September Plant Favorites

I have to thank Loree of danger garden for hosting a review of the plants that win favorite status each month.  At the end of summer in Southern California, it's hard to avoid looking at the garden with a jaundiced eye.  Entering the garden for the purpose of identifying what's looking good shifts the paradigm.  Yes, there's another dead Leucadendron and many plants are stressed by our current heatwave, but there are still a lot of plants delivering on the promise they held when I planted them.

Planted last May and only a fraction of the 6 foot tall specimen it may eventually become, this Plectranthus ecklonii was happy enough to bloom.  My first 2 attempts to grow this plant failed, probably due to excessive sun exposure.  The grower recommends half day sun, which is roughly what it gets sitting behind a dense hedge with northwest exposure but it was still touch and go for a while this summer.  Extra water helped.

The Osteospermums seem to perk up when nighttime temperatures grow cooler.  They responded to that condition earlier this month by blooming in earnest.  Osteospermum '4D Silver', marketed as an improved version of '3D Silver' and offering blooms that remain open in low light, has been blooming non-step all month.  They're short-lived perennials in our climate.

Two of my current favorites are shown here: Phormium 'Tom Thumb' and Artemisia versicolor 'Seafoam'.  I planted 3 of each in July and all are doing well, which is remarkable as planting in July here is foolish at best.  'Tom Thumb' has an interesting form and bronze edges along its green leaves and it handles the afternoon shade in this location.  I've been so pleased by the 'Seafoam' that I recently ordered 6 more by mail when I couldn't find them locally.

With apologies for the sun-soaked photo on the left, I nonetheless wanted to share Hebe 'Purple Shamrock' in bloom.  I planted 3 of these small Hebes last November purely for their foliage, which makes me think of stained glass when it's backlit (as shown in a photo from last December on the right) but the dainty lavender blue flowers they produced this month are a bonus.

My photos of Trichostema 'Midnight Magic' aren't any better than that of the Hebe despite repeated attempts but I also couldn't let it go without notice this month.  I've killed at least 2 T. lanatum (aka woolly curls), a notoriously touchy California native, but this hybrid of T. lanatum and T. purpusii is far more forgiving.  After producing a few blooms now and again, it's rewarded me with lots of blue blooms this month.

The succulents generally pull their weight regardless of the weather so I don't always give them the scrutiny the shrubs and perennials get but a few did warrant attention this month.

Agave 'Jaws' Junior, seen in the photo on the left in front of 'Jaws' Senior, is growing at a remarkable rate.  I haven't decided whether to let him remain in the fraternal embrace or relocate him but I'm impressed by his size - just back in July, he was so small I almost stepped on him.  His growth led me to check the status of my other infant agaves.  I planted 7 A. desmettiana pups (see photo top right) along the front slope last year and all are also growing quickly.  Agave mitis 'Multicolor' (middle right), a gift from Denise of A Growing Obsession last year, started life as a bulbil of her plant (see Denise's post on this here) and is now 4 inches tall.  In contrast, Agave montana (lower right), possibly the tiniest agave I've ever received by mail order, is growing but slowly.

I don't like the flowers produced by most succulents but I do appreciate those produced by this still small Faucaria tigrina variegata.

A couple of very ordinary plants also caught my notice for very different reasons.

The flowers of Catananche caerulea (Cupid's Dart) are gone but I like the silvery bracts left behind even more

Helichrysum petiolare 'Licorice Splash', planted last year, has thrived under a tree in dry shade without attempting world domination as the common species is prone to do in my garden

Visit Loree to see what earned her notice and that of other meme participants this month.


All material © 2012-2016 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party