7.03.2009

Fab Foliage Friday


Do you know 'Bert'? You might want to make his acquaintance. 'Bert' is a flowering maple (Abutilon spp.) with stunning maple-shaped leaves dappled with a splashy yellow variegation. Just the thing for brightening up a dark spot or for shimmering in the sun. This tender perennial cavorts happily in the ground or a pot, in sun or part shade, but 'Bert's best tricks are his flowers-colored a pale moonbeam yellow that matches the brightest sectors of the variegation. It's a color echo all by itself. I got this passalong plant from Sydney Eddison, who got it from Peter Wooster, in whose knock-em-dead Roxbury, CT garden, she adds, it originated.

4 comments:

Carol said...

You certainly have a way with foliage Steve... what an stunner combination. Thank you for the introduction to Bert... looks like a keeper. You must have a greenhouse... yes?

Wayne Stratz said...

I have a father-in-law named Bert. That is the only Bert I think I have met. Now another.

Steve Silk said...

Carol--Nope, no greenhouse. After lots of experimenting I have discovered various methods for overwintering tender tropical stuff. Bert, for example, lives in the basement during winter.

Steve Silk said...

Wayne--I don't know a whole lot of Berts either, but those I know, I like.