Indianola Silver Mahonia. This selection was shared with me by great friend and plantsman John Elsley of Greenwood, SC. John was the former Director of Horticulture at Park Seed and Wayside Gardens. Joh said that Dan Hinkley had given it to him. I contacted Dan and this is what he reported to me: "This is the original collection of M. eurybracteata I made on Emei Shan in 1996, which I call 'Indianola Silver'. It has given rise to some of my very best silvers." Wikipedia reports: "Mount Emei, alternatively Mount Omei, is a 3,099-metre-tall (10,165 ft.) mountain in Sichuan Province, China, and is the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. Mount Emei sits at the western rim of the Sichuan Basin." As one can see from the pictures it makes a handsome shrub with somewhat softer leaves than most Mahonias. This picture also shows the degree of variability that one might find within this species as one can observe from the other M. eurybracteata selections offered on our site which were acquired from nurseries in Japan. For us here in zone 8 it has flowered in early fall with a spectacular display of yellow flowers. These plants that we offer are seedlings of this selection. They amazingly come true to form since the parent plant was far removed from any other Mahonias, as well as no other Mahonias were in flower at the time. Hence, all of the seedlings retain the bluish-silver coloration to their leaves. It is happiest in filtered sun. The first picture is courtesy of Mike Chelednik.
Zones 7-9
