The MGS Forum
Plants for mediterranean gardens => Trees and Shrubs => Topic started by: MikeHardman on November 13, 2011, 03:45:15 PM
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I have only just started researching this genus of Australian shrubs, and amongst the 215 species I'm finding a wealth of different habits and flower colour and form. Does anybody have experience of growing these shrubs? For med. gardens, they seem too good to miss!
This is a useful introduction. (http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3DChrysanthemoides%2Bincana%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1173%26bih%3D663%26prmd%3Dimvns&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=iw&twu=1&u=http://www.agri.gov.il/he/pages/178.aspx&usg=ALkJrhi6lCCM_V4KpX01YGKDKEVt9efO5Q)
And http://eremophilas.com (http://eremophilas.com)
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Mike, in my experience of Eremophila they live up to their name, which translates as Desert lover. Also, I believe in Australia they call them Poverty plant as they prefer impoverished soil. I can vouch for that as they flourish in the rubbish soil on top of the 2m high retaining wall in my daughter's garden while the ones in my flat area struggle in good soil. The thing they seem to need most is good drainage. I think the ones I have are Eremophila maculata but I wouldn't be 100% sure.
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Hi, I've grown a number of Eremophilia species. They really do prefer quite dry climates so in Mediterraenean regions with relatively high levels of winter rainfall (by this I'm thinking of Adelaide's 24 in of annual rainfall which falls from autumn through to early spring) they need exceptionally good drainage or they succumb to wet feet. E. maculata, in my experience, tolerates these sorts of conditions relatively well. As a general rule the grey foliaged species will only succeed in dry climates and sandy soils. Some of the members of the Australian Plant Society have extended the range of some of these gorgeous desert lovers by grafting them onto rootstocks of E maculata. Amendment here somehow some text got lost in uploading. I switched across to talking about the grafting of Grevileas where some species of prostrate Grevilleas are grafted onto the tree scaled G robusta. Some of the prostrate species such as G gaudi chaudi grafted on to three foot tall G robusta standards make spectacular and bird attracting weeping shrubs.
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Thank you John and Anita; very useful.
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Mike, I had some problems cuuting and pasting text from my Ipad and uploading to the forum which resulted in some garbling of text above. I switched from talking of grafting Eremophilas to grafting Grevilleas but somehow lost linking text. For more information on eremophilas see the following link http://anpsa.org.au/APOL22/jun01-2.html.
The grafting of eremophilas and grevilleas is tricky and generally only pursued by specialists and very gifted and commited amateurs however their efforts are bringing more outstanding plants into cultvation.
Anita
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I realise that it is over a year since I last posted about Eremophila and the comparison between one in my garden and one in my daughter's. I remembered it today when delivering my grandson home from school and saw the plant in their garden. I took a photo and immediately on returning home took one of my plant. These plants are both of the same vintage, mine has been grown (ha ha) in good, fertile soil while hers is planted on top of a 2m high retaining wall backfilled with every kind of rubbish imaginable so that calling it soil would be a compliment. The only thing it has going for it is excellent drainage.
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Eremophila are also called Emu Bush which probably tells you nothing. Emu's are extremely tough birds (their meat too). They can live in almost pure desert just like the plants. I cannot grow them here even tho I have pretty ordinary soil. It is just too wet and the atmosphere too damp. There are a number in 'The Garden of Discovery' created by our local MGS branch and a good collection in the Barossa Bush Garden which was on one of the AGM tours. I am trying to get some seeds from the Bush Garden to send to the seedbank. tn
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I think the ones I have are Eremophila maculata but I wouldn't be 100% sure.
John you are right, your plant is Eremophila maculata 'Aurea' which is one of the several forms/cultivars of this species.
The flowers of the species are pinkish/ornage in color spotted with deeper color.
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There is a massive ref book about Eremophila too. It was published by Rosenberg (Sydney) about 8 yrs ago. I think if you went to bookfinder.com and put Eremophila in the title box it would come up with the authors and sources for secondhand copies. tn
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Is yours the moth-eaten looking specimen, John?
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I'm afraid so, Alice. As Trevor points out the soil where it is is probably too wet and damp for it, although most other plants wouldn't think so!
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In the late fifties and sixties in south western Queensland about 300 miles from Brisbane, so called 'scrub clearing ' was all the rage. Down would come aged Eucalypts and other attractive isolated species such as wilga and myall. It is unbearable to think of it now. However, nature retaliated with mass germination of an Eremophila, probably assisted by the fire which burnt the fallen timber. This Eremophila was also known as Sandalwood. It was regarded as a terrible problem in the attempt to establish pasture species such as Cenchrus, buffel grass. It would take several years to control the 'sandalwood', and it had to be watched for ever after. I often wonder what the state of that land is now.
PS Maybe Trevor knows the origin of the common name sandalwood. Perhaps it reflects a colonial longing for something missing in a new harsh climate.
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Re Anita's comments about grafting, perhaps this should be in a grafting thread.
The strangest grafting I have heard about was the attempt to graft citrus i.e.oranges, to the Australian native Wilga, Geijera parviflora as rootstock. The idea was to extend the commercial production areas of citrus around Mildura. It is hard to guess what they might have in common, apart from both being Rutaceae. Unfortunately I did not ever hear of the long term results.
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John, It's really instructive to see the difference between those two plants!
As Trevor says, Barossa Bush Garden had a splendid array of eremophilas - a whole demonstration garden filled with them. The one in the picture, flowering rather later or for longer than many of the others, was this hybrid between Eremophila maculata and E. brevifolia:
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Tough plants for tough conditions. They sound ideal and are attractive too.
Does anyone know if Eremophila is invasive in the Mediterranean?
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I've not seen any suggestion that Eremophila is invasive in the Mediterranean. It's not listed even as potentially invasive in Spain's official invasive list (http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2011/12/12/pdfs/BOE-A-2011-19398.pdf), and doesn't seem to be considered invasive in California. But that may of course change if these relatively unknown plants become more popular. At least one species (Eremophila mitchelli) can be invasive in Western Australia.
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I have three Eremophila maculata "Aurea" in the garden, in a bed with a thin layer of rubbishy soil on top of panny clay. The area gets irrigated twice a week and this, in combination with the poor drainage, seems to have all but done for the Eremophilas. They are just about still alive and I am going to move them now, to a deep sandy bed with no irrigation which, I hope, will be more to their liking! Will report back on results.
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;) I recal that some Eremophilas need to be passed through a digestive system in order to initiate germination which I think is the reason they are called Emu Bush. Emus eat the entire seed capsule, which is somewhat fleshy in some sp. The stomach of Emus contains purposely ingested pebbles and grit to break down fibrous foods and thus the Eremophila seeds are released from their capsules and excreted. My observation of Eremophila in the bush is that they are not prolific by natural regenerative processes, so I doubt they would have much weed potential - but would need testing in situ to be certain. Considering their sensitivity to dampness in the soil there's a possibility that few situations in southern Europe would have such conditions apart from a few, scattered situations tho' Israel, Morocco etc. could be a different case. tn
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So far this winter we have had some spells of cold weather, with winds apparently coming down from Russia and straight across Turkey, but no significant rain. At least one plant seems to appreciate the fact that the soil remains relatively dry. This Eremophila has been in flower for a few days now.
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John,
that looks quite healthy - another E. maculate type?
I'm coming to love this group of plants and introduced a few to our garden,
this is Eremophila calorhabdos which apparently is called "Red Rod"
cheers
fermi
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Fermi, I believe it is a form of E. maculata. I have difficulty finding areas where these plants can enjoy the good drainage they obviously need. My garden/field is flat and predominantly clay and generally not to their liking.
The plant in your latest 2 pics looks really healthy.
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This is a low growing selection of Eremophila glabra with grey foliage.
We grow it in a raised sand bed so it has excellent drainage,
cheers
fermi
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Eremophilas are hardly known at all in other mediterranean-climate areas, Fermi, but when we were in Australia we saw what marvellous plants they make for a mediterranean garden, with good foliage covered with flowers
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I bought some eremophila in a nursery near Athens. I think they are e. nivea. They were planted with varying degrees of success but the most successful is in a friend's garden, planted close to a South facing wall in unimproved soil with no irrigation. It has become a huge but rather lax bush. Suggestions for how it should be pruned would be helpful. I'd be inclined to clip it like westringia or teucrium but I thought it might get some form of die back. As far as colour is concerned, I came to the conclusion that this variety is far too vibrant to mix with most of the shrubs I would normally plant it alongside such as lavender, santolina, artemisia, salvia, etc.
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Janet, Eremophila respond well to pruning and will respond to clipping or even more ruthless treatment. However, I suggest that you prune immediately prior to the growing season, after all risk of frost is over - if you get frosts where you garden. In Australia, where I garden I'd prune in autumn after the rains start as there is little frost risk where I garden. While you are pruning you can also take half hard cuttings if you wish. I find a little hormone powder helps improve the strike rate. As eremophilea are not long lived in wetter climates I tend to take cuttings every couple of years so that I always have a few young plants coming along to replace the older shrubs that are past their best.
I'm surprised that the cultivar you have is too vibrant to gow with lavender, santolina and the others you mention as it is usually a soft grey with lavender flowers. It does prefer drier conditions than E glabra and loathes damp and humidity which is probably why it is thriving against that wall, dry roots and reflected heat from the wall no doubt.
Anita
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These are lovely shrubs, I think I have seen some in a GC here but will have to keep a closer eye out for them now.
A brief search and I can find a couple of places online to order from here in Spain but always prefer to buy in person, especially this time of year if they have to spend hours in a hot truck.
Thanks for sharing. :)
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Here is a slightly more vigorous form of Eremophila glabra growing in a sand-bed close to an Iron-bark (a type of eucalypt)
cheers
fermi
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A couple of recently established emu-bushes in a sand-bed:
Eremophila microtheca 2 pics;
E. denticulata x E. calorhabdos;
cheers
fermi
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A new one for our garden: Eremophila gibbifolia, the Coccid Emu Bush from Victoria, NSW and South Australia.
We got it a few months ago and haven't had a chance to plant it out but it has started to flower in its pot
cheers
fermi
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Beautiful pics of some beautiful plants Fermi. :)
As per my post above I have acquired a few Eremophila now. My E. nivea is probably the best performing of anything else I have planted next to an Alyogyne. It just doesn't stop growing, flowers for months and has such an amazingly soft foliage with a distinct smell.
I have struggled wit E. maculata but have finally got one to take and two new recent additions of E. glabra kalbarri and E. laanii.
Hopefully I will remember to add pics when they are putting on a show.
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Cyprus may not have the same climate as they enjoy back home but our Eremophila bushes don't seem to mind. Photos taken this morning.
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Very nice, John.
And Fermi (I've not looked at this topic for a while)
Mike
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Here are a couple more Emu bushes:
Eremophila bignoniiflora x polyclada is a tall shrub with light foliage so it doesn't become too solid a screen.
Eremophila 'Summertime Blue' is apparently also an E. polyclada cross - this time with E. divaricata,
cheers
fermi
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I have posted some pics of Eremophila biserrata in the new thread on low growing shrubs.
This trailing emu-bush is growing in a raised sand-bed and has already gone over a metre from where it started, growing down over the rock edge
cheers
fermi
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Looks lovely Fermi.
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Yet another form of Eremophila glabra - 'Murchison Magic'
cheers
fermi
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Eremophila glabra 'Kalbarri Gold' is grown as a groundcover but it will climb if there is an obstacle in the way!
cheers
fermi
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Fermi, we have had our Eremophila for over 6 years now and it has stayed a fairly reasonable size, but this year it seems to have decided to take off. Just how large can these things grow? Do they take cutting back?
Thanks.
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Can see you might want to restrain it a little John but nevertheless it is a beautiful bush- not only the flowers but the form and foliage😊
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Hi John,
yours looks like a form of Eremophila maculata which is not one I've had much luck with!
I find that most eremophilas will take cutting back quite well. We really need to take the secateurs to most of ours!
cheers
fermi
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Thanks, Fermi, I'll give it a go and see what happens.
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After telling John that I don't have much luck with Eremophila maculata I thought I might try again! I saw this plant for sale and decided to take the chance!
It's not quite the colour on the label but I like it anyway - now I just need to find somewhere suitable to plant it,
cheers
fermi
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Eremophila brevifolia has small white flowers,
cheers
fermi
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This yellow flowered Eremophila (lost label) has been in a rough position under a gum tree in a raised sand bed. It has taken about 3 years to get to flowering size,
cheers
fermi
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Hi Fermi. I really like this. Does it stay small and compact ?