Yellow fever on a cold day

February 27, 2015


February is our squirreliest month, springlike one minute, cold and gray the next. We Texas gardeners are longing for spring but feeling a sense of urgency to get the garden prepped before summer’s heat returns. Despite a long stretch of dreary cold, which has put on hold several painting and hardscaping projects I need to get done, I really can’t complain when my streetside garden is blazing yellow and gold. Yup, the gophers are blooming!


As winter turns to spring, gopher plant (Euphorbia rigida), paired with green-and-gold ‘Color Guard’ yucca, warms even the coldest heart, firing up acid-yellow blooms skirted with chartreuse bracts.


Follow the yellow brick bloom road, they cry. Spring is on the way.

All material © 2006-2015 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

24 responses to “Yellow fever on a cold day”

  1. Cynthia Miller says:

    How long is their bloom cycle?

  2. Mine are blooming too, I LOVE this plant. It’s a happy reseeder that’s easy to move around.

    • Pam/Digging says:

      Yes, I enjoy seeing where it will pop up next. Usually I leave seedlings to come up where they will because it’s such a great plant for hot, dry conditions where other plants may struggle. —Pam

  3. Jenny says:

    MIne are gorgeous too. may just fill my garden with them.

  4. rickii says:

    Does the common name, gopher spurge, have anything to do with repelling the */#+ varmits? If so, I MUST get some. Besides, it is quite lovely, so maybe I need it regardless.

    • Pam/Digging says:

      I’ve been asked that before, by a Californian, and I still don’t know the answer, Ricki. Gophers aren’t a problem here in Austin, so no way to test the idea. But yes, you need it regardless. This is one of the few euphorbias that doesn’t melt away in our summer heat and humidity AND that can handle mild freezing temps in winter. Not that summer heat is an issue for you, but what I’m trying to say is, it’s a great plant! —Pam

  5. Kim Smith says:

    These are such pretty and unusual looking plants. Gopher plant. I will have to see if that is something I can grow in Ohio.

  6. sandy lawrence says:

    Love this plant! My E.’Blackbird’ is blooming now. Ditto E.’Ascot Rainbow’. Planning to add more, especially ‘Blackbird’. Yours look spectacular with the Color Guard.

    • Pam/Digging says:

      Thanks, Sandy. I wish I had your luck with Blackbird and Ascot Rainbow, but I’ve killed multiples of both. Our day-and-night heat and summer humidity make for challenging conditions for certain dry-adapted plants. —Pam

      • sandy lawrence says:

        Pam, my ‘Ascot Rainbow’ is in a wooden tub and I shade it when our Hill Country temps get triple digit. This is its 4th year. I hear they are not long lived? ‘Blackbird’ is in the ground but planted on the East. Year #2 for it. Keeping my fingers crossed for it. As you say, the night heat is our worst enemy.

        • Pam/Digging says:

          It sounds to me as if you’ve hit on the perfect conditions for them. I don’t know how long they generally live. My Ascots lived about 2 months. My Blackbirds about the same. Ha! They both got dappled shade, so maybe that was the problem. I’m just glad gopher plant is so easy for me. —Pam

  7. Lisa at Greenbow says:

    I will be thinking this when the snow melts.

  8. Shirley says:

    Love this plant and the yellow is a nice bright spot in this gloomy weather. I planted one last fall after seeing yours and it is blooming already. Yep, copying you again!

  9. Lori says:

    Mine are blooming too! It’s the first year I haven’t killed one, and they are doing great in a problem spot that is so blazingly hot & dry that nothing ever wants to live there. I hope mine fill in to look as nice as yours!

  10. Tera says:

    These last weeks of winter have just been too cold for my liking. Wondering if the Sunshine Garden Plant Sale even happened.

  11. TexasDeb says:

    Ooof. I’m glad copying worked for Shirley. Not me! I killed two euphorbia last year and was about to declare these spaces a gopher-plant free zone, but now I’m reading that several of you lost plants before finding eventual success.

    Maybe I missed the posts where everybody talked about how they killed things but kept trying, because I’d find it encouraging reading, at least. So maybe this year I’ll try gopher plants again. I’m going back and reading…very carefully…about what sort of spots they are happy in. Night heat I can’t control for, but other things I might be willing to try to get this beauty established.

    • Pam/Digging says:

      Deb, I agree that it’s helpful to hear that other gardeners kill plants too, because we ALL do. While I’ve killed several beautiful euphorbias that I admire often on West Coast blogs, I’ve had no trouble with E. rigida (gopher plant). It likes good drainage, gravel mulch (but it’ll make do with wood mulch too in a dry bed), and full sun or afternoon sun (mine has even self-seeded into dappled shade, though it’s thin there). —Pam