Re: Phlomis italica

MLuskin wrote:
> 
> Yes, that is the one.  Are they related to phlomis?
> 
> Thanks, Merry - Oakland CA USA
> 
> > From: Rebecca Lance <rlance@sonnet.com>
> >
> > Merry,
> >
> > Perhaps you were seeing Leonotis leonurus, same
> > family.  It is very
> > showy and a very nice plant.

Hi Rebecca
As Merry has already told you they do belong to the same family (the
Lamiaceae) which no doubt accounts for their generally similar
appearence. However they are quite different plants and actually native
to two different continents, Phlomis species being all European, while
Leonotus grows wild in South and East Africa. I was quite surprised when
I caught up with the latter as a treasured garden plant in NZ. From my
African childhood I remembered it as a weed in grassy places forming
tall, dense and not very attractive thickets. My parents would never
have thought of introducing it into the garden.

Even if I wanted to try it myself I would be foiled here without giving
it special treatment, as I discovered some years ago. I did have one go
for old times' sake but though it grows well in the warmer parts of this
country, my garden was too frosty and the first winter killed it!.

Moira
-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan,
Wainuiomata, North Island, NZ.     Pictures of our garden at:-
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cherie1/Garden/TonyandMoira/index.htm
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