Plant This: Chrysocephalum apiculatum
December 05, 2010 For those of you in warm climates like Austin, here’s a great little ground cover with everlasting, silvery green leaves and nearly nonstop yellow flowers. Australian native Chrysocephalum apiculatum ‘Flambe Yellow’ was sent to me for trial by Proven Winners in the spring of 2009, and it’s ...
Plant This: Agastache attracts hummingbirds & light
August 01, 2010 Two agastache cultivars are doing particularly well in my hillside sun garden. Agastache ‘Acapulco Salmon & Pink,’ pictured here, has tripled in size compared to last year, its first year in my garden. The morning sun incandesces those tubular pinkish-orange flowers. Although I need something more structural, ...
Plant This: Sweet pink rain lilies
July 31, 2010 Looking out my living room window toward the stock-tank pond, this caught my eye: dozens of sugar-sweet rain lilies (Zephryanthes ‘Labuffarosea’) blooming with abandon after our recent rains. Because they celebrate the rain, I feel a kinship with them. Summer rain is always welcome here. I also ...
Plant This: Aye, matey, 'Black Pearl' pepper is a real treasure
June 21, 2010 Fellow buccaneers, ‘Black Pearl’ ornamental pepper (Capsicum annuum ‘Black Pearl’) is not a phantom of the garden, dark and mysterious though her leaves be. Nay, she’s a rare treasure worth many pieces of eight—which needs must be paid every year, as she be not winter hardy. Beautiful ...
Plant This: Globemallow sizzles with electric color
May 22, 2010 Labeled as an orange globemallow, which I’ve coveted since seeing one in South of the River‘s garden years ago, my globemallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua) surprised me by turning out to be red. It doesn’t bother me one bit. I love red. But now I need an orange one ...
Plant This: Go fer it with Gopher Plant, or Euphorbia rigida
March 07, 2010 A few years ago, I’d never come across gopher plant (Euphorbia rigida) in local nurseries. But now it’s everywhere. And with good reason. Euphorbia rigida‘s pretty blue-green foliage is topped in spring with chartreuse bracts and yellow flowers. After the hottest summer on record and one of ...
Plant This: Possumhaw holly adds fire to winter landscape
January 20, 2010 Beaded with bright-red berries, possumhaw holly (Ilex decidua) really stands out amid the greenish-gray and tan winter landscape of Austin. I’ve driven past several of these native, deciduous hollies in my neighborhood for weeks, and I keep thinking they’re at peak beauty. And then I’ll drive by ...
Plant This: Beautiful 'Blue Ice' Arizona cypress
November 19, 2009 Arizona cypress (Cupressus arizonica) is not native to the Austin area, but it grows well here provided it has proper drainage and full sun. If you’ve driven by Central Market at the corner of N. Lamar and 35th St., you’ve seen a stand of these majestic, pyramidal ...
Plant This: Twinkle Pink cuphea
November 19, 2009 The ‘Twinkle Pink’ cuphea* has never looked better than it does right now. In partial shade, with more afternoon than morning sun, it looked decent all summer. But with cooler weather its color has intensified, and it’s covered in cute, hot-pink, tubular flowers. I just love it ...
Plant This: Oxblood lily
September 16, 2009 Our red-hot summer has faded into an unseasonably cool and, so far, rainy September. Now come the red-hot oxblood lilies (Rhodophiala bifida). I wonder if MSS of Zanthan Gardens has any idea how much happiness she has sown among Austin gardeners who delight in seeing these bulbs ...
Plant This: 'Helvola' dwarf water lily
August 01, 2009 The floating flowers of ‘Helvola’ Nymphaea shine like pale yellow stars with buttery centers. A constellation of them have opened recently. A hardy dwarf water lily, ‘Helvola’ is the perfect size for small container ponds. Its diminutive flowers are about 2 inches across, and the cloven leaves, ...
Plant This: Senorita Rosalita cleome thrives in the heat
July 28, 2009 Of all the Proven Winners plants I’m trialing, ‘Senorita Rosalita’ cleome has impressed me the most. I’d never grown a cleome before, and I understand they can be rather prickly, smelly, and invasive. Not so with ‘Senorita Rosalita.’ She is thornless, non-stinky, and sterile. I’m actually disappointed ...
Plant This: Sparkler sedge brightens the shade
July 01, 2009 Carex phyllocephala ‘Sparkler’ brightens the shade with creamy, striped foliage and a starburst shape reminiscent of a child’s sparkler firework. I brought a large clump of sparkler sedge with me when I moved and spaded it into three divisions, which I planted under live oaks near the ...
Plant This: Macho Mocha mangave
March 25, 2009 My ‘Macho Mocha’ mangave (pronounced man-GAH-vay) is budding its first bloom stalk! I’m very excited and checking on it almost hourly. When I transplanted it from my old garden last fall, giving it a solo spot in a low stock tank, I never expected it to respond ...
Plant This: Orange crush! Crazy for crossvine
March 12, 2009 It’s a spring fling. A brief yet passionate affair. I have a big, orange crush on crossvine ‘Tangerine Beauty’ (Bignonia capreolata ) that lasts for a blissful couple of weeks every spring. Actually, crossvine is pretty fine all year, with long, evergreen leaves perfect for cloaking a ...
Plant This: Pam’s Pink Turk’s cap, a mini-me plant
July 28, 2008 Have you ever bought a plant just because it shares your name? I have. It’s like having a Mini-Me, but in plant form. Meet my Mini-Me—‘Pam’s Pink’ Turk’s cap (Malvaviscus drummondii ‘Pam’s Pink’). OK, it doesn’t look much like me, I’ll admit, but I’m already growing the ...
