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PENCIL CACTUS HARDY
IN NORTH LOUISIANA?
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Will a pencil cactus survive the winters if planted in the soil in Shreveport? Ron |
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The unusual Euphorbia tirucalli, commonly called a pencil cactus, will not survive a Shreveport winter. It is a native of tropical eastern Africa, India and Indonesia and can only be grown outdoors in the tropical south. In a frost free location the pencil cactus can reach heights up to 30 feet. Many gardeners may be unaware that a milky sap released from the plant when pruned is poisonous. Contact with this sap can cause significant skin irritation and severe eye damage, so please use caution. |
SMALL FLOWERING TREE SUGGESTION
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I would like a suggestion for a small ornamental flowering tree for my small front yard that has no trees right now. I live in a condo and don’t want a tree that will get more than 20 feet high. I’m in the Opelousas area. A.J. |
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Many beautiful flowering trees reach no more than 20 to 25 feet. Some popular selections I would recommend are the ‘Little Gem’ magnolia (M. grandiflora ‘Little Gem’), which reaches 15-20 feet high and wide with traditional fragrant southern magnolia flowers in spring and early summer. The Japanese Magnolia (Magnolia x soulangiana) is a good choice, offering pink tulip-like flowers in late winter just before it leafs out in spring with light green leaves that remain attractive through fall. It grows to approximately 20 feet tall and blooms at a time when not much else is flowering in the landscape.
Probably the most popular small flowering tree grown in the south is the crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica). This is a deciduous tree with beautiful winter sculptural form and plentiful color when in bloom during the summer. These trees can be found in every size from dwarfs of 2 feet to small trees of 20-25 feet tall. When making your selection take note of the variety and its size at maturity. A few larger varieties to about 20 feet in height include ‘Natchez’ (white), watermelon red (pinky-red), ‘Biloxi’’(pale pink), ‘Muskogee’’(light lavender). An outstanding new cultivar is ‘Dynamite’, which grows to about 20 feet and puts on a stunning late-summer show of true red flowers.
The Taiwan flowering cherry (Prunus campanulata) and the vitex or chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus) are two other excellent deciduous flowering trees that should be considered when making your choice.
There are a couple of large growing evergreen shrubs that can be pruned to resemble a small tree by removing the bottom limbs and shaping the leaf canopy. An old favorite is the banana magnolia or banana shrub (Michelia figo). This lovely plant is considered a large evergreen shrub growing to about 15 feet tall and 10 feet wide. I’ve seen several specimens that have been successfully limbed up to resemble a small tree. They are wonderful evergreens with very small spring blooms that smell like ripe bananas when crushed.
Another highly fragrant evergreen shrub that can be used as a small tree is a mature sweet olive (Osmanthus fragrans). It grows to 20 x 10 feet and blooms fall through spring with sweet smelling flowers. I had one at my home in New Orleans that was trained into a single trunk tree and was 20 feet tall. Every time I smelled that sweet olive, I had to stop and appreciate it. |
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