Re: [gardeners] Annual Plumbago?
Rosemary Carlson (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Thu, 11 Jun 1998 15:52:18 -0400
Catharine: THANKS for the info! Tell me - here in zone 6, do you think it
would survive if I drug it into a non-heated garage for the winter?? It
gets under 25 degrees alot - and at my new house - NO basement....though I
will have a screened in porch. What do you think? It IS a beautiful plant.
I bought it to put in a barrel to make the house look good to sell! LOTS of
blue buds and blooms. Great plant. The fact it tolerates high humidity is a
good thing here! I'll have it in full sun here at my current house - can it
take any shade at all?
My plant is about 2 feet high and 2 feet wide. GREAT idea for shading a
clematis' roots.
Rosemary
At 09:36 AM 6/11/98 +0000, you wrote:
>Rosemary wrote:
>
>> Hi all: Tell me - WHAT is an annual plumbago?? Ran across one at a nursery
>> today and it looked like the perfect plant for one of my whisky barrels.
>
>It's a wonderful plant. It's a tender perennial rather than an annual.
>"Real" name is Plumbago auriculata. Often sold as Cape Plumbago. It was a
>garden staple in Houston...it can take brutally hot sun and high humidity.
>
>My cousin Sadie of the Flaming Red Hair used to have a mound of it that
>must have been 5 feet high and 10-12 feet in diameter. Pale blue tubular
>flowers. It's also terrific in big hanging baskets. It's a "sort of"
>climber....a shrub with very lax limbs that can get to be about 8 feet
>long. A Loose Woman is how Sadie would have described it.
>
>I grow it in a big pot here in Atlanta and drag it into the basement over
>the winter. The top growth dies at about 30F; the root will live as long
>as it doesn't get below about 25F. There is a white form, too. I have a
>small plant of it at the base of a rustic tuteur that "houses" an Ernest
>Markham clematis. The plumbago leans more than climbs and keeps the roost
>of the clematis cool. I'll take cuttings to overwinter so I can have it
>next year.
>
>Catharine/Atlanta, zone 7b
>
>
>
>