Urban Landscape, Native Landscape: Fatsia japonica

Friday, November 7, 2014

Fatsia japonica

Fatsia japonica on First Hill in Seattle in September 2013

Fatsia japonica 'Variegata' in the Alphabet District in Portland

Fastia japonica at the Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland

Fatisa Japonica in the Pearl District in Portland. The 3 photos above were taken in October 2014.

Fatsia japonica is a big & beautiful evergreen shrub, with large & distinctive, palmate leaves. Interesting flowers, carried on broad panicles, resemble an explosion of golf balls. Fruits are black. As you would expect, Fatsia japonica is native to Japan & also Korea. It is often grown in pots placed near entries to buildings, or on shaded patios, where there is enough room. The size of the plant is limited by the size of the pot, but expect it to reach at least 5 feet tall & almost as wide. Fatsia japonica can reach 20 feet in the ground. It is an excellent plant for a large shade garden, lovely against the bare trunks of tall trees. Fatsia japonica comes in variegated forms such as Fatsia japonica 'Variegata' & Fatsia japonica 'Spider's Web'. Too much sun will cause leaves to turn yellow. Click here for more Japanese plants.

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This blog began in 2008 as Metropolitan Gardens to provide information on gardening in Seattle & places like it. Click on Gardening in Cascadia. The blog expanded to include Parks P-Patches Public Gardens in the US, Canada & Europe. Then Nature was added. (The difference between nature & gardens is intent. Nature happens. Gardens are planned.) Many recent posts are not about Seattle, or even Cascadia. They are Urban Landscape: streetscape & architecture. Cascadia is the region including the Cascade Mountains of Washington & Oregon. If you want to contact the blogger, leave a message in comments. Comments are moderated & private messages will not be posted.

Our Land & Climate

The city of Seattle rests between 2 bodies of water: Puget Sound & Lake Washington. Puget Sound is a substantial part of the Salish Sea & a very small part of the Pacific Ocean. The Salish Sea is set apart from the Pacific by the Olympic Peninsula in the state of Washington & Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia. The dense, wet clouds of the Pacific Ocean travel as far as the Cascade Mountains, near the Salish Sea & not very far from the ocean. East of the Cascades lies the desert of the Columbia Basin. The moist, temperate climate of Seattle extends south to northern California & north to southeastern Alaska. The Pacific Northwest Coast from San Francisco Bay to Cook Inlet shares a flora dominated by evergreen coniferous forest. The central portion, west of the Cascade Mountains, is called Cascadia. The climate is cool & wet from fall to spring, warm & dry in summer. The Olympic Mountains block Seattle from much of the Pacific rainfall. Seattle is drier than the Atlantic coast of North America & northern Europe, cooler in summer & warmer in winter. It lies near the latitude of Paris & Quebec City.