Plant This for purple power: Spiderwort
Every year native spiderwort (Tradescantia occidentalis) seeds itself into rocky nooks and crannies and pops up in new places in the garden. I usually like where it shows up, like this spot at the top of a stone stair. Bees love the flowers too, so having lots of early-blooming spiderwort makes everyone happy.
The shade-loving flowers open in the morning and close up in the afternoon for their siesta. By late spring, they’ll go to seed, and other plants will take over visually.
This self-sown spiderwort is getting a raspberry from my little Audrey garden stake, which rises from a pot of ‘Dragon’s Blood’ sedum and sedge (Carex leavenworthii). The burgundy-hued sedum came through the Big Freeze outdoors in this unprotected pot. It also holds up all summer (in dappled shade) with no fading away. A winner!
Same color scheme, but all my ‘Burgundy Ice’ dyckias died during the epic freeze. So I replaced this trio and am impatiently waiting for the bamboo muhly grasses all around to return from their roots and provide a fluffy, chartreuse screen for my neighbor’s driveway. By early summer, I hope!
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Digging Deeper
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All material © 2024 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
Despite the freeze you have much to look forward to
A garden is good that way. 🙂
Are your spiderwort all in your protected back yard? Deer eat mine every year; I rarely see the flowers.
Deer fence going in next month! Whoo hoo!
They are all behind the fence. I’ve never tried them out front, so I don’t know how the deer would respond. But I can guess, haha. Congrats on your deer fence!
I think I have the same Tradescantia. Great plant. I have Sedum spectabile ‘Brilliant’ in a large pot. It too came through freezemageddon. In addition to being a butterfly nectar source, it is not only edible but delicious. I cut the leaves up in salads. All true Sedums are edible, but not all taste good. Try yours out, you never know.
Haha, no, my sedum is purely for my eyes to devour, Peter. I’m not as much of a garden grazer as you. 😉
A native springtime Tradescantia, how cool! Like California poppy, only Texan and purple. 🙂 Lovely to see your garden coming back.
Some things you just can’t kill. 😉