I have one of these at the back of the lot, but I want to put one up close to house where we can smell it more. But there's so much shade around the house, so I'm wondering if anybody grows this shrub/tree without a lot of sun.
Can almond verbena or sweet almond be an understory tree?
I can't answer the question, silverfluter, but I'm anxiously awaiting the answer. I followed you over here from my thread in TX Gardening. I hope others will also tell about experiences they've had in TX with it.
Last Fall, I had read about sweet almond and really wanted one, but there is a lady I had been talking to about gardening here (and found to be very knowledgeable) and she said she'd tried it several times, even attempting to keep it as a "pet plant" (ie, giving it more care than she would normally offer) and had no luck. I'll have to ask her where she had it as far as light and how long it took before it went downhill. How long have you had yours?
I have had it probably 5 years. It hasn't grown very fast, but that doesn't matter to me. It's about 4 feet tall now. How good is your soil? That may make a big difference. The soil back there where it is at the back of the lot is pretty good, but I don't know how deep it is. DH thinks it's not as deep as it is closer to the house. I know there's kaliche under there somewhere.
What is a kaliche? I'm still learning perennials and shrubs. I want to add some additional fragrant flowers closer to the house. I have roses and lavender and will be increasing the size of the rose bed. I was looking for some lower growing perennials to add to the mix. I was thinking maybe baby's breath or spirea. I love them both, they are so pretty. Btw, how big is your Fredericksburg? :)
Fredericksburg in Tx is about 8,000. How about yours?
Kaliche isn't a plant. It's, well, I guess it depends on whether you're a gardener or not. If you're not a gardener, it's that stuff that you walk on, that the grass and weeds grow in, etc. If you're a gardener is a pain in the rear. It's hard as rock when it's dry and turns to mushy goo when it's wet. It's supposed to be very high in nutrients, but not many things grow in it and I can't remember what it is that it's missing. I am very fortunate to have really rich dirt on top of my kaliche, so I don't have to build raised beds.
I have roses too and I have learned to be careful what I plant around them. Irises look really nice, but I have to fertilize more because of them. Upright germander is way too dense to put near a rose. I'm not sure why exactly, but the rose died.
Your soil sounds like heavy clay, not caliche. Clay feels like cement when dry but becomes gooey when wet. Caliche is a hardened mineral layer underneath the soil which would never become wet and gooey--it's very hard to dig through and plants' roots often have trouble getting through it to the good soil below
http://cals.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg/soils/caliche.html
As far as the almond verbena...my guess is you could grow them in part shade, they may be a little leggier than they would be if they got as much sun as they wanted. However, you may end up with fewer (or possibly no) flowers if there's not enough sun. (I've never grown them, this is just a general observation about what can happen when you try to grow full sun plants in part shade)
There is a lot of clay in my soil, but there is also a layer of caliche under the soil. As I understand it, most of the hill country in Tx is caliche at some depth. When the original owner of this house moved in they probably had toadd some very good dirt. The original owners were DH's grandparents and they had one incredible vege garden. DH tells me they grew everything that would grow here.
Thanks for that link Ecrane. It was very interesting and it's a reminder for me to call my extension agent to ask what to add to keep my roses healthy. I tried using ES last year and that did make a big difference in the growth.
I'm not at all surprised that you'd have caliche, but the caliche is not the stuff that turns gooey when wet, that's plain old clay!
I am trying to plug in the old brain and figure out what ES is that you add to your roses.
My Fred is about 8000 also, but surrounded by 2 counties that are the fastest growing in VA. sigh......It hasn't lost it's small town flavor though. Love to go down and just prowl around.
AnnieJo, ES is epsom salts, which is not salt at all. It is magnesium and around here plants really like it. I don't understand chemistry, but it might have something to do with the alkalinity of our soil.
Doccat5, our FBG is about 1 hour and 15 minutes north of San Antonio and the same distance west of Austin. Both are very large and fast growing cities. We will soon be a bedroom community for those cities probably. We are already a retirement community. The old town flavor is still there is places, but that's partly because most of the empty lots are taken atleast as far as the original part of the town goes. It's expanding all the time though. The powers that be are being very careful about letting in chain stores and stuff like that, but of course taxes are rising and the people who've lived here all their lives are being squeezed out.
Here in Florida it needs full sun to bloom heavily- it grows very quickly, and I cut mine down almost to the ground each year in winter so it gets only 5-7 feet tall and I can smell it close up. Maybe try in a pot first and see if it blooms in less sun before planting in ground?
That's a possibility Silverkitty. Thanks for the suggestion. But you gave me another idea. I hadn't thought of cutting down every year. If I do that and just keep it short, I do have a good spot close to the house where I'll get to smell it more often. Do you ever take cuttings of yours? I haven't tried that.
Doccat5
Fredericksburg Va-- it that where La Petite Auburge (? spelling) is? William Street? I think I had THE BEST stuffed flounder there and there was this incredible painting on the wall... a bony pianist (painted from the back view ) sitting at the piano..all pointy elbows.... great painting. The things we remember......
I am growing my almond verbena as an understory tree in part sun. Mine is about 1 year old and 3 ft tall. It bloomed after 6 mo. of being inground. I bought it as a 1 gal pot plant.
I have seen them get pretty big. 10 ft tall w/ a 6-8' canopy, growing in full sun. My intention is to prune as necessary to maintain it at 6 ft tall. Hopefully the part shade location will slow its growth rate.
I went out and looked at mine and it's gotten to be about 5 1/2 feet tall now. Don't think I want it to be much taller than that either.