Loree is talking about her favorite plant of the week today, and Pam is discussing the virtues of beautiful leaves, which of course set my eye wandering critically over a heat-ravaged landscape to find a suitable entry.
Needless to say, I was coming up bupkis. I must have walked by this plectranthus a dozen times before pausing to give it serious consideration as a contender.
Plectranthus ‘Emerald Lace,’ the only one of the “suitcase plants” brought home from Long Island, New York, last summer that’s still kicking.
Years ago I inexplicably dragged home an enormously heavy iron pipe that I swear will never be moved again. Filled with soil, it functions as a holding area/plant hospital.
Into this wide-mouthed pipe go small cuttings, odds and ends, and sometime last year this plectranthus, which I now realize has filled it entirely. It sits against the north south fence line, which offers the best chance of shade for cuttings. If you take a right turn as you face the plectranthus, you’ll enter a narrow potting area that fills the small gap between the back of the garage and the fence. Turn left and you’ll cross the length of the garden and end up at the compost pile in the northeastern southeastern corner.
Just a couple weeks ago I slipped some cuttings of an aeonium that had burned in the first heat wave into the “plant hospital.”
I think I’ve found my entry. With crimped leaves that look cut by pinking shears and mimic the silvery-green patterns of Cyclamen hederifolium, this overlooked plectranthus deserves a little recognition.
What a beautiful silvery Plectranthus! Gorgeous leaves. Does it ever bloom? I’m in love with the blooms of P. mona lavender, but most don’t seem to bloom much. I’m envious if you can grow it outside all year, here it would be a house plant.
That’s beautiful Plectranthus – and one I’ve never seen before.
@Hannah, the flowers are supposedly white. We’ll see if and when it blooms.
@Kris, I was shocked how many entries there are for this plectranthus when I googled it. I’d never seen or heard of it before either.
This is a new-to-me plant too (like Kris). Nice find Denise!
The silvery green leaves must also offer a visual cool-down during a heat wave. It’s a really beautiful plant. Even more fun to know you packed it home in a suitcase.
Love this plant, and also have it in my garden, having got it once from a friend, another from Annie’s Annuals. It is super slow growing in my cool conditions of Berkeley, only growing much over summer. Blooms are white.
Other Plectranthus species that bloom plentifully would include P. zuluensis, the rare species in the group that blooms all year long with lovely pale lavender flowers, and P. ecklonii with substantial deep purple or pale pink flowers in late fall. These two species get quite big, up to 4~5 feet tall by across in my garden, covered with flowers.
@Loree, I think I’m about out of faves at this point — can’t keep up with you!
@Pam, I don’t know how you do endless days over 100. My spirit was shattered by a week of them. You’re made of sterner stuff than I.
@David, it’s relatively slow growing here too and has made a surprisingly tight clump, not rangy like a lot of plectranthus I’ve grown.
very nice Plectranthus, I have never seen it and now want one…
Not without copious margaritas, Denise. —Pam