Re: [gardeners] gardeners Digest V1 #237

Jacqueline Bayer (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Wed, 08 Jul 1998 01:04:29 EDT 

>------------------------------
>
>Date: Tue, 7 Jul 1998 22:19:57 -0500 (CDT)
>From: Bob Kirk <reikirk@ksu.edu>
>Subject: [gardeners] Oxypetalum (Tweedia) caeruleum
>
>>Date: Mon, 29 Jun 1998 21:54:35 -0500 (CDT)
>>From: Bob Kirk <reikirk@ksu.edu>
>>To: Gardens & Gardening <GARDENS@LSV.UKY.EDU>
>>Subject: ID of blue plant at Longwood Gardens
>> 
>>> Can anyone identify the plant at
>>> http://www.delanet.com/~dgsmith/980621_1933a.jpg?  It was in a 
>container
>>> at Longwood Gardens.  It's truly blue -- not a bit purple.
>
>   The ring of odd structures where you'd expect the stamens to be 
>suggest
>it's an Asclepiad (milkweed family), in which case it's no doubt 
>Oxypetalum
>caeruleum (or Tweedia caerulea).  Been 2-3 years since I saw one, but 
>the
>leaves & flower look about right - and as you note, it's one of those  
>
>rarities that is genuinely *blue.
>
>   Never did all that great in central Ks., but might have wanted a 
>little
>less competition - and sun after 1:00 as well. From either South 
>Africa or
>South America, so maybe it didn't like our heat?   (Canadian) 
>Harrowsmith
>Annuals is the only garden book I've ever seen it in, anyway.
>   Good luck doing a web search, but a hit at NCSU I can't access says 
>this
>naturalizes in the lower Piedmont, so maybe heat isn't the problem. A 
>bit of
>research mentioned on another site notes it is day-neutral but long 
>days do
>cause internode elongation.... exactly my problem with it - too much 
>plant
>for the not very large or very numerous flowers.  Surely that 
>stretchiness
>would be exaggerated up in Canada (or maybe that's the only way they 
>ever
>get a usable plant out of it in a short season).
>
>   What did this one look like? With diligent pruning to turn it into
>something bushy & less straggling (and hopefully with more than a half
>dozen flowers at a time) I'd imagine it could be a fairly showy 
>specimen.
>
>------------------------------
>
Hi Y'all,
 It's Matt Trahan using my friends account at their home.

 You *may* be refering to what I know as "hardy argeritum". It's an old
standby/wild flower/weed that we grow in our garden.
 It fits your description - tall(lanky), true blue late summer/early
autumn flowering for a month or more. It grows in wet ditches along the
roadside, on our way to the beach.
 I can't honestly say if it's a self sower or it comes back from the
roots, I would hazard a guess that it comes back from the roots.
 "Hardy Argeritum" has opposite leaves that are oval and pointed and
mildly toothed and mildly textured, looks like some of the mints.

 Perhaps a true southerner transplanted to Atlanta could fill us in more.
;-)
 Matt Trahan, respond to garden@juno.com till Thursday
USDA zone 8, northeastern N.C.

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