Late bloomers
At twilight last evening, these late bloomers caught my eye. This is ‘Twinkle Pink’ cuphea, which flowers in summer but looks best in fall, when temperatures cool off.
‘Twinkle Pink’ is one of several cupheas in my garden, as reliable as cigar plant (C. ignea) in overwintering. I also have bat-face cuphea (C. llavea), but it tends to get knocked back hard, and sometimes dies, in cold winters.
I moved the forsythia sage (Salvia madrensis)—like the cuphea, a passalong from Annie in Austin—to the hillside garden earlier this year, thinking it would make a good fall show with the ‘Adagio’ miscanthus.
But it ended up getting buried in the grasses, with just a long yellow wand or two poking up. I’ll move it again in the spring, once I think of the right spot.
‘Diamond Frost’ euphorbia is still shining at ground level in the shade garden. I really love this determined bloomer, even though it generally needs replacing in spring if we get a few hard winter freezes.
Tough as nails Autumn sage (Salvia greggii) adds hot fall color and is good for attracting sulphur butterflies too.
The golden flowers of Mexican mint marigold (Tagetes lucida) also add beauty to the fall garden.
As a bonus you can use the leaves as a substitute for tarragon. I hear that even the flowers are edible and can be used as a garnish.
Autumnal interest is also found in ornamental grasses, like this purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum). The bottle tree, of course, blooms all year long.
All material © 2006-2010 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
I have several Diamond Frost in containers, I am trying to overwinter one of them. I have never had them return here, although when I think about it, I don’t recall ever planting them in the ground…hmm. I have seen a lot of bottle trees on blogs and I have to say, yours is the neatest design I have seen. Not neat as in cool, neat as in tidy…I like that!
I like naturalistic-style bottle trees too, but I wanted mine to echo the symmetry of an agave bloom spike. —Pam
Love your cupheas, and love their names – ‘Twinkle Pink’ and ‘bat-faced’ are delicious monikers. Your bottle tree satisfies the longing for tall and blue and vertical beautifully 🙂
I’m a sucker for fun common names too. I only just learned ‘Twinkle Pink’s name this year though, as it was a passalong known only as a pink cuphea before. —Pam
Pam, I love what I’m seeing of that Salvia madrensis in your garden. I’ve got a little one not doing much and was hoping for maybe a single spike, but not this year. It’d look great next to either the miscanthus or your purple fountain grass. The Mexican mint marigold is charming too. I’m wondering how it differs in the garden from T. lemmonii. Maybe more compact? The Diamond Frost overwinters here and gets larger every year. Amazingly tough plant taking up little soil space but lots of air space. Works for me…
Denise, Mexican mint marigold (Tagetes lucida) is much more compact and grows more upright than copper canyon daisy’s loose, rounded mass (Tagetes lemmonii). And of course it’s edible. It’s also a little less drought-tolerant, in my opinion. —Pam
I wish the chickens didn’t love the Diamond Frost Euphorbia as much as I do.. if only they would be content to just LOOK at it and not eat it! Your yard is looking beautiful.. as always.
Oh, those chickens! They should be eating bugs instead of your plants. Thanks for the nice words. —Pam
I’m another lover of the ‘Diamond Frost’ euphorbia (though I’m pretty shy of annuals at this point). Do you just put yours in the ground after the last frost date?
And an unrelated question – can anyone commenting tell me what winecup sprouts look like? I put some seeds in a bit more than a month ago and now I’ve got some little grassy-looking shoots coming up in that area. I’m trying to decide if I should pull them up or not (it would be pretty ironic if it were grass, since it doesn’t grow anywhere else in that part of the yard).
Hi, Ann. Winecup seedlings don’t look grassy. Their leaves are pretty distinctive, even when small. Here’s a picture of Callirhoe involucrata leaves. As for the ‘Diamond Frost’ euphorbia, yep, I plant them in the spring after the danger of frost has passed. One mild winter, a couple of them survived, though they were slow to get going in the spring. —Pam
Here in northern California, with the first hard frost less than two weeks away, Salvia m. ‘Hotlips’ is blooming like crazy! I think it has become my favorite Salvia. It looks great paired with Salvia chamaedryoides.
I love ‘Hotlips’ too! I used to have one but left it behind in my old garden. 🙁 —Pam
I’ve never heard of Forsythia Sage before…it’s a beauty!
Scott, in the right spot this yellow salvia is a real beauty; in my garden it’s just getting by. Click and scroll down to images 8 and 9 to see forsythia sage in full bloom in Austinite Lucinda Hutson’s garden. —Pam
During a garden visit yesterday I spotted the Diamond Frost and would really like to add that to my garden next spring. Is yours in full shade Pam?
The ones that look best are in heavy shade, Cat. I have a couple more that get an hour or two of part-sun, and they wilted in summer. —Pam
I oh so want a bottle tree. Yours is really nice. How is it in winter, pretty, I bet? It looks stunning in fall.
It’s ever-blooming, Donna, even in winter! And so easy to grow. I highly recommend you plant one. —Pam
Ooooh Twinkle Pink is beautiful, good to know that it’s also reliable.
I love that little euphorbia… such a sweet flower.
Oh yippee! My My Yahoo reader is back to showing your current posts! As always, love your garden pictures.
Pam – figures that the only place in my backyard that grass would want to grow is the flowerbed! Out they come. On the plus side, I think I have a couple of for-real blue bonnets coming up.
Great post as always, love that link to Lucinda Hutson’s garden too. Forsythia sage is going on my list along with Diamond Frost. They carry Diamond Frost at ARE, but I don’t remember seeing the Forsythia sage anywhere.
Barton Springs Nursery has forsythia sage for sale right now. It’s in the shade-perennials section. —Pam
The salvia madrensis roots nicely from cuttings. Love it next to purple sweet potato vine!
Great idea, Karen. Do you have your madrensis in full or part sun? —Pam
Looking ever so good Pam.
Forsythia Sage! I have a ton of that, but I never knew what it was called. It spreads like mad and pokes up in all kinds of weird places in my bed. Mine’s JUST starting to bloom though!
Lovely late bloomers. That bottle tree is gorgeous too!