Update on plant trials
‘Totally Tempted’ cuphea has garnered the most favorable comments by readers as I’ve reported on the results of the Proven Winners plant trial in my new-baby garden. Here it is again in full early-summer glory.
And here is the other one in full crispy-fried misery. For those gardening, like me, in zone 8b—the hot and humid zone—give Cuphea llavea ‘Totally Tempted’ morning sun and afternoon shade. That has served my healthy one well. Hot afternoon sun has fried the other.
I’m not officially trialing Mexican weeping bamboo (Otatea acuminata aztecorum ). But, being cheap about buying expensive plants, like this one, I did undertake a rather rash experiment when I brought this baby home. I immediately divided it, against the advice of the nursery that sold it to me and a couple of commenters who are more experienced with bamboo than I. I know their advice was sound, but I got lucky with this division and kept it well watered and mulched, and now both clumps are rewarding me with fast growth and tall, new shoots. I planted them under live oaks (really, what isn’t under live oaks in my new garden?) with dappled shade most of the day until afternoon, when they get a couple of hours of full sun. I can’t wait until they’ve grown really tall and help shield part of a see-through fence-hedge combo between my house and the neighbor’s.
I can never get a good image of this combination, but I like the autumnal foliage colors of an inherited heuchera and the Proven Winners ‘Toffee Twist’ sedges I’m trialing. Bonus: beautiful elephant ear leaves (Colocasia ), inherited from the previous owners, are appearing in this shady bed.
And the second of eight agastaches I won from High Country Gardens has started blooming. This one is called ‘Summer Glow.’ It’s actually in too-hot a location, I guess, because it is stunted and a little crispy looking, but it’s too hot to move it now. I’ll wait it out with a little extra TLC and see how it fares.
All material © 2006-2009 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
Hi Pam, I love the Heuchera with the Carex and the Elephant Ears, nice combo. Too bad both of your Cuphea didn’t make it. The one that did is really nice looking.
I have in the past used those cuphea (monkey face) in pots here. They take the partial shade I have and do quite well. It seems most of your experiments are working out. The bamboo to hide the fence is great. I have vines growing on my chain link. They have almost covered it. I am glad too. I hate seeing it. It looks so industrial and I like to think homey.
The ‘Totally Tempted’ cuphea is so cute. My whole yard is pretty much morning sun and fried afternoon shade, but I’m only zone 5. But you gotta go with what you have… nothing else to do. Most of the plants who live with me are very tough! 🙂
Hi Pam, the cupheas have performed the same for me. But it is the more shady, however bone dry area where they fried. The full sun area where the butterfly weed prompts frequent watering looks wonderful. Maybe my problem with agastaches has been too dry and too sunny as well. I always thought they liked the conditions of the desert, wrong assumption it seems. And way to go on the bamboo, sometimes you gotta push the envelope! 🙂
Frances
It’s interesting to hear about your cuphea experiments, Frances. My garden receives pretty even watering right now because it’s all so new. So I think it was really the sun exposure that made the difference for my cupheas. But I agree that they need more water than really xeric plants like Salvia greggii, for instance.
Regarding the agastaches, in your cooler climate they may indeed prefer sunny and dry conditions. But here in the hot and humid zone, agastaches need afternoon shade. They prefer well-drained soil here too. This is all according to David Salman of High Country Gardens, not personal experience, as I’m only trying them out for the first time myself. —Pam
The Mexican weeping bamboo is certainly striking.
There is something about Toffee Twist that’s charming…and it does look good with the heuchera. I moved agastache to a hill with good drainage, but it gets moisture regularly and it looks so much happier. gail
I’m with Gail: I love that Toffee Twist with the Heuchera. Very quirky but sophisticated at the same time.
“Quirky but sophisticated”—I love it. I wish someone would say the same about me. 😉 —Pam
I am crazy about Cupheas & have several types. I have not seen ‘Totally Tempted’, it is beautiful…love the heuchera too.
Hi Pam, and congratulations on the successful weeping bamboo division, it will be big before you know it! I should have done that with mine… and just why does bamboo have to be so disproportionately expensive anyway?
ESP.
I truly don’t know, ESP, especially as bamboo seems to grow so quickly. All the fun foliage plants—bamboo, agave, yucca—cost so much compared to the flowering ones. Grumble, grumble. —Pam
I love it when the Colocasia come up. I’ve moved that plant around my garden so many times, there’s little bits of it everywhere. Like most bamboo, that’s one you can divide the heck out of. Alas, without any water they don’t get very big for me anymore.
How is your Senorita Rosarita Cleome doing? I got one a month or so ago and it is doing well. I saw some more at the nursery and they were looking very leggy and stressed. Glad I got mine early.
They’re bushy and beautiful, Nancy! I’ll do a full update on the Proven Winners plants at the end of this month, to see how they’re doing after a stretch of hot summer weather. —Pam
How fun to see your experiments, Pam! I’ll second the thought that it’s not just you Southern gardeners who need to baby the ‘Totally Tempted’ cuphea a bit… I had much the same results as Frances with mine: At first I thought that full sun was just too much for it, but when I moved it into first part sun and then part shade it still languished. Once I decided to baby it a bit more with water it perked up… but that just doesn’t fit in with my gardening plans, so I finally shovel-pruned it in favor of something more drought tolerant.
Thanks for sharing your experience with ‘Totally Tempted’ cuphea, Kim. I find that other cupheas are much less needy regarding shade and water, like cigar plant (C. ignea) and bat-face cuphea (C. llavea). —Pam
Yummy except for that fried cuphea. I’ve bought several Cupheas this year, and I lay the blame at your door Pam. You tempted me with your beautiful photos, and I couldn’t help myself. I’ll take a photo of my favorite which I bought earlier this year from Bustani in a few days. Thanks for the report and the photos. Don’t you just love ‘Toffee Twist’?
I look forward to seeing your favorite cuphea, Dee. I’ve enjoyed all the ones I’ve tried so far, including a pink-flowered passalong from Annie in Austin, cigar-plant cuphea, and bat-face cuphea, and ‘Totally Tempted.’ And yeah, ‘Toffee Twist’ sedge is charming. —Pam