel’s  Trumpet (Brugmansia)

 

Very far from its native lands in tropical south America where it is thought to be extinct in the wild, Angel’s Trumpet shrubs are a perennial in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, which has a subtropical climate and is located at 7,500 feet.

The bush grows both in her gardens and in unclaimed and wild areas to which it has escaped.

 

These below are growing at the Morris Arboretum in Philadelphia.

Where they cannot be perennial because of the cold of winter and I take it that they are protected in winter or overwintered indoors to astonish us every summer both for the size of its flowers and for their beauty.

Poisonous in all its parts.

 

 

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Angel’s Trumpets, Morris Arboretum, Philadelphia

 

Mother of Thousands, Bryophyllum daigremontianum

 

a native of Madagascar in the Conservatory of Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania

 

 

 

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Mother of Thousands at Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania.  Conservatory

 

 

 

 

Igiri Tree (Idesia Polycarpa)

in autumn at Winterthur, Delaware.  Native of Japan, China and Korea.

I don’t recall its flowers.

 

 

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Winterthur Igiri Tree Oct. 9 2011

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Igiri at Winterthur, Delaware in autumn

 

 

 

Indian Mallow (Abutilon)

 

in the Conservatory of Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania.

Many species now widely dispersed in the tropics of every continent, including Australia.  Its name is derived from an Arabic one bequeathed by Ibn Sina.

 

 

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Indian Mallow at Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania.  Conservatory

 

 

 

 

Beauty Bush (Kolkwitzia Amabilis)

planted close to Winterthur’s peony beds, its flowering time overlaps theirs.

 

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Beauty Bush, Winterthur, Delaware in May

 

 

 

 Epaulette Tree (Pterostyrax Hispidus)

 

A native of Japan and China. Fragrant.

 

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Fragrant Epaulette Tree. Winterthur, Delaware in June 2020