{"id":104,"date":"2008-07-21T16:07:05","date_gmt":"2008-07-22T00:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/garden\/?p=104"},"modified":"2015-11-24T07:33:02","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T15:33:02","slug":"plumbago-crazy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/plumbago-crazy\/","title":{"rendered":"Plumbago Crazy"},"content":{"rendered":"

PLUMBAGO
\n<\/font><\/font><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>This is the time of year when lovers of all things blue revel in the garden’s bounty.\u00a0 Blue hydrangeas are everywhere–or at least everywhere with acid soil–and both mophead and lacecap varieties are producing abundant blue flowerheads.\u00a0 This is one of those summers that hydrangea lovers celebrate.\u00a0 The spring was mild, with no unexpected late frosts to kill hydrangea buds, so the hydrangeas have gone to town, flowering like crazy.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Those of us fortunate enough to have delphiniums have seen them flower in all their glorious blueness.\u00a0 I just cut mine back and, as I snipped, I said a prayer to the great god of perennial returns, asking if just once I could have delphiniums that rebloom the second year.\u00a0 We’ll see what happens, but in the meantime I take great pleasure in the fact that they were especially blue this year.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And, as if all the blueness wasn’t enough, I treated myself to a blue plumbago.\u00a0 <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was an impulse purchase that I was forced to make after being seduced by the shear beauty of a healthy specimen in full bloom.\u00a0 My resistance was low and my appreciation for its blue petals was high.\u00a0 There was nothing to do except buy it.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 “Plumbago”\u009d is from the Latin word “plumbum”\u009d, which means lead.\u00a0 This is probably a reference to the lead-blue color of the petals of some plumbago flowers.\u00a0 According to Martin Rix, co-author of The Botanical Garden<\/em>, the ancient Roman naturalist Pliny suggested that plumbago might be used as an antidote to lead poisoning.\u00a0 Later, observations like Pliny’s would be understood as an example of the “doctrine of signatures”\u009d, under which plants were thought to resemble the body parts or conditions that they might be used to heal.\u00a0 The plant’s Latin name undoubtedly gave rise to its common name–leadwort.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don’t think of lead or lead poisoning when I look at plumbago, though a healthy plant might make a nice holiday gift for my plumber, a man whose occupational ancestors dealt with lead pipes.\u00a0 When I gaze at my plumbago, only one word comes to mind, and that word is “beautiful”\u009d.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Plumbago auriculata is the species most frequently sold by various retailers.\u00a0 It is native to South Africa and was discovered there in the eighteenth century.\u00a0 The shrubby plants can be trained as climbers if you have the inclination.\u00a0 The long flowering stems may remind you a bit of blue phlox, with small oval-shaped leaves and five-petaled blue or gray-blue flowers.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Many years ago, when I was on a tour of Doris Duke’s wonderful glasshouse on her former estate in Somerset, NJ, I saw an amazing display of plumbago in one of the themed gardens.\u00a0 The plumbago was trained to clamber up a support and the plant was flowering in exuberant blue clouds.\u00a0 I fell in love.\u00a0 Sadly, Ms. Duke’s themed gardens and the glass house are now closed and soon to be gone.\u00a0 I don’t know if the plumbago was salvaged.\u00a0 At least it lives on in my memory and perhaps the memories of others who saw it there.\u00a0 Now, finally I have one of my own.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Plumbago’s only flaw, for those of us who live in cold winter climates, is that it does not survive in places where the temperatures drop below forty degrees Fahrenheit.\u00a0 This means that you have to treat it as annual or grow it in pots and haul it in, along with all your other tropical and tender plants, when late fall rolls around.\u00a0 This is a pain in the neck, but undoubtedly worth it where plumbago is concerned.\u00a0 When your specimen comes into the house, give it a sunny corner and it will get through the winter nicely. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you do not live in a cold winter climate, you can use masses of plumbago in borders or even as a low hedge.\u00a0 I can’t think of anything more beautiful than twenty of thirty feet of blooming leadwort. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you are not training the plant to grow as a climber, trim it regularly to make it bushy and floriferous.\u00a0 Since it is native to relatively dry areas, water when the soil feels dry to the touch.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I bought my plumbago for its ravishing blue color, but if you want a contrast, try Plumbago auriculata var. alba or the cultivar that goes by the trade name White Cape\u00ae.\u00a0 Monrovia, the mammoth plant wholesaler, also offers an intensely blue companion, Royal Cape\u00e2\u201e\u00a2.\u00a0 Another reliable blue variety is Imperial Blue.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Outdoors plumbago works nicely with summer daisies and daylilies, especially those that flower in shades of cream and pale yellow.\u00a0 It would work well planted in a large container alongside Coreopsis verticillata ‘Moonbeam’.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Having the blues in the winter is a natural response to the season.\u00a0 Having blue plants like plumbago in the summer garden is another natural response–and it’s much more pleasant.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You can probably acquire plumbago at your local nursery or greenhouse.\u00a0 If not, try Logee’s Greenhouses, 141 North Street, Danielson, CT 06239, (888) 330-8038; www.logees.com<\/font><\/a>.\u00a0 Free catalog. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PLUMBAGO \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is the time of year when lovers of all things blue revel in the garden’s bounty.\u00a0 Blue hydrangeas are everywhere–or at least everywhere with acid soil–and both mophead and lacecap varieties are producing abundant blue flowerheads.\u00a0 This is one of those summers that hydrangea lovers celebrate.\u00a0 The spring was mild, with no … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-summer","category-winter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1678,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions\/1678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}