Plectranthus madagascariensis
Imagine a smallish, townhouse/courtyard garden. If you have been following a Dozen for Diana, so far I have chosen a focal point/informal hedge and a small tree.
Today I’m adding a groundcover. A pioneer happy to grow in sun or shade. Because it must earn its space here, it is chosen for gorgeous green and white leaves. A source of delight all year round. I love interesting foliage. Can be picked, and the pieces will root in the vase. More plants! If you brush up against it, the leaves have a pleasant, fresh, green smell, not scented exactly but distinctive. It grows very easily, and needs cutting back to where you want it. That is the downside of a vigorous pioneer – but just what you want, when you are desperate to get a bare patch of earth to look like a garden.
My plants must be happy with the long hot summer and wet winter of a Mediterranean climate. Double points if they are from
Third, got to have something special –
beautiful foliage,
colourful flowers to pick,
fragrance,
wildlife friendly,
edible,
pioneer.
Plectranthus is part of the mint family, hence the fragrant, but not edible, leaves! In autumn the shrubby members, which prefer cool and shady homes, produce masses of delicate spires of flowers (think mint again, but mint on steroids!) in white or pink or all the purply shades. There are about 44 species, some of which you will find here www.plantzafrica.com where I found useful information. I have lost count, there are perhaps 10 different species/varieties in this garden. When we move on, they will all go with us, as newly rooted cuttings in one litre yoghurt tubs.
Despite the name, it has nothing to do with
Plectranthus madagascariensis is a South African plant, happy in a Mediterranean climate. Vigorous groundcover with gorgeous foliage.
Your favourite groundcover? Why that one?
10 comments:
This is lovely - do you think there's any chance it would survive in the UK?
I am guessing yes. But you will have to ask someone who knows, about frost. plantzafrica website says some of the other species are frost tender.
I love Periwinkle or "Sorceror's Violet"..sentimental reasons..and it looks gorgeous and magical beneath trees and little shaded areas in the garden. Its leaves are glossy and tiny voilet flowers ar enchanting. My dog loved to lay in it...like a big fluffy green cushion of nature....and when she passed away it is the one thing I love to have to remember her. Periwinkle is simply magical!
Hey Diana! We love plectranthi, as long as they're fragrant as well as decorative, but grow them as house/greenhouse plants here in scenic PA rather than as groundcovers. Our favorite is a gold-chartreuse-green variegated form called 'Wellsweep Wedgewood' with a fantastic thyme-oregano scent. Thanks for highlighting these fabulous plants! Our own top choices for cold-climate groundcovers are ajuga (bugleweed), lamium, lamb's-ears, vinca (periwinkle), pennywort or creeping jenny (Lysimachia nummularia, especially 'Aurea', the chartreuse form), pretty much all violets, and lily-of-the valley, which doesn't burn out for us also the wonderful native pachysandra, P. procumbens, aka Appalachian spurge. Shade-loving strawberries have also done very well for us as groundcovers under trees.
No plectranthus groundcovers here, Diana. I'm actually not so much into groundcovers because I find most are too invasive, even on clay--or especially on clay--and a PITA to remove when they get too exuberant. I don't mind lamiastrum (yellow archangel) because it's very pretty even when not in bloom, and I haven't had too many issues with it getting overzealous. The one I wish WOULD spread faster is my wild ginger (Asarum canadense) because it's gorgeous with glossy heartshaped leaves. But it's very slowgrowing.
Hey, I usually run out of things to say in summer. There's Norther Hemisphere, and there's California ;->
That groundcover looks like fun, but might be a bit invasive here, I fear.
I don't know if this one counts, Diana, but it sure is indigenous: they way nature clothes a path mowed through the veld over time with an array of different, or modified-from-the-cutting plants. I'l try to post a pic here; don't know if it will work! Jack
(nope - it didn't)
Jodi - PITA?
Sequoia - we would like to see this ...
This is a plant we love here too, although it must be grown as an annual. The one with silvery foliage is on the list to be used extensively next spring, coming soon we hope!, for the flowers are beloved by the pollinator insects and hummingbirds. The fast rooting means free plants, good for the dream of mass plantings. Love your green and white one too, will look for it. :-)
Frances
Frances - I keep planting the silvery one hopefully. And they keep dying on me. Will be happier in cooler, moister shade in your garden I think.
Post a Comment