Livin' Is Easy

Ah, August. The Fair is over, but for the annoying details. Time to see what's up in the garden. And what's up? Everything! Madame Alfred Carrier has reached new heights and widths, along with everything else on the side yard. It's created a lovely and fragrant canopy of welcomed shade in this record breaking hundred degree summer.

While hacking my way through this jungle I was reminded of the easy care virtues of plectranthus.

The photos above left and below are plectranthus Mona Lavendar, an upright, free flowering, semi-shade lover. The flowering stems are reddish purple and bear purple trumpet flowers in clusters of three and four up to nine times (and counting) on these spikes.

Purple Haze!


This particular (Mona Lavendar) plectranthus is potted. It's reached a height and width of 5ft. by 4 ft. I put an umbrella over it during the July heat wave because it was getting sunburned. In gratitude, it has bloomed continuously for months.

I have several other varieties growing in ground and in a basket. Here is a yellowish one I found at Island View Nursery in Carpenteria.

It's planted in a moss basket on a south facing wall. The pink glow is from a huge bougainvillea (see my profile photo) that provides it with dappled shade most of the day.

I planted the creeping variety from a few cuttings of two plants I brought with me from a previous residence. They have filled in the spaces under
the rose and other trellised plants, completely carpeting the ground. This took a mere two years.


Because of the creeping habit of this variety of plectranthus, it's an excellent selection for a north facing windowbox. I've matched it here with some red/orange flowering kalanchoe. The white seems to glow in the shade against the complementary colors of red and green.






Here is one that pumped out a few all white leaves. Isn't that just so cool?