The Cotinus coggygria 'Golden Spirit' does sound like it would be a good fit for you, and it does get to be small tree sized within 3 to 5 years from a 5 gallon. It is certainly not a weeping or horizontal limbed structure, however. Abutilon 'Victor Reiter' is another possibility, with a very long season of bloom and can be pruned nicely with continuous tip pinching. Dombeya x 'Seminole'(rose flowers) or Dombeya burgessiae(pale pink flowers) is another small tree/large shrub which has nice pink pendant flowers from fall into late winter. Gordonia axillaris is a beautiful large shrub with arching branches and glossy evergreen foliage with showy white flowers in winter, they look like crepe paper or Matillija poppy flowers, and new foliage is copper colored. If you like something that is nearly everblooming with bright orange tubular bunches of flowers, and is evergreen, with arching habit to branches, I also like Tecoma x smithii.

Bahia,

I remember you from years past when I was more active here, and how on target your input was. This post was so helpful--I mistakenly approached the tree group and gathered they weren't 'into' my quest.

I am *totally* in love with Tecoma x smithii, and will set about a search tomorrow. It's my favorite color and I will love mixing it with other 'brights'. I appreciate the new discovery.

Thanks.
Karen

I mistakenly approached the tree group and gathered they weren't 'into' my quest.

Actually, someone wasn't 'into' answering questions to narrow their quest. F'r instance, the Tecoma has a danger that it doesn't match the watering requirements of the bed, which is why questions should be asked before answers are given. Jus' sayin. Good luck in your attempts.

Dan

Sorry for my snarky comment, Dan. But I got the impression I did not from your questions but from your response to my answers. I said it would get the water I give it, and maybe wasn't clear in also saying whatever else goes there in that bed will be adjusted in accord with the specimen. I have an adjustable drip system.

As it turns out, this query is in fact related to replacing many water hogging roses with a variety of other types of plants, and this specimen will replace just such a rose. I'll then choose other plants in the bed to go with it. I'll investigate the Tecoma's needs before choosing it.

Karen

Karen, apologies. The water question is based on what the surrounding plants are already getting, as water travels through the soil and roots spread, so the question of what is the water regime is to ensure the new plant's needs match what is already there. When I lived and practiced in Sacto my clients always wanted roses and I had to talk them down to something more xeric...

Best,

Dan

I suspect that Dan has no experience with this Tecoma, as it wouldn't be hardy in his zone. In fact, it is equally at ease with a drier garden setting or watered as if it were a more mesic plant; no issues with failing to thrive with regular garden irrigation in summer, or kept drier. Anywhere I have used it, my clients and garden visitors never fail to want one of their own. The only issue I would caution you about is that this needs constant pruning to be kept small, as it can easily get 15 feet tall by across in time. Another very similar looking plant/synonym for this is Tecoma x 'Orange Jubilee'. Most references will say that these mostly bloom in the warmer months; in fact, it will bloom nearly every month of the year here in sunset zone 16/17 location.

If you want a slightly more controllable size-wise plant, keep T. x smithii on the drier side. You might also consider using the similar Tecomaria capensis 'Buff Gold' or T. capensis 'Aurea' trained as small tree standards for a similar effect, and easier to keep at a smaller size.

Bahia, I used to have a landscape design and construction business in Sacto for 13 years and studied hort at UCD; ,I'll admit to tending not to recommend plants needing regular cutting to fit in a volume. But I agree that the Tecoma will require much cutting in non-freezing years to keep it in bounds in a bed with regular water, as above...

Regards

Dan

All of the various Tecoma species that one occasionally sees here in the cooler summer parts of the SF Bay Area tend to be dwarfed in growth rate by our lack of heat, so they would be noticably slower to overgrow their bounds here compared to inland valley areas. Tecoma stans is probably the more commonly seen Tecoma planted across the country in warmer climate gardens, but while it can be grown here locally and will ultimately bloom, it seems to really resent the cooler summers, and frankly, looks like crap in winter, if one prefers their evergreen shrubs to actually look good. T. stans also often fails to bloom here at all if the summer isn't warm enough, but thrives and blooms into winter in hot desert climates that remain balmy into December/January.

Sorry to cast any aspersions on your plant knowledge regarding Tecoma x smithii, but I haven't seen Tecoma used much at all in the Sacramento valley areas, as it would typically be killed back to the ground there every few winters, if it were being grown there. I didn't know you had a California background, was just going by the zone numbers in your id. I also went to UC Davis once upon a time, several decades ago, and have fond memories of the botanic garden at Putah Creek, and some of the extraordinary dry climate plants they trial there. I must admit though, I much prefer gardening and designing for a mostly frost free sunset zone 16/17 situation, or USDA zone 9b/10a. Anything much colder just seems such a smaller choice of interesting plants to me, especially after the years spent living/working/gardening in tropical Brazil/Malaysia and subtropical desert Saudi Arabia.

Well, I went to bed too early last night!

After looking into it, smithii's preferred lower range may comport with what I *believe* to be (based on their description) my Sunset zone 15 here in Cascade Canyon of Fairfax. Because I'm in a sort of small valley surrounded by trees and such, our summers are usually much warmer than other local microclimates--for example, Richmond, SF, even Sausalito down the road, which gets more marine influence.

So, it might work, but would be an experiment. I love the flowers enough that it could be worth the try. Maybe my wonderful artisan pruner could shape it to minimize overgrowth. Do you think it would be unhappy if I put it in a large wine half-barrel?

I'm still planning to get a Cotinus coggygria 'Golden Spirit'--Monrovia makes them in tree form (at least I've seen them in purple tree form at Sloat's). Even if it doesn't go in the 'specimen' spot, I have other places for such a lovely thing. And, the Abutilon 'Victor Reiter' (if I can find one) is also a contender, as I have 2 other yellow abutilon which are quite tall and bloom well here.

Meantime, I'm open to other suggestions from California gardeners.

No problem bahia. I miss the acacias in the arb and still call Sacto home, even though it's getting harder to recognize...

Dan

Tecoma x smithii should be good to go down to 25F, but it may die back to the roots at these temps, and usually defoliates at 32F or thereabouts, so if you regularly get frost, it may not be the best choice. If you are willing to cover it with freeze fabric or tent over it with a sheet, it should handle cold down to 27F or so without damages. It is much faster growing where you actually get some summer heat, so it will return from the roots and bloom the same year if it does get frozen back.

A oak wine barrel would be a good container size, but my preference would be for a more attractive glazed or terra cotta pot of similar size. It shouldn't really require any special pruning, because it tends to grow as a fairly uniform dense shrub, and just tip pinching off the flowers that start to set seed will keep it compact and blooming over an extended season. I wouldn't particularly recommend trying to grow it as a single tree standard, as it will only try to keep forming additional trunks from the base.

If orange is your color, you might also want to consider alternatives such as Canna 'Semaphore'/'Pacific Beauty' which is a 100 year old French hybrid that has the most intensely tangerine or perhaps pumpkin flesh colored blooms, so distinct from other more boring orange cannas. You can see this if you look for it in Tony Avents Plants Delights Nursery catalog. I also really enjoy the blooms of Kniphofia 'Bee's Bliss', which is a soft tangerine colored flower in late spring, but it doesn't repeat bloom like the cannas or Tecoma.

I also can surmise from your color preferences that you would really like the Marmalade Bush, Streptosolen jamesonii, but it isn't an ideal plant for a zone 15 climate, as it is frost tender. Might be worth growing it as a container plant if you were willing to protect it during freezes, as the flowering on this is extensive and dynamic.

What about a golden or variegated Duranta? Plus purple flowers. Not sure as to hardiness--San Marcos says 20-25F. May not be hardy enough for you. I have a golden one and it is quite lovely and slow growing. The green ones are much more vigorous.

Here is a link that might be useful: comments on Duranta 'Golden Edge'

Predictably, I love the 'Marmalade Bush'. And yes, I'll put it in a movable container. It's so much fun looking up your suggestions on a Google images tab right next to your post. I'm checking nurseries to order the Tecoma.

I like the canna 'Semaphore', but confess a preference for 'Pretoria', with the green/chartreuse variegation behind the orangey blooms. Don't know if I'd want those for the 'specimen' spot, but I'd like to find a sunny patch for a cluster of them in two or three colors. With some sort of deep lavender-pinkish-purple flowering shrub in front of them. (More vivid version of the color of the hibuscus shown in the link below. It's tall. Ever grown it?)

I appreciate your inspiration.

Here is a link that might be useful: Alyogyne huegelii 'Monterey Bay' / Blue Hibiscus

The Alyogyne is a great plant with lots of color, but it won't be hardy enough for your zone 15 conditions. Perhaps treat it as an annual? Alyogyne also wants it on the dryer side, and needs perfect drainage to do well, and full sun. Another plant/shrub that fits your preference for the lavender/pinkish/purple theme might include Ageratum corymbosa, here's some photos of one in an Albany garden I designed:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20217462@N02/4465437608/in/set-72157626121794400/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anniesannuals/3308893589/in/set-72157614346658861/

It will probably work okay in a zone 15 garden, but it should probably be protected from frost much below 29F, if you don't want to lose foliage. The leaves only take on the purplish color when the temperatures cool off in fall, and the lavender blooms can occur at any time of year, but most heavily in spring. Probably some better close up shots of this plant at the Annie's Annuals web site.

hoovb, I like the duranta...in my redesigning of the garden, I'll find a home for one of those. Need to look up all the cultivars and imagine where one will fit. I prefer more vivid than pale lavender, but it's not likely on that genus, I think.

Bahia, those pix of your elegant design are beautiful...*and* far from my the style of my rustic garden ;~) The Ageratum would give a nice contrast to the 'Pretoria' foliage & orange blooms. Again, I wish the lavender was deeper-vivider, but you can't have everything.

I'd love to know what fern is in the corner behind the Ageratum--I like its habit.

The above link to the alyogyne illustrates the sort of purple I think would go well in front of the canna--but a deeper version.

The tree fern is the Brazilian version of a Dicksonia, D. sellowiana, which is probably a bit hard to find. D. antarctica is virtually identical in appearance, and hardier here in the Bay Area.

Blues of the equal of the Alyogyne are not so easy to find, but you might consider the repeat blooming Echium gentianoides. Felicia amelloides is another long blooming blue flowered daisy that is strangely absent from retail nurseries these days, but still a great border accent for full sun blues. You might want to look at my favorite Agapanthus, A. 'Elaine', which will also give a dark smokey blue accent with more height. For a taller blue/purple flowered accent that complements the Cannas, look into Neomarica caerulea, or Salvia uliginosa. And another Canna with great multicolored foliage is C. 'Tropicana', which would combine all those hot colors you seem to like. Verbena bonariensis would be another deep purple to add to the mix.

Yes, the Tropicana is the one I've fallen for! I know canna spread &/or multiply--do you over what period of time? (Trying to decide how many bulbs will make a healthy cluster w/out creating a future monster like my dahlias evolved into :). I'll check Sunset.

I *adore* the Echium gentianoides and it would look stunning in front of the canna. It's the same color as the trim of the house (see link below--a old incarnation of one relevant bed, and the white is now repainted blue). The Tropicana canna would be beautiful with the echium in front of it, and something smaller to contrast with the echium at the stones.

I also like the agapanthus Elaine--there are others in the garden which bloom normal lavender. The Verbena bonariensis would mix nicely in a center bed which has many variegated iris there for the beauty of their foliage; but their fairly inconsequential yellow flowers fade quickly, and the Verbena could incorporate and make a nice textural contrast which echos the canna/echium combo.

Here is a link that might be useful: French blue house trim and bed...

If you, Bahia, or anyone else, have experience comparing Canna 'Tropicanna Gold' with Canna 'Pretoria' in vivo, I'd appreciate your feedback. It's hard to tell from photos. Are they too similar to plant together in a clump?

I wasn't familiar with a Tropicana Gold, and looking at photos on the web, it doesn't look much different from Pretoria foliage. The original Canna 'Tropicana' with the sunset colors to the foliage would be a better contrast in my opinion. Another much taller growing Canna that I also really like as a background plant, is Canna ehemannii. This one has pendant smaller petals rose flowers, and blooms over an incredibly long season. In fact, at a public garden in the Presidio in San Francisco, it is still in full bloom now, in the dead of winter. See the link for flowers:

http://www.smgrowers.com/products/plants/plantdisplay.asp?strSearchText=Canna&plant_id=314&page=

I too like the canna ehemannii--its bright pink flowers would contrast nicely with the Pretoria or Tropicana gold. BUT, while checking its availability, I found the notice linked below at Old House Gardens, the only available source for ehemannii, saying they're not selling Canna anymore (*except* ehemanni) until an earthwide virus problem is solved.

Have you, Bahia, or anyone else, had experience with this virus? I don't want to plan a design with other canna in a starring role if this is a real issue. I'll see if the canna forum has info on this, too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Old House Gardens: Why We Stopped Selling Canna bulbs

Stick to getting your Canna's from a California nursery, as this virus isn't as widespread in California growing conditions as it is in England/back east USA. I have only noticed one Canna cultivar that seemed to be infected in any of my design clients' gardens, and it was Canna 'Panache'. I see Canna's all over the place here in the East Bay, and I haven't noticed that viral infections seem to be a problem. But, you definitely do not want to import this virus into your own garden if you have lots of Canna's. As far as I know, the growers I purchase from, such as Suncrest Wholesale Nursery, San Marco Growers, Monterey Bay Wholesale Nursery, and brokers such as Landscapes Unlimited, are still growing and selling Canna's which are not infected, and wouldn't ship them if they discovered they were infected. Your local retail nursery should be able to order in for you from any of these California sources. There are also plenty of other California growers, so no need to order from an out of state source.

Thanks for experiential input. Those are the growers I've dealt with, except Suncrest. But I can order from them all via local nurseries who all deal with them here in Marin.

Now I'm wrestling with design issues so I don't go bananas with too many canna. Need to pull it together in the various beds. My impulsive nature tends to accumulate plants before I know the 'plan'. Costo's a killer that way when they have these bagsfull of luscious plants...

So, Bahia, if you're still tuned in, a question for you: I'm still researching ideas for this spot, and realized how much I'd love a yellow Brugmansia in that location. However, I'm suspecting that it wouldn't do well in my zone 15 location. Is that true?

Thanks,
Karen

You'll probably get die back each winter if you don't protect it during frost. Certainly it can be grown in a Sunset zone 15 location, but it won't stay evergreen, and will suffer from dead trunks much below 28F. Is the hassle of protecting it in winter worth the effort to you?

In a word, no ;~) I can tend towards the slothful.

A couple further canna questions. What happens to the canna--say Tropicana Gold--in winter? Will it die back in z15 & re-emerge in spring?

I'm considering the idea of putting a couple of them (knowing they multiply but not at what rate) in a half wine-barrel with some sort of low burgundy small shrub which might drape over the edges of the barrel. Can you think of suitable burgundy container companions for the canna? [The half wine barrel is to elevate the canna into my sight-view from where I sit looking out from in here.]