Mcneal Growers New Spring 2011 Catalog
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
M c N e a l G r o w e r s Unique Landscape Plants for Texas 512-280-2233 The new McNeal Growers. Wholesale Nursery Grower Our Plan For McNeal Growers WWW. mcnealgrowers.com There are 2 parts to having a nursery, grow- This season we are going to work to make it easier to become our customer. ing plants and selling plants. I was always more interested in the former than the latter. First we are producing this catalog so everyone can learn about all the new plants For more than 25 year I have been growing we have. and selling plants with one thing in mind, to look for and experiment with new plants for Second we will start delivering to retail nurseries and landscapers. Look on the the landscape business. The first years that inside of the back cover (page 32) for delivery costs and other details. meant trying those plants that were grown in other parts of the country. With our climate and soils that had more failures than suc- We will provide quite a bit of information through the web site. It will have copies cesses. The in the mid 80’s entered a phase of the catalog. We will add more details about particular species and more photos. of collecting and testing Texas Native plants and found that there are some native that Every week we will produce an E-mail availability and rating list. It will list all the would make good landscape plants and many plants on hand and give any special pricing, and rate the quality of each species others that would not. I expanded the search that is ready for sale. Each E-mail will have the same list as a check list order form to species from surrounding areas like Mexico that you can fill out and e-mailed back to streamline ordering. and the south west with same results, lots of great plants but only few suited for landscap- If you want to get on the list, go the web sit www.mcnealgrowers.com and send us ing. Now we are looking for new plants from a e-mail round the world with one critical criterion; they must grow easily in our soils and cli- mate. So now we research new plant spe- cies from all over the world to find out if they are adapted to our particular soils and cli- mate. We have gone through large groups of plants like Palms, Grasses, Cycads, Gingers, McNeal Grower is a wholesale grower . Bulbs, Succulents and Ground Covers looking for species that can take our soils, our cold We do not sell to or are open to the public. and heat and our erratic rainfall. We have found many and there are many more still to try. Over the last 25 years I was satisfied just Our hours of business are 8 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday. It may growing plants and letting the plants sell change slightly in the dead of the winter or the heat of the summer. themselves. But that didn’t really happen, all the wonderful plants I found were just sit- ting in the nursery and I had to do a better We are gladly open to our customers by appointment only. job getting the word out and getting more Please phone first and make sure we are not out on deliveries. of these plants to the public. I also decided to put more effort to creating educational material and broaden my customer base so If you make an appointment to visit the nursery the easiest way there would be more outlets for the public to to find us is to type in www.mcnealgrowers.com into GOOGLE find these great new plants. I also decided to focus on growing smaller plants this way we and you get our site and a map to the nursery. You can also could grow a more diverse selection of spe- find our E-mail addresses. cies and so the public can afford to try a new plant for less than the price of a Burger meal. This is the first attempt and it will be a little slow, disorganized and our availability may go up and down pretty quickly till we get Vital info for McNeal Growers. a little more experience and have more time Physical address; 105 twin creeks rd. Manchaca TX. 78652 to grow more plants. I expect to add new Mailing address; PO box 371 Manchaca TX. 78652 species pretty quickly throughout the season and over the next few years so keep an eye out. Owner; Office phone512-280-2233 Pat McNeal Table of Contents Succulents…………………………………………………………………………......page 2 Agaves……………………………………………………………….page 2 Aloes………………………………………………………………….page 3 Delosperma……………………………………………………….page 3 Dyckia………………………………………………………………..page 4 Echeveria……………………………………………………………page 4 Graptopetalum…………………………………………………..page 5 Pachyphytum……………………………………………………..page 6 Sedum………………………………………………………………..page 7 Nolinas, Sotols and Yuccas…………………………………………….......page 9 Yucca………………………………………………………………… page 10 Perennials…………………………………………………………………………….... page 11 Canna…………………………………………………………………page 11 Cuphea………………………………………………………………page 12 Dianthus…………………………………………………………….page 13 Mentha……………………………………………………………….page 15 Salvia…………………………………………………………………page 16 Scutellaria………………………………………………………… page 17 Tradiscantia……………………………………………………… page 18 Grasses…………………………………………………………………………………....page 18 Carex………………………………………………………………… page 19 Eragrostis…………………………………………………………. page 20 Ground Covers…………………………………………………………………….... page 22 Ophiopogon……………………………………………………… page 23 Origanum…………………………………………………………. page 24 Palms and Cycads……………………………………………………………...... page 25 Phoenix………………………………………………………….… page 26 Bulbs*……………………………………………………………………………………... page 27 Hippeastrum………………………………………………………page 29 Zephyranthes…………………………………………………… Page 29 *Notes on ordering bulbs………………………………… page 32 Wetland Plants……………………………………………………………………... page 29 www.mcnealgrowers.com 1 512-280-2233 Succulents These are plants that can take heat and drought by storing the water they need internally. A. Agave bracteosa, “Calamar”, This is a form of Agave bracteosa that I selected years back. The difference is the common Agave bracteosa pups up proliferously and ends up being a giant colony. Which can be nice but the shape of a single plant is really very striking. So Calamar is a non-colonizing selec- tion, it stays a single plant for a very long time. This agave grows in the same range and Queen Victoria Agave the rocky, dry deserts of north east Mexico. It is unique in that is has no spines and the leaves are soft. It is a very beautiful and kid friendly plant. B. Agave funkiana, Blue lechaguilla, This plant has narrow leaves with a distinct light stripe down the middle. It is bigger than Agave lechaguilla and the leaves grow about 3 feet long but rather upright so it only grows about 4 feet across. It forms colonies within a few years so give it some space. Again think hot, dry and rocky. Good garden soil or any soil really is not necessary just stay away from A. clay or anywhere that stay over wet during rainy periods. In the hot sun in a dry location this B. plant will have a ghostly blue-grey look. Agave bracteosa Agave funkiana C. Agave gentry, “Jaws”, Succulent. This is a medium sized agave that grows to about 3 to 4 feet tall and around. This is a desert agave and is happy in the driest, rockiest places in full sun. It can grow in clay soil as long as it’s well drained and dry. This is a selection of a Mexican species that has very large and distinct brown teeth on the leaf margins. It is green in color and got it name for the rows of teeth that remind one of a shark. D. Agave havardiana, Davis Mtn. Agave, Succulent. This is the one Agave you can see in the Davis Mountains of West Texas. Out there in the dry air it looks very grey but here in the more humid air tends to look greener. It’s a big 4-5 foot plants when full grown. This is another desert plant so give it a dry, hot, rocky place and stay away from wet or heavy soils. This species grows in almost pure gravel with excel- D. lent drainage and does it best in that kind of place. It can stand some shade like in a thinned out cedar brake, which is really close to it home in the pinion pines. C. Agave havardiana Agave gentryi”Jaws” E. Agave Montana, Alpine maguey, This is one of those Agaves with lots of leaves making it look like a cabbage. It grows in the high mountains of eastern Mexico. It is common in the pine forest there. The high mountains are dry and the air is dry so keep this planted where the drainage is perfect. It is not as heat tolerant as the desert species and can take some part day shade. The leaves are a nice medium green and the new spines and teeth are cinnamon brown so it’s a nice contrast. This one gets 4-5 feet so give it some room. F. Agave monatana, “Mr Ripple”, You can tell Agave montana is a by it’s name a high elevation species found in the mountains of north eastern Mexico. It’s drought tolerant, heat tolerant and cold tolerant, but doesn’t like heavy, wet soils like the other agaves. It will grow decent in part sun. This selection gets its name from the cool wavy, undulating leaf margins which gives it a distinct E. outline. It’s tough, rugged and grows to about 4 feet around and tall so give it some room in F. Agave montana a planting. Agave montana “Mr.Ripple” G. Agave Parryi var. truncata, Silver Artichoke, Agave parryi ranges over northern Mexico into Arizona and some forms can be found high in the mountains. The leaves on this form are squarish instead of tapering hence truncate in the name. With the smaller leaves this plant is more compact, only 2-3 feet tall and around making look like a large cabbage or artichoke.