The mystery plants this week were all from our 2008 garden tour to New Zealand and Australia. I adored New Zealand.
We went in November and it was their spring. The gardens were beautiful, the scenery amazing and the people were so friendly. We had a wonderful time.
Armeria – Thrift or Sea Pink are common names. Armeria is an interesting perennial native to Europe and parts of North America. It is hardy statewide in Arkansas, but it is very sensitive to wet soils. It thrives in poor, well drained soils in full sun. It is often used in rock gardens. The small tufts of green grass-like foliage and purple flower heads do look somewhat like an allium or chives, which many of you guessed, but it is not related.
It is in the leadwort family. The common name sea pink is because in the wild it is found in coastal areas where it can tolerate salt spray. It typically blooms in April in Arkansas and with deadheading can have a few sporadic blooms later in the season. While purple or pink is the most common color there are white varieties too.
Echium or Pride of Madeira
is a biennial member of the borage family. There are 40 species in the genus, but the most common is Echium candicans. The plant is native to the island of Madeira, Portugal. The plant forms a rosette of foliage
which then begins to grow tall—up to 6 feet or more.
The flower stalks can be up to 2 feet in length and are covered in small purple (less commonly pink) flowers which bees adore. We have seen echium in gardens in England and New Zealand where it has naturalized. It is not winter hardy below 25 degrees, so would need protection to overwinter in Arkansas. In some parts of California, it has grown so well that it has made it on some invasive plant lists.
A shorter, and less showy variety Echium vulgare would live in Arkansas but it only grows 2 feet tall.
Lupine is a genus of over 200 species of plants.
Some are annuals, like the Texas bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis),
while others are perennials, and in some can be evergreen shrubs. The showy lupines we saw in many gardens in New Zealand (and throughout Great Britain) are Russell Lupines.
They are a species created by George Russell in the UK in the early 1800’s. Lupines have naturalized in New Zealand, but they are not native. Flower color can range from blues and purples to pinks, red, yellow and white. The palmate leaves give rise to beautiful spikes of long blooming flowers in spring to early summer. They are not a fan of hot, humid weather, so don’t last long in Arkansas.
There is a native lupine – Lupinus perennis that I have seen growing on the sides of the road in Carroll County that would be worth a try. The annual Texas bluebonnet can grow here if planted in the fall, but they rarely reseed themselves like they do in Texas.
Psoralea pinnata – Blue Pea Tree.
In New Zealand it flowers from November – February. Native to South Africa, it naturalized in New Zealand in 1870. Literature says it is a slow growing large shrub or small tree, but my book from NZ says it is fast growing. This was one of the earliest South African plants to have been cultivated. In 1690 it was growing in England from seed collected in the Cape. The plant has an abundance of needle-like leaflets. From spring through summer, it produces sweet scented blue pea flowers with white stripes.
One common name is the Kool Aid bush because it smells like grape kool aid. It is grown in California and is available from several mail order nurseries. It is supposedly hardy to 25 degrees.