Plant of the Week: Heliotropium "Cherry Pie"

When my wife’s Aunt Lorena told me about a plant growing in her garden that smelt like cherry pie I was intrigued.  I was just starting out in flower gardening and she was encouraging me to take cuttings of plants from her garden to try and grow them in mine (for free).  As soon as I walked into the area of her garden with this “plant that smelt like Cherry Pie” the beautifully sweet, fruity smell of fresh from the oven home baking made home in my nostrils.  I took a cutting there and then and it has since become one of my favourite flowering shrubs in my garden.  This week’s plant of the week is Heliotropium ‘Cherry Pie’ from the Borage family, Boraginaceae.  

The plant has really attractive clusters of delicate violet-lavender coloured flowers that attract both bees and butterflies.  I have grown it in a pot near my front door fooling visitors that there is baking going on inside.  Heliotropium makes a great garden border and flowers mainly in summer however it is well into winter in my garden now and it is still flowering.  It does prefer a spot in your garden that has good sunlight for at least a few hours of the day and you need to keep watering it during the summer to encourage it to flower.  The dark green leaves are lanceolate in shape (shaped like a lance) and have a rough almost furry texture.  Being the great Greek scholar that I am (if you count 6^th form classical studies) I can tell you that ‘Helio’ means The Sun and ‘trope’ means to turn.  The leaves (and some say the flowers) turn towards the sun throughout the day. 

You can propagate this perennial from seed, taking tip cuttings or small plants can be bought from garden centres.  

Have I mentioned that they smell amazing? Actually I’m off to the garden for another hit now.  Mmmmmm Cherry Pie!!!

Plant of the Week: Entelea arborescens

I have decided on something a little different for this week’s plant of the week.  It’s a plant that I remember seeing as a kid during bush walks and a lot recently in various places around Auckland (including a large specimen at the Auckland zoo).  To be honest I have always thought it was a weed, but I have recently learnt a little more about it and in fact it’s a New Zealand native tree with the common name "Whau". 

The cool thing about this native is that its timber is one of the lightest of all trees in the world, yes even lighter the Balsa and it’s density less than Cork.  It has really pretty white flowers in the spring, which stand out against it’s large bright green heart shaped leaves.  The flowers then turn into these fascinating brown spiky seedpods. With the fact that it is a fast growing (up to 6m) spreading tree I am going to attempt to grow some from seed this coming spring, so I’m off for a hunt this weekend for some of the seeds.  Might have to visit the zoo.  I’ll let you know how I go!!!

Plant of the Week: Lavandula

I chose Lavender for the plant of the week for a number of reasons.  It smells great, looks attractive, attracts butterflies and bees to the garden, quick and easy to grow (not fussy at all), can be used in cooking, can be dried or pressed for medicinal purposes, you can put a few sprigs in pantyhose and leave it in your drawer to make your clothes smell fresh, and the list goes on.  A gardening friend of mine once said to me that a garden wasn’t really a garden unless it had lavender in it.  Mmmmm I thought, better go and get me some lavender.  It’s easy enough to go and buy it from the garden shop, but the other reason I wanted to write about it is because it can be so easily grown for free by you.  Yes, you!! Yes, free!!!  Just find a plant in your neighbourhood (as you go for your morning walk) and cut a 6cm piece of softwood with a flower bud on it.  Trim it up (to look like the photo), stick the bottom end in hormone gel if you have it (don’t worry if you don’t) and stick it in a small pot of potting mix.  Keep the mix damp but not soaking (or the cutting will rot). 

Only after a few weeks the cutting will start growing roots and after a couple of months you can plant it out into the garden.  I took (yes took, not stole) four different cuttings from four different varieties last year and all four are now growing and flowering really well (as you can see in the photos).  Two pieces of advice is to make sure you take the cutting from a healthy looking plant as you are making offspring from a parent plant.  Take from an ugly looking parent and you will get an ugly looking kid. And take the cutting from an upright section of the plant, not from the side (let’s not get into genetics here, just trust me).  You can grow lavender from cuttings all year round, although the best time is from late spring to autumn.  Even if you already have lavender growing in your garden give it a go and give it away.

Extra for Blooming geeks:  Lavender belongs to the Lamiaceae family – the mint family.   

Plant of the Week: Scabiosa caucasica

Botanical name:  Scabiosa caucasica

Common name:  pincushion flower

Family name:  Dipsacaceae

Don’t you just love this week’s plant of the week?  The word scabiosa got my attention while flicking through a seed catalogue last year.  Sounded a lot like Scabies to me (that contagious skin infection that makes you want to rip your skin off, yes the same infection a flatmate passed round when I was a teenager).  In fact it is Latin for itch and was once considered a remedy for skin diseases.  All that gross stuff aside, this perennial is so beautiful.  Its common name ‘Pincushion’ is right on the money. The flower has a dome of stamens, which make it look like a pincushion. I really like the jagged foliage too, gives a bit more visual texture to the garden.  I grew them from seed (again on my living room table) just short of a year ago, and they have just finished flowering in the past week.  If you are not keen on growing from seed, they are available at Kings Plant Barn at the moment.  If you propagate them from seed now, they will be all ready for planting out in spring.  Kings Seeds have a number of varieties available (the one in the photo is from my garden, Scabiosa caucasica). Scabiosa can grow up to 90cm high so you may need to plant them next to something supportive to keep the flowers off the ground.

Plant of the Week: Tweedia caerulea

Botanical name:  Tweedia caerulea.
Common name:  Blue flowered milkweed.
Family name:  Asclepiadaceae

OK fellow gardening fans, this is this week's plant of the week.  A great little flowering shrub.  I love the little pale blue star shaped flowers which grow in abundance right through summer and into early autumn.  Tweedias will grow up to about a meter high, but will need a bit of support if you want to keep it's shape. They need a sunny spot in your garden, but does require a bit of shelter from strong winds (I'm talking to you Wellingtonians).  They will grow well in pots and make a good cut flower for the vase, too.  

Let me know how it looks in your garden!!! 

Extra for Blooming geeks:  This plant was named after the American plant collector James Tweedie.