Nandina domestica 'LemLim' MAGICAL LEMON & LIME nandina, heavenly bamboo
Nandina
The genus Nandina is botanically remarkably modest, comprising a single species, Nandina domestica, which is unusual within the barberry family (Berberidaceae). It is native to East Asia, primarily China and Japan, where it grows in the understorey of open woodlands, along the margins of scrub, and in mountain valleys. The first scientific description was published in 1781 by Carl Peter Thunberg (1743–1828) in his Flora Japonica. Thunberg was a pupil of Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and described Nandina within the framework of Linnaeus’s system of scientific plant nomenclature, summarised in his seminal work Species Plantarum, on which botanical taxonomy still relies today. Nandina, however, does not appear there, as Linnaeus never encountered the plant and died three years before Thunberg’s description was published. No fossil records of the genus are known, suggesting a relatively recent evolutionary history, yet its cultural footprint is deep. In Asia, Nandina has been cultivated for centuries in temple gardens and urban courtyards as a symbol of good fortune, perseverance and protection of the home.
The species Nandina domestica is closely associated with human settlement, a relationship reflected in its specific epithet. Here, domestica does not imply domestication in the utilitarian sense familiar from fruit trees, but rather denotes a plant belonging to the household. Thunberg encountered Nandina primarily as a cultivated shrub in gardens, courtyards and temple precincts in Japan, rather than as a purely wild forest species, and this cultural context likely influenced its naming. In Japanese culture it is known as nanten (南天), meaning “southern heaven”, and it traditionally appears in New Year arrangements as a wish for good fortune. Nandina reached Europe in the nineteenth century as part of the fashionable wave of interest in new ornamental plants from East Asia, when botanical gardens and private collections systematically sought species from China and Japan that combined an exotic appearance with good adaptability to the European climate. In Czechia it is already mentioned by Bedřich Berchtold and Jan Svatopluk Presl in their work Rostlinář aneb O přirozenosti rostlin (The Herbal: On the Nature of Plants) as early as 1825.
MAGICAL LEMON & LIME nandina comes from American town Locustville in Virgina. It is a chance seedling of open pollinated plants of nandina domestica Aurea. Its most significant features are habit and leaf colour. MAGICAL LEMON & LIME boast very compact, almost congested habit and slow growth. It pinnate leaves are composed of small, lance-shaped leaflets of vibrant chartreuse colour. The plant is evergreen in mild winters and semi-deciduous in colder regions. It was bred by Richard E. Davis for Plants Nouveau LLC and patent No. PP24749 was issued in 2014.
Nandina prefers sunny to lightly shaded, warm sites and a well‑drained, humus‑rich soil. Although it originates from regions of East Asia with relatively high atmospheric and soil moisture, once established it is well tolerant of drought and is far more sensitive to winter waterlogging than to summer drought. Care is limited to occasional watering during prolonged summer droughts and before winter, particularly in young plants. It is not prone to significant diseases or pests. It is classified as evergreen to semi‑deciduous, meaning that in severe frosts it may lose part of its foliage, which is replaced in spring. Because the leaves are long and arise directly from the canes, their fall may give the impression that an entire “branch” has dropped. Frost hardiness is usually given as -20 to -24 °C (USDA zone 6). Exposed sites with frequent cold air movement, such as plateaux, open hilltops without windbreaks or open fields, are unsuitable. Its cultivation in mountainous regions has not yet been reliably tested. It is hardy to about -23°C (USDA zone 6) and even though it is supposed to be tougher than the species we have not tested it in areas with constant cold wind or mountainous regions with long-lasting winters.
Last update 14-11-2019
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- STANDARD QUALITY - Plants of this group are 1st class quality with number of branches and overall density adequate to their size and age, considering they were container grown.
- DE LUXE QUALITY - This label guarantees a luxurious quality of manually selected plants that, compared to their height and age, are exceptionally dense and beautiful.
- EXTRA - These plants are usually mature and bigger specimens with exceptional overall appearance.
- STANDARD (as described in the plant form) means a tree with a trunk of 190-210 cm and a crown at the top, unless specified differently. The commercial size for trees is their girth measured in the height of 1m from ground.
- HOBBY - These plants are of the same quality as our standard-quality plants but younger and therefore cheaper.
- SHRUB - a woody plant with branches growing bushy from the ground level.
- HALF-STANDARD or MINI-STANDARD - a small tree with shorter trunk, its size is usually specified.
- FEATHERED - These are trees with branches growing already from the base of the trunk and up along the stem.
- GRASSES and PERENNIALS - Sizes given usually read the diameter of the pot or the clump, as specified.
