Horry Blue Zenobia. This is a first offering of this cultivar. This blue leaf Zenobia was found in the wild in Horry County (Myrtle Beach), SC, by a former classmate of mine at Clemson U., Dr. Jim Ballington, who became the principal blueberry breeder at NCSU for decades. The cultivar name 'Horry Blue' is in reference to the county in which it was found; the same coastal county in South Carolina where Myrtle Beach is located. Just so that you won't offend the locals, the correct pronunciation is "Oree". And God forbid if you pronounce it the way it is spelled. The foliage is nearly the same "blueness" as 'Woodlanders Blue'. The species epithet pulverulenta means "powdered or covered with powder" in Latin. But the flowering of 'Horry Blue' might be somewhat more impressive, because the portion of the bare stems producing flowers are much longer, as one can see from the pictures. This is a great southern ericaceous plant which is a rhizomatous shrub with some of the "bluest" silvery foliage in the plant kingdom. In its native habitats of pocosins (fresh water bogs of highly acidic sandy peat soils), bays and bogs, it grows the happiest. But it will thrive on higher drier sites if given enough water. This species as well as Leucothoe (Ebotrys) racemosa, both in the family Ericaceae, are two of the better plants for problem wet areas. This cultivar is really quite vigorous.
Zones 5-9
