I love the new issue of FG and the article about the plants that have nasty ways of defending themselves. Osmanthus heterophyllus ‘Sasaba’ is one of my favorites that was featured in the article (I love Osmanthus in general).
For many years I amassed a collection of agave that required leather gloves and double think eye-protection just to be around! I’m mostly over that now….
What nasty plants (thorns, irritating sap, sticky leaves, pokey, pointy) are you willing to have in your landscape and why?
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Years ago, my daughter planted a Poncirus trifoliata in a shady garden bed she called the Addams Family plot (as you can guess, it is home for other unusual plants, as well). Fast forward to now and the P. trifoliata is only about 8 feet tall thanks to the shade. It has formidable, dagger-like thorns that have skewered me on several occasions. However, the trimmings when draped over roses and other deer candy are very effective in protecting favored plants from grazing. P. trifoliata is earning its keep.
Eastern prickly pear. Almost impossible to weed the patches without walking away with the invisible spines embedded in my hands for days to come. That said, it's one of the only plants that will grow on the bare face of my abundant ledge rock areas and the blossoms are so beautiful and attractive to pollinators. I couldn't do without it!
I grow a prickly pear called 'thornless blue' that is a good bloomer. I love it. It still has some micro-thorns. But not as nasty!
What's the species on that?
https://youtu.be/9nTcfnqiIvE?si=150lqTU8992hvdNN
here is a video I did on it.