Acer circinatum ‘Pacific Fire’ (ACERACEAE) Red-Bark Vine Maple
Grown by Jon Craig in Corralitos: 
Vine maple is a deciduous shrub or tree that occurs in nature from British Columbia into Mendocino and Lake Counties. ‘Pacific Fire’ is a new cultivar selected for its shiny, orange-red bark in winter. It’s color equals, and some say it surpasses, that of Coral Bark Japanese Maple, and it’s less prone to verticillium. The color is present the rest of the year but much less intense. The leaves are nearly circular, palmately lobed, and light green with some bronzy overlay on the young leaves. Fall color is yellow, but orange to red shades are possible. In spring, it blooms with dangling clusters of rusty red and white flowers followed by rusty red, winged seed pods that add even more interest and color to this small tree. It’s perfect site would have acidic soil, lots of humus, regular water, and protection from afternoon sun; but, it will grow very well in most any soil, in a variety of settings from light shade to almost full sun, and is even somewhat tolerant of dry summers if given a cool site.  It’s smaller and slower growing than the species. Expect it to be about 10 ft tall in 10 years. Let it grow as a big, multi-stemmed, upright shrub, or train it into a single-trunked, small tree. It’s a good choice for containers too.

Ajania pacifica (ASTERACEAE) Silver and Gold Chrysanthemum
Grown by Pat Knight in Los Altos Hills: 
This native of Japan and eastern Russia is a rhizomatous perennial that makes a dense, 18 in. high mound that will eventually spread to 4 ft wide. It’s a beautiful foliage plant with lobed, dark grey-green leaves with white edges and undersides. In fall, it’s covered with clusters of small, golden, button-like flower heads with disk flowers only. It tolerates any soil with decent drainage, prefers full sun, and is somewhat drought tolerant. It’s excellent as a groundcover or in a rock garden.

Aloe aristata var. montana (ASPHODELACEAE) Lace Aloe, Torch Plant
Grown by Bill Kurtz in Santa Clara: 
This species is one of the most cold tolerant of the aloes. It’s native to southern Africa where it can be found growing on mountains in snow. Bill’s has survived 24° with no damage. It’s a stemless, tight rosette that only grows about 6 in. to 8 in. in diameter but will make a good sized clump by offsets. The leaf tips terminate with a long, white thread; the margins have small, soft, white teeth; and the front and back surfaces are decorated with small, white bumps. These bumps are smaller and more liberally scattered on var. montana. The blooms are tublular, 1in. long, and scarlet to pink, usually occurring in late spring. It will tolerate regular water in summer but has to be kept on the dry side in winter. It can be grown in full sun to light shade and makes a good houseplant.

Hakea baxteri (PROTEACEA) Fan-leaf Hakea
Grown by Kerry Barrs at SF Botanic Garden: 
Kerry found his Hakea at Hortus Botanicus, an interesting “collector’s nursery” in Fort Bragg. It is native to southwestern Australia where it’s part of the heath scrubland. It is an erect, open, evergreen shrub that will usually grow to 5 ft high but has been known to reach 15 ft. In spring, it has small clusters of fragrant, cream flowers at the leaf axils. Interesting, 2 in, woody seed capsules follow. But it’s grown primarily for its beautiful leaves which resemble thick, rigid, ginkgo leaves with prickly, dentate, upper margins. It will grow in full sun or a little shade in any soil that drains well. It’s drought tolerant and hardy to at least 20°.

Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Victor Reiter Dwarf’ (LAMIACEAE) Rosemary
Grown by Nancy Schramm in Gilroy: 
Nancy teased us with this gorgeous, but presently unavailable, rosemary that her father, Ed Carman, grew and named for another very accomplished, Bay Area plantsman. It’s a  small, delicate-looking, 18 in H x 2 ft W, dense mound with small leaves and loads of light blue flowers in fall.
 
Salvia spp. (LAMIACEAE) Sage
Grown by Betsy Clebsch in La Honda: 
S. stolonifera is a deciduous perennial that’s native to cloud forests in Oaxaca, Mexico. It’s being re-introduced by Cabrillo’s Kathleen Navarez, who will be our February speaker. It makes a lax, 1½ ft high mound with nice, 1½ in, glossy leaves held close to the stems on short petioles. From October to frost, tall flowering stems bear widely spaced whorls of 1½ in long flowers in an amazing, dark orange-red color that borders on rust. They have just enough fine fuzz for a soft, velvety appearance. Given it’s origin, it probably needs regular irrigation and prefers some afternoon shade. It’s hardiness limit is unknown for now. S. x ‘Anthony Parker’ is a cross between S. leucantha ‘Midnight’ (Mexican sage) and S. elegans (Pineapple sage) and was a chance seedling that popped up in the lawn of a South Carolina garden. The inflorescences resemble Mexican sage but without the fuzz, and the leaves are more like Pineapple sage but without fragrance. It’s a compact, 4 ft to 5 ft H x 5 ft W, shrub-like perennial that’s topped from September to frost with spikes of dark purple flowers in dark purple calyxes on purplish, 6 in. to 1 ft. tall stems. It’s tough, easy, drought resistant, and very floriferous. It’s more or less evergreen here depending on how cold winter gets.For the present, S. x ‘Bigswing’ is the working name for a probable hybrid growing in Betsy’s garden. S. macrophylla, a native of Peru, is a suspect for one of the parents. It’s a big, 4½ ft x 5 ft, partly evergreen perennial with big, felted, arrowhead-shaped leaves. It started blooming at the beginning of August and is still full of deep blue-violet flowers on branched inflorescences. All parts of the inflorescence are very sticky. 

	Echeveria x ‘Doris Taylor’

Succulents (CRASSULACEAE)
Grown by Chris Egan in Los Altos Hills: 
Chris brought 3 plants that she scored at a recent meeting of the Cactus and Succulent Society of San Jose. Echeveria x ‘Doris Taylor’ (Woolly Rose) is an outstanding hybrid of E. setosa and E. pulvinata. It has red-tipped, mid-green leaves densely covered with fine, white hairs. It has an upright, multi-stem form and blooms with unusually large, orange flowers. E. x ‘Violet Queen’ is a  clustering type that makes offsets very readily. Long, silver-blue leaves have pink tips and curl upward a bit to create a beautifully formed rosette to 8 in. across. In winter, it takes on overall mauve tones. Chris also had an unnamed X Graptoveria with pink-tipped, grey-green leaves in a pretty rosette. Graptoverias are hybrids of echeverias and graptopetalums. Graptopetalums are native to Mexico and southwestern US and make attractive rosettes with thick, subtly colored, sometimes speckled leaves. They hybridize readily with echeverias. In general, graptoverias and echeverias do very well in our mild climate. They are drought resistant but are better with summer water, and most tolerate light frost and like protection from hot afternoon sun in summer. Graptoverias especially may be prone to damage from hot sun