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Plumeria, known by the common name Frangipani, is a genus of eleven different species of shrubs and small trees native to Central and South America. These tropical plants produce fragrant spiral blooms in a variety of colors throughout much of the summer. These blooms are typically used in Hawaii to make leis, the floral necklaces associated with the island. Leaf shape varies a bit by species, but generally they are roughly oval, longer than they are wide, and congregated mainly on the newest growth toward the tips of each branch. Flowers are borne in terminal clusters at the end of stems, therefore poking out just above the foliage. Flower color ranges from white to pink to red to orange to yellow, and various combinations of these colors.  Left: Terminal buds open over time, from a furled bud to a tubular flower with five petals (far right). Photos: Wisconsin Horticulture Extension Division. Plumerias are not cold hardy, so they will not survive in areas where temperatures dip below freezing. While they may reach heights up to 20-25’ tall in temperate environments, their size in Eastern NC will be much less. Those who grow Plumeria around here most likely do so in pots, which they bring in during winter. Here at the Pitt County Arboretum, we have one planted in the ground at the corner of our Perennial Garden, near an employee entrance to the Agricultural Center. This plant is about 7-8’ tall, and each year at the beginning of November it is dug out of the ground, stripped of its leaves, and stored as a bare-root plant in the unheated garage of one of our volunteers. Plumeria can be stored this way throughout most of winter with little to no attention. Once spring arrives and danger of frost is gone, we return it to the same spot in the garden where it grows throughout summer. Assuming your Plumeria is growing in a pot, you can bring it indoors and store in a similar way. If you choose not to put in a garage or similar dark, cool location and instead keep it in a warm, lighted area indoors, it will need occasional water and may retain a small number of leaves.
Plumeria blooms come in a variety of colors.
Above: Plumeria stick. Above right: Plumeria tree. Below right: Plumeria species or cultivars have different shaped and colored leaves. Plumeria are quite easy to propagate by cuttings. If you’ve been to any of our Master Gardener plant sales, you’ve probably noticed a container filled with 12-18” long gray-green sticks and wondered what on earth they are. These Plumeria cuttings can be stuck in soil long after they were originally taken. Spring is an ideal time to root these cuttings. Plumeria stems will leak a milky sap immediately after being injured, thus when cuttings are taken, sap will leak from the cut end of the cutting. Let these dry, give the cutting 10-14 days to callous over, and then the stem will be ready to be stuck in soil. It will root once temperatures are warm enough for the plant to resume active growth.
I must acknowledge Gary Fenton, the retired former director of Greenville Parks and Recreation, for his donation of numerous Plumeria plants and cuttings to the Arboretum over the years, including a large recent donation of plant material. We use these donations for both propagation and beautification. Gary has also been a valuable source of knowledge about caring for these plants and has shared his wisdom not only with us, but with many, many others. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705.
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While pumpkins are the plant we most associate with Halloween, there are other ghastly, creepy, or supernatural plants, some in appearance and others in name only.  The Bat Flower is among the spookiest, creepiest, weirdest of all plant specimens. Photo: B. Shrader, CC BY-ND 2.0 The Ghost Dogwood, Cornus wilsoniana, is a small tree, similar in size and shape to the more familiar native dogwood, but actually comes to us from Central and Southern Asia. It has white small white flowers that are borne in clusters at the terminal ends of branches, which are attractive but not as much so as those of the native dogwood. Ghost Dogwood gets its name from the color of its bark, which peels as it ages, creating blotches of gray and green on young trunks before maturing to a pure, ghostly white on older trees. Then we have Spiderwort, Tradescantia virginiana. Spiderwort is an early spring flowering perennial native to the Southeastern United States. It likes to grow in moist soils and can tolerate sun or shade. Its flowers are comprised of three bluish-purple petals, with ‘web-like’ filaments springing from their center. Spiderwort can spread aggressively, and is sometimes mistakenly referred to as invasive, which by definition it cannot be since it is a native to our area. Plants are self-sterile, but will cross-pollinate with other nearby colonies of spiderwort with different genetics. Spiderwort is often divided and shared with others, giving it ample opportunity to pop up in areas where it is unexpected, and perhaps unwanted, not unlike spiders and their webs.
Next are the Witchhazels, Hamamelis virginiana and Hamemelis x intermedia, Hybrid Witchhazel. These plants are medium to large shrubs, with uniquely shaped flowers that tend to open in January through early March, when the twigs of the shrub are bare. The shape and arrangement of the petals on Witchhazel blossoms is sometimes referred to as ‘spider-like,’ as the individual petals are long and slender and come together at a central point, resembling long spider legs joining its body. Why is the plant called Witchhazel rather than Spiderhazel? Perhaps because many parts of the plant – twigs, leaves, bark, and buds – have long been used to make various medicinal concoctions, a trait that may have reminded the botanist who named this plant ‘witch’s brew.’ Another possible explanation, however, ties back to the old English word wyche, pronounced similarly to witch, meaning flexible, which certainly describes the young stems of Witchhazel. Still another possible reason is the practice of Native Americans, and the early English settlers who learned from them, to use branches from this plant as a divining rod to find sources of underground water, which was referred to as ‘water-witching.’
We saved the creepiest for last, Cuphea llavea, known commonly as Bat flower or Bat-faced cuphea. There is no mystery whatsoever why Bat flower is named Bat flower. This 18-24” tall perennial native to Mexico that is not quite cold-hardy in North Carolina, and thus acts as an annual here, has flowers that resemble a bat. The flowers have a hairy purple calyx which s like the body of a bat, often even appearing to form the shape of an open mouth at their center, with two red petals that point upward on either side, in the appearance of wings. An observer more familiar with the comic book character Batman may simply see the silhouette of Batman’s head when looking at the flower. Pollinators aren’t scared by it, but you may be!
Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. Native plants play an important role in the state’s history, heritage, and identity. NC Governor Roy Cooper designated October 20-26 as North Carolina Native Plants Week in recognition of the vital role native plants play in our landscape by providing essential food resources for migrating birds, pollinators, and other wildlife. While many non-natives are well adapted to our landscapes and perfectly suitable for use, natives often have specific relationships with pollinators that non-natives may not always replicate. One particular native tree that I’ve always been fond of is the Sassafras, Sassafras albidum. While it is more of a forest tree than a conventional landscape tree, many of us can find sassafras poking out of the edge of a wooded area behind our home or along a roadside nearby. Occasionally used in landscapes in native- or pollinator-themed plantings, Sassafras is more typically found in undisturbed natural areas.  Sassafras is known for its brilliant fall color. Photo: P.W. Hatcher, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Sassafras is an important food source for a wide range of insects and animals in NC. It supports larval stage Imperial moths and Spicebush swallowtails, which feed primarily on the foliage. Its fruits are eaten by eastern bluebirds, red-eyed vireos, quail, wild turkeys, kingbirds, crested flycatchers, mockingbirds, sapsuckers, pileated woodpeckers, yellowthroat warblers and phoebes, black bears, beaver, rabbits, and squirrels. Ornamentally, sassafras is interesting in a number of ways. It is a deciduous tree with early spring blossoms. Flowers are small and yellow, and borne in clusters at the tips of branches before the leaves emerge. They remind me in many ways of red maple and other Acer species, in terms of flower shape and bloom time, though not in color. When the foliage does appear shortly after blooms conclude, Sassafras are remarkable in that each individual leaf can take any of three distinct shapes – a simple oval shape, a three-pronged trident shape, or a mitten-like oval with a single lobe offset to one side. Though this characteristic is perhaps more of a botanical curiosity that appeals to plant nerds like me than a visually stunning feature, it is notable because most plants simply don’t have this distinction. Red and black fruit appear in fall, which are attractive and a favorite food of many animals.
But more so than any other ornamental feature, Sassafras is notable for its brilliant fall color. Leaves that are green throughout spring and summer change to various shades of yellow, orange, and red in the fall. Though the foliage color varies a bit from plant to plant and season to season, a sassafras with predominately orange fall foliage is truly something to behold.
All parts of the sassafras tree are aromatic. One can easily appreciate the scent by lightly scratching away some bark or crushing a leaf or two. Sassafras tea and other drinks are made from the roots. Root beer, in fact, used to be flavored primarily by sassafras roots. The leaves can also be dried and ground into powder, which can be used as a thickening agent when cooking gumbo. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. Every month at the Pitt County Arboretum, we hold what we call a Northside Plant Walk, where we walk through the Arboretum (often including a loop on what is known as the Northside Walking Trail) and discuss plants that share a common characteristic. I often have many of the plants in mind well ahead of each month’s tour, but I also like to walk the grounds myself a day or two before the tour to see what else might catch my eye that is not already on my radar. I tell you this because when I was putting together this past month’s tour, the bloom of our Toad Lily in the Perennial Garden called to me so loudly that I simply had to include it. Toad Lily (Tricyrtis hirta), also called Japanese Toad Lily or Hairy Toad Lily, is an herbaceous flowering perennial plant that is excellent for shady sites and average to wet soils. It is native to Island regions of Japan, where it is found growing along shady rocky cliffs and stream banks. It was introduced into the United States in the late 1800s, but was found mainly only in botanic gardens and specialty nurseries for many years, and really only became widely available for the average gardener in the 1990’s. The name Tricyrtis, translates roughly to “three bulges,” a reference to the three swollen nectar sacs found within each blossom. The nectar is a favorite of hummingbirds, and flowers are often visited by various butterfly and bee species as well.
Above left: Toad Lily flower. Photo: André Karwath, CC-BY SA 2.5 Above right: Toad Lily flowers and leaves. Credit: Alpsdake CC BY-SA 4.0 It can be difficult to find plants that perform well in heavy shade, and especially difficult to find plants that bloom heavily in shade. As such gardeners with shady gardens tend to rely on plants like hosta, ferns, and astilbe, and lament the relative lack of other options. While these are all fine plants, it is always nice to have options. Enter Toad Lily, which not only tolerates shade, but requires it, and will bloom prolifically from late summer through fall. The typical Toad Lily has blossoms that are speckled purple and white, with petals arranged in the shape of a six-pointed star. Individual flowers are small. Plants have a spread of 18-23 inches. The blooms are colorful, but the intricacy and complexity of the shape and color pattern is best appreciated when the viewer can see the flowers from up close, thus it’s ideal, if possible, to plant them along the edge of a flower bed, or near a path, wall, or other feature that allows close inspection. Toad Lily pairs well in the garden with plants like hosta, astilbe, ferns, and hellebores (Lenten Roses), not only due to their previously mentioned love of shade, but also due to a similar affinity for high organic matter and soil acidity. Toad Lily will probably tolerate wetter soils than any of the aforementioned plants, but as long as soils are at least slightly moist it will be happy. It will not perform well in dry areas. Partial shade is okay, but more than half a day of sun will likely cause some leaf burn or other stress. 
There are quite a few interesting cultivars of Toad Lily, each of which has slightly different flower colors or foliar characteristics. To quickly summarize just a few of these: ‘Alba’ and ‘White Tower’ have white flowers, ‘Albomarginata’ has green/white variegated foliage with purple flowers, ‘Lightning Strike’ and ‘Miyazaki Gold’ have green/gold variegated foliage with purple flowers, ‘Golden Gleam’ has yellow leaves with purple/white flowers, and there are quite a few others with varying combinations.
Last Northside Plant Walk of 2024 If you’d like to attend one of our Northside Plant Walks, the next one will be at 12 noon on November 8th at the Pitt County Arboretum and will focus on Berries, Twigs, and other Underappreciated Ornamental Attributes. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. |
Matt Stevens
Pitt County Extension Director & Horticulture Agent Archives
November 2024
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