In the spring I went to a Master Gardeners plant sale on the court house square in Georgetown, Texas. I was perusing the plants, picking out several, when a lady handed me another. With the selection I had picked out, she thought I would really like it and it was the only one they had there. You just know I bought it, even though I had never heard of it. I always buy plants when something special like this happens. It was very nice of her and she didn't lie either.
It's name is Porter Weed. I immediately looked it up on line and found it comes in red, blue, coral and pink. Mine was the red, thank goodness. I love red in the garden, and yes I have plenty, and no, I don't have enough. I didn't know any better at the time but the blue is native to the east coast and can be considered to be invasive. It's not a big showy bloomer but has a lot of long, very slender bloom stems that twist and curve for an interesting look. The info on line said it was a long lived perennial. Judging from the pictures on line, I think it should be much bushier than mine but I think the heat from our early summer might have kept it from that as the heat hit about the time I planted it. It did bloom all summer and didn't wilt from the heat even once, and this summer was another doozie.
Is Porter Weed for you? I'll let you decide after looking at the pictures.
10 comments:
As long as it is not an invasive here, I'd like to try it. We get lots of water (except for the unusual drought this summer)...so this might not be such a good plant. I will have to look it up.
Looks like hummingbird food to me!
Lovely color! That coral red looks really zingy against the brown of your house. Is it in full sun there? Do you think it could take partial shade?
Cool-looking plant, Bob. I'm curious about its sun requirements too. Thanks for the nice words about Digging also.
Neat plant you've got there!
You seem to have found just the right place for the porter weed to strut it's stuff. Great looking flower.
Hi Bob.
Great looking Porter, do you get hummers on it? Quite an unusual bloom and I agree, the color is superb as is the airy foliage.
Now I want a steak.
ESP.
Bob, I'm still catching up from time away and just saw this. Am so tickled! I had Blue Porterweed (the native variety, not the grows-like-its-on-steroids hybrid variety) in my Florida garden for years. Can't say that it was long-lived but it did reseed readily and lasted through THREE hurricanes in 16 months, even after being covered with brackish salt water. The little butterflies, hairstreaks and blues, loved it. I've been thinking I'd like some here but never see it to purchase. Found out I'm a little north for it so you may want to cover yours if we get bad cold this winter.
And about your garden tools comment at Hill Country Mysteries, Wow! You could start a tool store.
PS The blue porterweed was full-sun but would take part-shade. Liked regular watering (weekly) and well-drained soil.
I found your blog when looking for information on porterweed which I found at a local nursery. I usually get natives for my butterfly/hummingbird garden, but this looked so unusual I decided to try it. I was rewarded when this winter (just before the freeze here in south Texas) an Anna's Hummingbird visited our yard for the first time. The porterweed made it through the ice storm but I'm not sure about the hummingbird as I didn't see it again.
I browsed through much of your blog--your gardens are lovely.
Kay
Post a Comment