| Echinacea purpurea: Deep pink flowers on a tall stalk, long petals surround a raised orangish central disk from which the papery brown seeds later set. The somewhat hairy green leaves are sparse, but long, slender, and pointed. The plant can grow to 90cm high by 75cm wide in good conditions. In poor soil it may not grow as large. Mine reaches about 60cm in height during flowering. The leaves form a small, delicate clump. It dies back for the winter. Blooms in January, February. A very attractive plant. Thymus vulgaris (Thyme): A low growing herb to about 30cm in height and width. Tiny, nearly oval green leaves, coming to a point. Very fragrant foliage. Tiny white to lilac flowers cover the plant during the flowering season, November to January. My plant tends to become straggly with age as it becomes woody in the centre and some parts die back. Both my echinacea and thyme are very drought resistant and grow in very poor soil. Oenothera biennis (Evening Primrose): Tall flower spike to 1.8 m in ideal conditions, width to 45cm. Tall slender spike topped by a bunch of 4 petalled, fragrant, yellow flowers that stand at 90 degrees to the stem. Soft, slender, green leaves come to a point at the tip. Flowers bloom from December to April, opening at evening.
This plant grew at my previous home where I thought it was a weed (I hadn't planted it) as it grew along the roadside, and on vacant land. It was only after I had sold that house and started seriously growing herbs at my present home, that I discovered that the "weed" had in fact been evening primrose. So beware, in ideal conditions it will apparently take over. If you like leafy grey herbs with attractive flowers, try sage, Salvia officinalis. A small compact shrub to 60cm in height and width. Leaves are soft and velvety, blue grey in colour with a white wooly "down". The drier the weather the more grey the leaves become. Flowers appear in clustered whorls along the stem tops, from March to December. Flowers can be violet-blue, pink or white. A very pretty plant, in or out of flower. |
