AKA “Country Park Silver” by Nancy Schramm
A PASSION FOR PLANTS Ozothamnus –
greenthumb@carmansnursery.com I
t took me almost seven years to get my hands on this month’s plant, and I don’t know if I’ll get to keep it. I first read
about Ozothamnus (“County Park Silver”) in the September, 2005 issue of The Plantsman, a quarterly plant journal pub- lished by the Royal Horticultural Society in England. It caught my fancy at first glimpse. And glimpse is what it was. The photo shows just part of the plant – little silver dreadlocks. But that was enough to make me want the plant for my very own. It is an amazingly silver prostrate, mat- forming plant that doesn’t grow more than about three inches tall and perhaps up to two feet across. It doesn’t sound like the easiest plant to grow; most sources say that it likes perfect drainage and slightly moist soil. But that just made it more of a chal- lenge. So I started asking around, but no one in the Bay Area seemed to have even heard about it. The origin of this Ozothamnus is fasci-
nating and filled with happenstance. Graham Hutchins, owner of County Park Nursery, England, was plant col- lecting in New Zealand. He collected some plants in an area where two distinct Ozothamnus species were growing, and believed that the plants he took home with him were natural hybrids of those two species. Hutchins planted his collect- ed plants at his nursery, and in a number of years, seedlings grew in the area that looked different from those parents. There was another plant nearby (a Helichrysum) that is very closely related to Ozothamnus (in fact, some Ozothamnus have been and continue to be called Helichrysum) and
42 May 2012 • Out & About
Hutchins believes that the seedling he saved and named O.“CPS” is a natural hybrid of those two plants. In December,
2009, again in The Plantsman, there was another article about Ozothamnus. It only briefly mentioned O.“CPS,” but did describe two other closely related plants of similar appear- ance, Helichrysum selago and H. coral- loides. And oh, my desire grew. Then suddenly I saw these two plants in person. Native Sons Nursery donated both to the Hot Plant Picks exhibit at the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show in March 2010. But I was outbid at the Western Horticultural Society silent auction. I had another close encounter with the object of my desire when I visit- ed Sierra Azul Nursery just over a year ago, and saw their last plant sold right in front of me. A few months after that I happened to ask for the plant at Flora Grubb Nursery and learned they’d stocked O.“CPS” during the summer of 2010, but had it no longer. All these close encounters were getting
OZOTHAMUNUS OR COUNTY PARK SILVER
painful. Fast forward to the Hot Plant Picks
exhibit, March, 2012. As I helped set up the display, my eye was caught by a lovely silver mat of a plant, donated by Monterey Bay Nursery. I looked closer, and couldn’t believe it, but right there on the label was Ozothamnus “County Park Silver.” So, for now the plant is in my nursery, and I’m taking cuttings. But the auction is next week and I don’t know if I will prevail or not…if not, I’ve got my fin- gers crossed that I’ll be able to buy anoth-
www.outandaboutmagazine.com
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