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Bedding Dahlia

Bedding dahlias can perform as perennials.

Dahlias are as variable as related chrysanthemums. Rare tree dahlias can grow ten feet tall from the ground annually. Most popular dahlias grow less than half as high with more lavish bloom. Bedding dahlias are less than a foot and a half tall with smaller but profuse flowers. They are popular as warm season annuals, but can be perennial like the others.

Bedding dahlias are neither as ornate nor as diverse as those that are better cut flowers. They compensate with foliar density and floral profusion. Their flowers are less than five inches wide, and could be about half as wide. Their floral color range is limited to yellow, orange, red, pink and white. Floral variegation can add another color of the same range.

Bloom continues through summer and autumn, until frost. Deadheading promotes better bloom. Dormant tubers may remain in their gardens through winters here. They could rot, though, while their soil remains cool and damp. If dug and stored for winter, they prefer to return to their gardens prior to spring warmth. Dormant tubers propagate well by division.

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Blue Marguerite

Not many flowers are as blue as blue marguerite is.

            Like all sorts of daisies, gazanias, ice plants and so many of the familiar flowers in the Compositae family, blue marguerite, Felicia amelloides, is endemic to South Africa. Their flowers are the colors of the flag of Sweden though, with clear blue petals around bright yellow centers. These inch wide or slightly wider flowers bloom on well groomed plants most of the time, except during cool weather. Plants that do not get dead headed (groomed of deteriorating flowers) take breaks between bloom phases. The simple inch long leaves seem to be glossy, but almost have the texture of a cat’s tongue.    

            Mature plants may be taller than a foot and broader than four feet. Their somewhat woody stems are not as substantial as they should be, so can break easily, leaving awkward holes in otherwise well rounded shrubs. Unfortunately, the healthiest plants may live for only a few years. Distressed plants actually last a bit longer. Aggressive pruning at the end of summer or just before spring can restore old deteriorating plants for a while.

            Blue marguerite likes well drained soil, good sun exposure and somewhat regular watering. It is most often used as a colorful and shapely perennial, but is colorful enough for pots and urns of mixed perennials or annuals.

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Four O’Clock

Two colors on one four o’clock.

Punctuality is not one of its primary attributes. Four o’clock, Mirabilis jalapa, is supposed to unfurl its flowers about four o’clock. It is more likely to do so a bit later here because of aridity. Flowers can remain open and mildly fragrant all night, but might close after about noon. Four o’clock grows vigorously with summer warmth, but also appreciates humidity.

Floral color ranges through various hues of pink, red, orange, yellow and white. Flowers commonly exhibit stripes, spots or patches of other color within this range. Flowers with completely different colors can bloom on the same stems. Simple bright pink flowers are typically the most fragrant. Other colors and mixed colors may lack fragrance completely.

Most four o’clock grow in their gardens without invitation. They sneak in as seed, but are too pretty to be weeds. They grow tuberous roots to overwinter as their foliage and stems later succumb to chill. Stems do not stand much more than three feet tall, but may sprawl twice as wide. Below their lush foliage, these lanky stems are vulnerable to disturbance and wind.

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Billbergia sanderiana

Billbergia sanderiana is like a larger version of Billbergia nutans.

To many of us, Billbergia sanderiana is really just a coarser version of the related and more common queen’s tears bromeliad, Billbergia nutans. The somewhat stiff leaves of the former are substantially wider but are actually shorter than those of the latter, less than a foot long. Billbergia sanderiana foliage has minute teeth for lightly snagging against flannel sleeves, and is sometimes spotted with white. The dense basal rosettes of foliage are always producing pups that can be divided to propagate copies for friends and neighbors.

Their nearly foot long flower spikes look like bunches of perch hanging from jigs on fishing poles. The small weird flowers buds are tipped with almost navy blue, with lime flavored Pez green at the base. These flower buds hang upside down, with their blue tips pointing downward at first. Their petals curl back and upward as they open. The bright pink bracts that wrap the stems that suspend these bunches of flowers puff out as bloom progresses. By the time the lemony yellow pollen laden stamens emerge, the most memorable colors of 1985 are represented.

All specie of Billbergia are naturally epiphytic (grow within the canopies of large trees) so their wiry roots are rather minimal and seem to cling to the inside of their pots while ignoring potting media (potting soil) within. They like to be watered regularly but not excessively while weather is warm, but do not need much at all through the cooler time of year. Their media should be very loose and drain well.

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Myrtle

Myrtle is more foliar than floral.

Old landscapes of the Victorian Era may still include myrtle, Myrtus communis. It is quite a survivor. It had been popular for centuries because of its resiliency. It is very conducive to the sort of formal hedging that was popular during that time. As formal hedges became old fashioned, so did myrtle. Yet, it is still more sustainable than more popular shrubbery.

Besides, myrtle is not limited to refined shorn hedges. It can just as efficiently become an unshorn and informal hedge or screen. It can grow as tall as fifteen feet, but rarely grows higher than first floor eaves. Without pruning, it typically grows about half as wide as it is high. Selective pruning rather than shearing limits its size without ruining its natural form.

Myrtle foliage is densely evergreen and pungently aromatic. Individual leaves are merely an inch or two long. Small white flowers with prominent stamens may not be very showy. Small and darkly bluish black berries are sparse. ‘Compacta’ grows only about three feet high and wide. ‘Compacta Variegata’ is slightly more compact and variegated with white.

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Garden Verbena

Garden verbena sort of resembles lantana, with more variety of color.

When I first saw ‘Peaches ‘N Cream’ garden verbena, Verbena X hybrida, that was trendy in the early 1990’s, I thought that the variable shades of pale pink and nearly white of its flowers were too dull. Then I saw the flashy bright red, purple, blue and fluorescent pink of other modern varieties at the time, and gained a new appreciation for the more subdued color range, including white and more ‘normal’ pink. The flower color range may not be very extensive, but it is diverse.

Even though it is commonly grown as an annual, garden verbena is actually a short term perennial. It is a traditional component of mixed flower urns and planter boxes, but does not necessarily need to be replaced along with other annuals. Like English ivy and ferns that are so often planted with annuals, garden verbena can be salvaged, at least for a few seasons, as annuals come and go. It looks good in hanging pots or large urns where its slightly cascading form can be appreciated. In good soil, garden verbena can become a colorful small scale ground cover.

Mature plants do not get much more than six inches deep or two feet wide. Their coarsely dentate leaves are about two inches long. Their flat, two inch wide trusses of small flowers bloom mostly in summer. Hard pruning at the end of winter helps restore plants in spring, and keeps plants healthy longer. Mildew can become a problem in humid areas, particularly if air circulation is inhibited by crowded foliage.

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Border Carnation

Border carnations stay short and compact.

Florist carnation, Dianthus caryophyllus, is not originally as colorful as it seems. It can be red, pink, pastel yellow, pastel orange or nearly purple. Most for the floriculture industries begin as white though. White carnations are conducive to dying with any color that might be in demand. They are therefore more versatile than those with a different natural color.

Furthermore, their natural floral color range is not as natural as it seems. It is the result of extensive breeding of several species. Consequently, several popular types of carnation lack species designation. This includes a few compact cultivars that are more popular as annuals than cut flowers. Within locally mild climates, they can be short term perennials.

Border carnations grow only a few inches tall and less than a foot wide. Eventually, very old specimens may grow more than a foot tall. Such big specimens are very rare though. Border carnation foliage is glaucous bluish gray. The short and very narrow leaves are in opposing pairs. Flowers are less than two inches wide, with delightfully spicy fragrance of clove.

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Poor Man’s Rhododendron

Poor man’s rhododendrons is less colorful but more perennial than the more popular busy Lizzie Impatiens walleriana.

The nursery industry is so innately unsatisfactorily lucrative, that to us nurserymen, a ‘poor man’s rhododendron’ is any rhododendron that we grow. To everyone else, it is Imaptiens sodenii, a tender perennial that gets to six feet tall and wide or even larger on plump, softly succulent stems. It succumbs to even mild frost in winter, but regenerates rapidly by summer. It prefers partial shade, and can roast if too exposed to direct sunlight on warm days. Too much shade is rarely a problem.

The two inch wide flowers are typically very pale shades of pink, lavender or slightly blushed white. At least one modern variety has brighter white flowers with reddish pink centers. Bloom continues as long as weather is warm. The seed capsules are not much to look at, but explode to disperse their seeds when disturbed. The soft, rich green leaves are about three to six inches long.

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Saint John’s Wort

Saint John’s wort is a survivor.

Saint John’s wort is the common name of a few species of Hypericum. Hypericum beanii sometimes gets the distinction of Bean’s Saint John’s wort. That sounds more like carob, Ceratonia siliqua, though. Carob is the locust bean that sustained Saint John the Baptist in the desert. Mr. Bean was actually a respected botanist of the Royal Botanical Garden.

This Saint John’s wort is not as invasive as naturalized sorts, but is as resilient. Although rarely available from nurseries, it survives in old and neglected landscapes. Established specimens need no irrigation, but perform better with it. This species is likely rare merely because of its resemblance to invasive sorts. It propagates quite efficiently from cuttings.

Hypericum beanii is a shrubby species, unlike more familiar ground cover types. It grows about two or three feet tall and wide. Its bright yellow flowers are about two inches wide, and bloom through summer. Foliage is deciduous where winter is cooler. Here, it is likely to linger until spring foliage replaces it. Partial shade is tolerable, but might inhibit bloom.

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Ice Plant

Other types of ice plant bloom with different colors.

The bright orange, inch and a half wide flowers of Lampranthus aurantiacus, a type of ice plant, should bloom between winter and spring, but a few are brightening my garden right now. This bright yellow flower in the picture is that of the variety ‘Glaucus’, which I grew from a cutting last year. My single low mounding plant is about a foot wide now and will eventually spread to about two feet wide, and can get about a foot deep. Stems can root where they lay, forming new plants that will spread farther. To accelerate the spread, more plants are very easy to propagate from small cuttings. Lampranthus aurantiacus has narrow, inch long leaves, and a relatively shrubby basal branch structure.