Tsujigahana Coralberry. I originally named this cultivar 'Crinkle', so if you have purchased a plant under this name, it is the same selection. Often when we purchase plants in Japan and ask what the proper name should be, we are frequently met with a shrug and the reply, "No name." On later visits, we find out that they have since given it a cultivar name. But I finally found a picture of this cultivar in one of my Japanese variegated plant books. I just met Yoko Arakawa in Seattle where I was speaking at a conference on the Lily family. Since I had so many slides of plants taken out of Japanese references, she volunteered to help me translate the names. Here is Yoko's explanation of this name: "Tsujigahana is a special technique of fabric dying. It is extraordinary high level technique in tie-dye. It is called Shibori." This is one of the more fascinating new varieties and the amazing thing about it is that it is very stable. I have not seen a single reversion on any of our plants unless there is an occasional all white shoot. It is a very slow grower and does not get as tall as the species. This plant makes an excellent pot plant to be grown inside where one's climate might be too cold to grow the species outdoors. It also has the same blush pink flowers and red berries of the species. When I first brought this cultivar into the country, I had paid about $100 for a single rooted cutting. I left my shipment with a native Japanese at the inspection station in Los Angeles. The next day he called me to tell me that he would have to reject this plant because "it was diseased." Curiously it wasn't listed on my list of plants that had to be destroyed! I'm afraid that a plant inspector has this growing in his garden. OH NO!!! An inspector would never do anything like that. You want to bet?!
Zones 7b-10
