Presumbly you are asking about Tasmannia (Drimys) lanceolata. Can be hurt by colder winters, try it in a sheltered position.

I think so bboy, perhaps I should grow it in a pot. Thanks.

Have grown this plant for a number of years. I think the idea re: some winter shelter is sound - I grew it first in my Shoreline garden then moved it when I relocated to the Kitsap area, both of which are on the milder end of our climate zone.

FWIW, my drimys is setting flowers right now. I prefer the lanceolata - smaller dark foliage that contrasts nicely with the dark red stems - than the winteri, which has larger, coarser foliage and plain green stems. But very fragrant flowers :-)

haven't tasted winteri, but lanceolata has great tasting leaves. cinnamon-esque.

When it got to 11 degrees in November 2010, a small Tasmannia (Drimys) lanceolata that I had planted the previous April froze back to the snow line. It is certainly a great looking plant for sheltered gardens. I guess there are a few other Drimys/Tasmannia species out there in the highlands of Southeast Australia that I have never heard of in cultivation - perhaps there is hope yet for a fully hardy one to be found.

Other, older, well-established specimens went down also - hence my previous comment. Meanwhile, Monrovia is trucking 5 gallon plants to local outlets as part of its Dan Hinkley line. I haven't checked to see if this stock was based on a more hardy clone that Dan might have selected.

I first encounted the species in the interesting and pleasant garden of Brian and Margaret Mulligan, near the east shore of Lake Washington, which I worked in on Sunday afternoons for a time. (Mr. Mulligan directed the Seattle arboretum from 1947-1972). As I remember it they had it against the sunny side of the house.

This post was edited by bboy on Sat, Mar 9, 13 at 11:46

Today I encountered Dan at the NHS sale, where he and Bob had a table set up, were selling plants. The Monrovia stock is based on seed he collected in the wild. They may have chosen a single seedling that looked superior to them, cloned it and used that as the basis for the Dan Hinkley Collection offering of Tasmannia.

Dan at first thought I was asking about an open-pollinated seedling of Drimys winteri that came up with partial Tasmannia characteristics. So apparently Monrovia has this as well.

It occurs to me that if the two cross like that it could be taken to imply that Tasmannia should stay in Drimys.

Thanks Ian and bboy, great info.

The variety of drimys Dan offers through Monrovia is Drimys winteri 'Pewter Pillar', a completely different plant both in origin (South America) and appearance from the pepper bush and supposedly at least one more zone hardier (z7) than the lanceolata. It gets much larger and has much bigger foliage, which could conceivably be more prone to cold damage than the more finer foliaged lanceolata.

Multiple local outlets currently have the Monrovia offering of Tasmannia (Drimys) lanceolata that I referred to above, discussed with Dan. Pewter Pillar is a registered trademark used to sell an obviously different selection or strain of D. winteri var. chiloense. I saw those around previously, probably as recently as last year.

This post was edited by bboy on Sun, Mar 17, 13 at 20:44

Re: "It occurs to me that if the two cross like that it could be taken to imply that Tasmannia should stay in Drimys."

no more bigeneric hybrids?

Like --what was it?..... Mahoberberis?

That genera never cross was not my assertion, but as it happens in that instance some would place Mahonia within Berberis.