Patrinia scabiosifolia and Jasminum 'Fiona Sunrise'...King Midas always says, "you can't have too much gold"....well everybody else does

Fiona is just a tropical storm now and there's no assurance she'll become a hurricane, but if she does, her namesake 'Fiona Sunrise' would, I'm sure, appreciate a little rain.This Jasmine is an incredible plant sans flowers and fragrance. Brilliant yellow foliage clothes tendrils that grow six or more feet a year. We cut them back every winter and every year they explode into a carpet of gold. I'm usually amazed by the purported parentage of "hardy jasmines", but this one seems to be a legitimate offspring of Jasminum officinale.  Plant Delight's weighs in with strong positive opinions.

Tony Avent''s entry for Patrinia scabiosifolia observes that it's of Korean origin. Indeed, the first time I met it, it was growing in the Korean Triangle (Bed K-0). I wasn't that impressed but my feelings have gradually turned 180 degrees over the past 20 years. It is so dependable and so spectacularly golden that I can forgive the odd foliar fragrance.

I have to weigh in here on a completely unimportant issue, the color "gold". It seems there is a movement afoot to remove that term from the lexicon of floral colors based on the fact that it technically can be restricted to referring to that odd metallic yellow color of the metal gold. Well.....this is not France and we don't have an Academy to mediate these disputes with omnipotence so I am going to make a proposal. I suggest we allow that common usage of "gold" that suggests the dark saturated color of.....well, golden flowers. Let common usage rule.