Had a big shrub of 'James Roof' in my old Shoreline garden. Amazing catkin display in winter (sorry, no photos). Mine never experienced any winter damage but there are locals here who report foliage burn in our sudden winter dips from Arctic blasts. In a somewhat protected location out of winter winds should avoid that issue.

It is common to get a leaf spot but this is most often seen in a nursery setting. In fact, most nursery plants look a little ragged and not at all enticing. But once established in the garden, this seems to disappear. Never seen it at all on local planted shrubs.

Great info, gardengal. Glad you mentioned the leaf spot since I have a plant source in the valley, seeds collected from shrubs in the Florence area of the coast and the growers mentioned leaf spot although the plants are deemed healthy. They would ship to my house. Not sure if they have "James Roof' as they only mentioned the elliptica species. May be worth the try. There once was a splendid Garrya at Clatsop community college in Astoria, but due to construction it was removed. It too had a fantastic catkin display.

Numbers of them have been grown and sold in the area for years, planted in a variety of aspects. But G. elliptica, like Laurus nobilis is prone to cold damage even in its native habitat. So a sheltered wall is the optimum situation - it will even do well on a north wall, where the protection from winter sun probably actually assists hardiness during the more severe cold spells.

The hybrid between G. elliptica and the hardier, mountain-dwelling G. fremontii, named G. x issaquahensis (after the WA foothill town) is also on the market here. With that one you get intermediate features, as well as some additional flower color in clones such as 'Glasnevin Wine'.

If you are in the general vicinity of Portland you may wish to try Cistus nursery and Xera nursery for such plants. In WA I would check the web site of Desert Northwest to see if any interesting Garrya are on offer at this time. Otherwise larger independent garden centers in the region have tended to have one or more kinds in recent years.

I bought one at a native plant sale a few years back and the only down side is that the deer really love it! As a result, it has a rangy look!

The one I am growing is getting eaten by gophers. Went out and propped it up with a 2X6, but know it needs more care. Still and all, it is looking quite good. Took quite a few years before it started to grow well and then all at once it sky-rocketed. Have to get to that before the dry season sets in. Mine is the James Roof.

i have fremontii and wrightii at my home garden. both from cistus. planted out only a year and a half ago, they definitely had a VERY slow first year in ground. fair amount of leaf spot that is mostly gone. seem to be doing better this year.

I have a James Roof about 12 years old in almost full shade. It is huge and has a great display in late winter. No leaf spot. I also have an Issaquahensis in partial sun, very dry area, about 10 years old. Not as large but still plenty big (i.e. Give them plenty of room) and no signs of leaf spot. If you want a "few" you will need a large garden area.....