The Snow On The Mountain shrub is a cool one, but not a sedate gentle space filler. It has its good points and its bad points, don’t we all.

It will be downright aggressive, even invasive if it is left to its own devices.

The shrub will make a fast and beautiful addition to your landscape. The airy stems and delicate green leaves, splotched with brilliant white, make this evergreen shrub very attractive, and give it a “snow” look.

Light shade and any kind of soil that is not wet will be just fine. A little more sun peeking thru the shade will even make the new leaves a little pink, and the stems will have a burgundy hue.

Botanical names for this shrub appear to be undecided, however those concerned with such things seem to agree that it is the Genius; Breynia. The family is Euphorbiaceae. A common name is Hawaiian snowbush, or ice cream bush. It is native to the Pacific Islands.

A drawf verity will be titled B disticha and will grow 2 or 5 feet, whatever its master decides to let it do. It is upright and compact. The regular landscape shrub is more open in form, but nicely upright and will grow over 10 feet tall if not trimmed.

The name has nothing to do with its cold tolerance, it does not tolerate cold unless grown indoor during the winter. It is suited for our 10 and 11 zones. It is not salt tolerant. The colder the climate the more it will thrive as an annual, or as a potted shrub that can be moved inside.

I have enjoyed this shrub for about 12 years I have not had any signs of pest problem and it has tolerated the cold north winds that blow through it every so often.

I fertilize it very little, like once a year with a general 20 20 20 or whatever is being used on other things around it. It is drought tolerant after the usual watering in for most shrubs, at the initial planting. It gets a spritz from a lawn sprinkler once a week during the dry spells. A strong storm may leave the soil with a fast draining pool of water, no problem, three days of monsoon rains are fine, as long as it drains off.

I do not have to do any pest spraying in that area and it does fine. There is, however, a pest called the White Tipped Black Moth. The larva is a brightly-colored worm, both very heavy feeders of the delicate foliage. The moth by the way is a daylight moth, and not exceptionally large. It is growing on the west side of the house and is shaded from most afternoon sun by a row of the neighbor’s Areca palms. It grows with Sanserveria, Bromeliads, an assortment of Plumeria trees that are at various stages of growth in black plastic pots. A young bird of Paradise is nearby, a couple of young dracena, a pot or two of ti plants that I am always starting up, and a large pot of Heliconia. Anything that needs to be in some light shade and has no place to go, gets dropped there. It is kind of disorganized and with not a lot of color.

The Snow on the Mountain shrub brings some stand out color. I have always let it grow to 8 or 10 feet and trim around once in a while. The aggressive nature of this shrub is its only downfall. I never had any problem with it suckering all around until the past two years. All of a sudden it has decided to wander everywhere. It is in a good place for that kind of behavior. When the lawn mower goes down the grass strip between the Arecas’ and the plantings, it constantly clips off the pretty little suckers. I am not upset by this because it is even pretty to look down the green alley and see all the little Snow on the Mountain babies, like snow on the ground.

I do have gardening friends who are horrified about this, but then in gardening it’s all about what you yourself like and we should appreciate each others efforts. It takes all kinds of gardeners and landscapes to keep the earth tilled and beautiful.

This shrub can be purchased at big-box garden centers and nurseries. It is not, however, as common to find as geraniums, and Plumbago.

Gardeners are also doing more herb and vegitable gardening. I have just started my first Heirloom tomato plant. It is doing well so far and my always favorite patio tomato plant has been producing dozens of delicious little morsels. The green Bell Pepper plant has tiny babies. I am not good with herbs. Except for Basil and Oregano, I am known as an herb terminator. No matter how friends encourage me I cannot keep any rosemary growing for long.

Some day maybe.

Happy gardening till we meet again.

Past president, Garden Club of Cape Coral