Mahonia x media ‘Arthur Menzies’
Arthur Menzies Oregon Grape Holly
Berberidaceae, Barberry family
Zone (7)8
When I arrived a the botanic garden this morning there were pots of a yellow flowering shrub around the entrance. I asked Robbie, the gardener, what kind of Mahonia it was, and he told me it was M. ‘Arthur Menzies,’ a cross between a native one and one from Japan. (M. japonica × M. lomariifolia) It is named for a plant curator at Strybing Arboretum, San Francisco. It blooms throughout the winter and it is a favorite of hummingbirds. This is the edge of its hardiness zone, so it prefers a sheltered location. Plant it in moist soil in part shade. It is not very common in gardens, perhaps because it is rather slow growing and difficult to propagate. Luckily the garden has a large specimen to make cuttings from. Robbie told me all this, and to take a look at it. When fellow volunteer Karen and I were done going over the beds at the front of the building, we went around back to tend the Garden of Rare Beauty and the Iris bed. As we rounded the corner we spotted the blooming Mahonia. It was filled with tiny warblers, all twittering and drinking nectar. Among them were two hummingbirds with bright magenta throats. They make the funniest sound, like little electronic thingys.
The Mahonia was about 10 feet tall and wide. I look forward to seeing its blue berries in spring. It looked nice next to a wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox grandiflorus, in the Calycanthus family, from China) that still had some yellow leaves clinging to it, and one sweet yellow bloom. Also in bloom today, near the new bioswale, was the lovely Witchhazel, Hamamelis virginiana.
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