I've had this Phil for around 8 years but finally this year, it's been gorgeous! P. bipinnatifidum. So many more rains this year. I know it's not unusual but I absolutely love it. There's nothing else like touching a robust Phil leaf, so soft, so similar to fine leather. When I got it, it was a sad, gnarled, mostly shriveled trunk with 1 chlorotic leaf sticking up, and had been in a black quart nursery pot for years. I gave it one of my biggest, bestest pots but after I think about a year, I gave up trying to "happy it up" in a pot. Put it in the ground, and said in my best Morgan Freeman voice, "Get busy living, or get busy dying." So far, it has chosen to live.
Sorry about the pot stack in the back. I hope I won't need those fugly plastic things, but in a pinch, they'll do for a few months of winter. This is a protected corner where stuff kind of gets laid aside, mostly out of sight. I can see Phil out of the window while doing laundry.
