IN CALIFORNIA, more moons ago than I care to think about, I admired a vibrantly yellow-flowered shrub growing en-masse on the rocky slopes aside the highways.
Today I enjoy it in the more prosaic setting of my partner’s postage stamp front garden and an especially fine specimen against the wall of a Wootton High Street house.
My partner’s mum has remembered its Latin moniker ever since she obtained it and it graced her garden in East Cowes before it was transplanted to Newport.
It is only small but the mass of golden blooms are much admired by neighbours.
Californian Glory in bloom.
To me it is known as Fremontia; to those with better memories and diction it is Fremontodendron Californicum.
It flourishes here on our largely mild Isle of Wight in sunny, sheltered, well-drained spots. It likes warm walls.
In Californian wilds it grows as a freestanding large bush.
Here in the UK it is commonly trained and tied to a trellis or frame against a wall.
If grown as a freestanding plant at the back of the border or in a container it needs…
