festival grass cordyline

Today's guest blog is from Abbie Jury, a New Zealand garden writer whose husband, Mark Jury and father-in-law, Felix Jury, created Festival Burgundy cordyline, available in most Lowe's or Home Depot stores and at most of the larger independent garden centers. Abbie's column regularly appears on her and Mark's blog, Tikorangi: The Jury Garden.

Abbie Jury

Festival Burgundy (called Red Fountain by Abbie, because that's its name in Australia and New Zealand) features a fountain of burgundy-red, glossy, strappy leaves that look great planted in masses in the landscape especially with white or bright-green plants. Festival Burgundy has become widely popular as a low-maintenance, drought-tolerant, versatile plant that grows well in sun or shade. But it also looks as good as it works, offering a colorful, vertical, architectural element and a small footprint great for tight spaces: 

On a personal note, I love to use Festival Burgundy as a sophisticated, contemporary element for needed height in containers, and this year have had fun mixing it with sempervivum, lime ipomoea (sweet potato vine), purple ornamental kale and coleus in lime, white and burgundy:

The History of Festival Burgundy

By Abbie Jury

More than 30 years ago, Felix and Mark were both fascinated by the habit and appearance of our native Astelia chathamica (often sold under a cultivar name of Silver Spear). There was little that needed improving in the pointed, silver leaves of this clump-forming plant, but both father and son saw the potential in trying to develop a new colorway with red foliage. So began a 20-year effort before Mark pulled the plug, deciding that his red astelias were just too difficult and too unreliable to market widely. We still have them in cultivation in the garden here and a few of the selected clone were released by us onto the market. Other seedlings found their way onto the market by devious means on the part of a third party (that is a story best kept in-house). But clearly, others found the plant just as difficult to build up – and indeed to keep alive at all – because it has never been a huge commercial hit, despite the demand. Sometimes breeding directions are more blind alley than interesting path and Mark reluctantly abandoned the red astelia.

Undeterred, Felix looked to the cordyline genus, where he crossed two lesser-known New Zealand forms – banskii and pumilio. In this country, where Cordyline australis is far and away the most common form around (called cabbage trees and an icon of our country), cordylines are expected to have trunks and grow several meters tall (1 meter equals about 3.28 feet). When Mark raised the seed from this cross, there was the lucky break that came to be known as Red Fountain in the first instance (but also marketed in the US as Festival Burgundy).

Festival Burgundy is clumping, rarely putting up a trunk much above 10 cm (about 4 inches), with exceptionally good coloring in shiny burgundy red, which lasts year round. The narrow, strappy leaves are relatively soft and fountain out from the base. The tall, arching flowers are pale lilac and highly fragrant.

We have been delighted by the success of this cultivar on the international market, thanks to the efforts of Anthony Tesselaar International acting as our agent. Less delighted, one might say, with the efforts of competitors to come in behind it with ring-ins and substitutes, some even raised from Red Fountain (how we wish they would show some originality and come up with their own ideas) but we are confident that nothing yet has appeared that is the equal of Red Fountain.

Mark has continued with the cordyline breeding, but with the market being flooded with different cordylines from other sources, many proving difficult and unreliable, he as yet has put any further releases on hold.

Thanks for contributing, Abbie!

How 'bout you? Have you ever grown Festival Burgundy (or Red Fountain, as it's called in some parts of the world)? If so, what was your experience with it? Any design tips or pics? By all means, send them in!

After a lot of false starts, I finally got into the garden this past week and started planting and digging. But as I mentioned in a previous post on easy-care gardening, I just moved to a new house with a huge, blank canvas for gardening, so I’m taking a pro-active approach to making my garden as low-maintenance as possible. 

That’s why I took a good, hard look at these six steps to an easy-care garden from Plant Savvy^®, an e-newsletter by Monrovia (one of the world’s largest producers of container-grown plants). For more Plant Savvy ideas from Monrovia, visit Monrovia.com. 

Plant ‘em and forget ‘em - Monrovia’s 5 steps to an easy-care garden

Gardening is a lot like cooking. Sometimes you want to putter in the kitchen all day, making breads and soups from scratch and creating the perfect meal. 

But there are plenty of times when you just want delicious, healthy food on the table quickly.  

Same thing in the garden. Spring planting is exciting, and you’re happy to spend a few     weekends choosing plants and digging in the mud. But a few weeks later, you just want to have a nice−looking yard without a lot of effort. You want pretty flowers and foliage you can cut for an indoor arrangement and a chance to relax and enjoy your outdoor room.  

No problem. Simply follow Monrovia’s six steps to choosing plants for an easy-care garden … just "plant ‘em and forget ‘em."  

1) Buy shrubs 

There are dozens of dwarf shrubs that keep a neat appearance, and you won’t even need to do more than an occasional pruning. 

Here are three favorites with year-round foliage color:

• Goshiki False Holly (at right), with five different colors throughout the year.
• Dwarf Globe Blue Spruce – a true-blue gem.
• Sea of Gold^® Juniper – for a dazzling, bright pop of yellow.

Barberries are also a super choice for fascinating foliage, with colors ranging from yellow to pink and burgundy. The new Crimson Pygmy Dwarf Japanese Barberry is a deep crimson color and cold-hardy to Zone 4.

And for evergreen, variegated foliage and fragrant blooms, variegated winter daphne is stunning.  

2) Opt for perennials 

Ever seen that T-shirt that says, "Friends don’t let friends buy annuals?” That’s because annuals need to be replanted every season, and why perennials are preferred in the low−maintenance garden.  

Lily of the Nile is one great choice, with its pretty, strappy foliage and a spray of purple or white flowers. Try Midknight Blue^®  for fabulous deep violet-blue color (I, of course, would also try Tesselaar’s Agapanthus Bluestorm^TM, at right).

Coneflowers are bright, cheery and easy to grow. These colorful natives attract birds and butterflies and make great cut flowers. Or, to add some complementary texture, try ornamental grasses. For stunning color, purple fountain grass is a can’t-miss pick.

3) Go for easy edibles 

Planning a summer vegetable garden is tempting, but it’s also a lot of work. Opt instead for a simple herb garden, with trouble-free rosemary, thyme, bay, lavender and sage. 

Or, try easy−to−grow edibles like raspberries – and if you’ve got acidic soil (or are OK with adding soil acidifier) – blueberries. Both of these shrubs will produce a bounty of fruit all season. Once established, fruit trees have a long life and reward you with your own organic fruits.  

Pomegranates, figs, stone fruits and citrus have great ornamental value, too. Dwarf citrus, like the Meyer Improved Lemon, Nagami Kumquat or the Dancy Tangerine (at right) work well in containers, on the patio or indoors. Their fragrant blossoms are a nice, big bonus. 

4) Think water-wise plants 

Especially for your containers, water−wise plants eliminate countless hours of hand watering. 

Yucca and cordyline are gaining favor for their bold, architectural structure, interesting foliage colors and drought tolerance. Try the super−hardy Golden Sword Yucca with boldly striped green and yellow leaves. Or, go for Festival Grass^® cordyline (at right) with glossy, reddish-burgundy, strappy leaves that contrast beautifully with bright green plants in the garden and containers. 

Pick improved varieties 

Monrovia grows plants that are more disease- and pest-resistant, more heat- or cold-tolerant and tidier, with a habit that requires less pruning. 

Winter Gem Boxwood, for instance, is one of the hardiest boxwood varieties. It takes on a pretty golden hue in the winter and then turns bright green in spring.  

If you love roses, try Tesselaar’s super-simple Flower Carpet^®  groundcover roses. They don’t need deadheading and they produce nonstop color for up to 10 months.

5) Start your plants off right 

Finally, make sure your plants go in the ground with good soil, compost and a layer of organic mulch (see me doing this with my own raised bed out back, at right). Not only will your plants be super-healthy and beautiful without much effort, the mulch will block out most of the weeds. 

Well, I’m headed out again –  to rake in more compost and shovel more mulch.

Have any tips for low-maintenance or easy-gardening? Send them along! I need them all!