1 Nepeta tuberosa Nepeta is a genus of around 250 species from a variety of habitats in non-tropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
This unusual Catmint from Spain, Portugal and Sicily has woolly grey-green foliage, with ascending dense long purple spikes adorned with lavender blue flowers from June until September. It is best if given Mediterranean conditions. It is also a plant that improves with age. It is rewarding in the first year, but when established, it is much more impressive. The royal purple flower spikes become more numerous and stout.
The flowers are much loved by honey bees as well as bumble bees.
The leaves are an attractive woolly grey and can last all year, though the plants may go fully dormant during the autumn, particularly when the plant is young. N. tuberosa is very drought tolerant and has tuberous roots to sustain it. It grows to around 18” height and spread, and isn’t invasive.
Flowering is from early summer to autumn. A good companion is the yellow flowering Achillea ‘Moonwalker’, which blooms at the same time, and makes a dramatic combination.
This is a hardy plant, but it needs a dry garden, particularly in winter.
Sow in gentle heat in daylight. Cover thinly with compost or grit or vermiculite and keep moist. Grow on individual seedlings in 3" pots. Plant out in well-drained open position. Seeds are poisonous. Divide in spring or autumn, or take softwood cuttings in early summer.
Slugs can damage young growth.
2 Oenothera ‘Blood Orange’ Oenothera is a genus of about 125 species, mostly from North America, with a few from South America. They mainly grow on well-drained sunny sites. Individual flowers open at dawn or dusk and fade quickly
The only information about ‘Blood Orange’ comes from the seed supplier, who describes it thus: This new and lovely dwarf plant with the same cushion-forming habit as aubretia, produces an extremely long succession of yellow-rimmed, red-eyed flowers all season long on prostrate stems.
Height 3-4 inches.
These smaller oenothera need poor soil and sharp drainage.
Sowing advice: Sow finely & evenly in gentle heat and good light at anytime. Cover thinly with compost or grit. Grow on individual seedlings in 3" pots. Plant out in well-drained open position.
Divide in early spring or take softwood cuttings of unflowered shoots from late spring to midsummer.
Slugs can be a problem, and root rot in wet, heavy soil.