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| Trailing Rosemary |
6/24/11
There has been a lot of complaining about the heat on many garden blogs I have visited in the last few weeks. Now it's my turn to complain. It was 113 F yesterday and 111 F today! It is supposed to be over 110 F (45 C) for the next six days. We are getting to the time of year where it doesn't go below 85 F at night, and soon won't go below 90 F at night. And when the wind blows at 110 F it's like a blast furnace. Get me outta here! My trips to the flower garden are short-lived and limited to early morning or evening. But the plants that love the heat seem unfazed.
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| Rosemary blossoms |
There are several trailing or creeping rosemary plants in the front yard. These trailing varieties of rosemary are widely grown here as an ornamental plant or ground cover. Most of the ones I've seen here are 6 to 12 inches in height and spread to about 3 feet. Native to the Mediterranean region, they grow easily in our poor soil, are drought resistant, and can tolerate our blazing heat. Although I don't know the variety, mine have light blue flowers. The plants survived the couple of freezes we had here, and I understand some cultivars are winter hardy to zone 6 or possibly 5.
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| dwarf Katie ruellia |
Several dwarf Katie ruellia plants are scattered in my back yard. I was not familiar with this plant until we moved here. Although I don't particularly like the standard 3 foot ruellia, these plants are low-growing perennials with lovely purplish blue flowers. Each blossom lasts only one day, but there is a succession of new blooms over a long period. In full sun they bloom prolifically spring through fall. They form neat, round mounds and have sword-like leaves. I have read that ruellia self sows and can become an aggressive, invasive grower. The dwarf variety doesn't seem to present this problem. Since our soil is not rich and moist I have not noticed this occurring in the standard variety that grows around the neighborhood. The flowers provide a nice blue contrast to all the yellow perennials in the yard.
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| Ruellia blossoms |
It's amazing that even in such blazing heat, there are beautiful flowers that blossom. The Rosemary blossoms are really pretty.
ReplyDeleteHi Anita
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting. I like the rosemary blossoms too. They are tiny and delicate looking.
113 degrees????!!! OK, I'll stop complaining!!!! Our 88 degrees probably feels like a chill to you LOL.
ReplyDeleteI can't even imagine temperatures consistently that high! That you can keep a garden going - and blooming - when it is that hot (and dry) amazes me!
Hi Cathy and Steve
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult to keep a garden blooming in this heat. Most people don't grow flowers here in the summer. There are a few flowers that do ok, but you have to water everyday. Thanks for visiting.
Suddenly, our 92 degree temp doesn't seem so bad... lol
ReplyDelete-Sherry
Sherry
ReplyDeleteThanks for empathizing about the heat. We average 120 days of 100 degree heat. Can't wait for fall.
Where are you located? I live in Florida and my landscape person suggested the purple Katie's dwarf Ruellia to replace our diseased and dead oyster plants we currently have. Do you think they would do better than the oyster plants?
ReplyDeleteKelly
I lived in the Phoenix area when this post was published. I would think the Katie's dwarf ruellia would do fine in Florida. It likes warm weather and sun. It won't bloom as much in the shade. Even though it is drought-tolerant, I think it will do fine in Florida. Ours was watered daily with drip irrigation in the desert climate.
ReplyDelete