Lest All Senecios Acquire A Bad Name......
As a small postscript to Jeanne's groundsel experience, may I tell you
about a very choice groundsel you really should try growing. There are
a few, but this one is unusual in that you might not, on first blush,
bother with it....
Panyoti Kelaidis (Denver Botanic Gardens) introduced this plant (and
in fact a few other choice Senecios) a number of years ago as a result
of his ongoing botanizing trips to South Africa. I have always been
attracted to the amazingly vibrant colours of S. African flora & their
(often) wonderful habit of blooming endlessly in times of summer
drought (the state of most of our summers here). I already grew many
of that nations tender perennials as annuals.
Ever on the search for new plant material, I grew this one from seed 3
years ago, liking the description of vivid fuschia flowers the entire
season.....You must remember, I garden in a very cold, snowless,
windswept Z4 and this plant hails from S. Africa. Panayoti, had
however stated that this plant overwintered in Denver, so I was
hopeful.
It started blooming in mid summer first year from seed, reaching about
12". While the individual flowers are tiny, there are zillions of
them, in vibrant hues of fuschia, pink and lilac. Bloom continued the
entire season and miracle of miracles (I had hoped for self-sowing at
the the most), it overwintered.....This is now the 3rd year and the
plant is still going strong as I write. It will stop blooming next
week with our first frost....Last winter I lost about 25% of my mother
plants, but these were quickly replenished by self sown plants...
Kristl
Gardens North Seeds
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