When you think about the intelligent, courageous and, inevitably, flawed people who founded our country, a host of names come to mind.\u00a0 Bernard McMahon\u2019s is not among them.\u00a0 However, McMahon\u20141775-1816\u2014knew or corresponded with many of the political and horticultural notables of his era.\u00a0 He was a garden mentor to Thomas Jefferson, who may be considered America\u2019s \u201cfounding gardener.\u201d\u00a0 That association also led the third president to choose McMahon as curator of the plants collected by Lewis and Clark on their lengthy and daring western expedition.<\/p>\n
McMahon, an Irish immigrant, was a nurseryman, plant collector and writer.\u00a0 His American Gardener\u2019s Calendar<\/em> was the first book of guidance aimed at gardeners in our newborn country.\u00a0\u00a0 He sent American native seeds and specimens to correspondents in Europe and offered European horticultural delights to customers in America.\u00a0 And though early American gardening was necessarily derivative of European gardening, McMahon encouraged his readers to look close to home for worthy plants.\u00a0 Peter Hatch, writing in the January 1993 edition of Twinleaf<\/em>, the journal of the Jefferson Center for Historic Plants, noted, \u201cIt was in the Calendar <\/em>that American gardeners were first urged to comb the local woodlands and fields for \u2018the various beautiful ornaments with which nature has so profusely decorated them\u2019.”<\/p>\n It is no wonder, then, that botanist Thomas Nuttall, McMahon\u2019s contemporary, named a new genus, Mahonia, after Bernard McMahon.<\/p>\n I wish more people would grow Mahonia and not just because McMahon should be honored and celebrated in his adopted country.<\/p>\n Every garden needs structure and evergreen shrubs are a great way of marking boundaries, defining specific areas and providing year-round color.\u00a0 The most common varieties of evergreen Mahonia, sometimes called \u201cOregon grape holly\u201d do all of that and more.\u00a0 The \u201cOregon\u201d common name usually refers to an American native species, Mahonia aquifolium, which is native to the West. \u00a0Sometimes it is also used to describe Mahonia japonica, a native of China, with similar good looks and habits.<\/p>\n If you saw a single Mahonia aquifolium or japonica leaflet\u2014dark, glossy green, with spiny edges\u2014you would think it was a holly leaf.\u00a0 The resemblance does not go much further, as Mahonias and hollies are not closely related.\u00a0 Both genera bear leaves that are alternate on the stems.\u00a0 Mahonia differs from holly in that each \u201cleaf\u201d is really a compound structure up to one foot long, made up of anywhere from seven to 19 leaflets that are also opposed on the stems.\u00a0 Botanists refer to this form is called \u201cpinnately compound\u201d.<\/p>\n True holly leaves start out green and stay that way.\u00a0 Mahonia leaves emerge red and green up as they mature.\u00a0 Holly\u2019s wood is light brown when cut, whereas Mahonia wood is bright yellow, like its relatives, the barberries.<\/p>\n Another very visible difference between true hollies and Oregon grape holly is the flowers.\u00a0 Holly flowers are most often small and white, giving way eventually to the bright red berries that adorn our holiday decorations.\u00a0 Mahonias bear showy panicles or flowerheads of small yellow blooms with a pronounced lily-of-the-valley scent.\u00a0 The bees love them in spring and so do humans.<\/p>\n Once the flowers have faded, the blue \u201cgrapes\u201d of Mahonia\u2019s common name appear.\u00a0 These are round to oval, blueberry-size fruits with a waxy or glaucous surface.\u00a0 Though sour, they are edible and can be made into jam if you are so inclined and can get to the bushes ahead of the birds.<\/p>\n Shade gardeners frequently despair about their landscape choices.\u00a0 They can rejoice in Mahonia, which thrives in partial shade.\u00a0 Once established in neutral to acid soil, it can also survive drought.\u00a0 Many true hollies grow into substantial trees; aquifolium and japonica grape hollies top out at three to seven feet.\u00a0 For those with smaller spaces, the \u2018Compacta\u2019 variety of Mahonia aquifolium reaches only three feet tall.<\/p>\n Mahonias suit woodland-type gardens, evergreen showcases and habitat landscapes.\u00a0 The aquifolium species is perfect for native plant gardens.\u00a0 I would choose Mahonia over barberry every time for boundary hedges.\u00a0 Like barberry, Mahonia increase by producing root suckers, but if you watch out for them and remove them promptly, the plant will not spread.\u00a0 If any pruning is necessary, do it after the flowers have faded.<\/p>\n Throughout America\u2019s history, people have applied their own definitions to the word \u201cpatriotism\u201d and those definitions sometimes cause conflict.\u00a0 If you want to define non-controversial patriotism\u2014and good horticultural judgment–in your own garden, plant Mahonia aquifolium and honor Bernard McMahon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When you think about the intelligent, courageous and, inevitably, flawed people who founded our country, a host of names come to mind.\u00a0 Bernard McMahon\u2019s is not among them.\u00a0 However, McMahon\u20141775-1816\u2014knew or corresponded with many of the political and horticultural notables of his era.\u00a0 He was a garden mentor to Thomas Jefferson, who may be considered … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3,5],"tags":[1780,257,1778,155,1779,1781,1776,448,1777,827,126,1058,976],"class_list":["post-2287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","category-winter","tag-bernard-mcmahon","tag-deer-resistant-plants","tag-evergreens","tag-habitat-plants","tag-holly-like-plants","tag-lewis-and-clark","tag-manonia","tag-native-plants","tag-oregon-grape-holly","tag-pollinator-plants","tag-shade-plants","tag-thomas-jefferson","tag-winter-interest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2287"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2288,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2287\/revisions\/2288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}