This past spring, I was pleasantly surprised to find some previously lost plants growing again in my front garden. How did I lose them in the first place? Well, when I first designed and planted our garden, over 10 years ago, I included quite a few different flowering perennials. Like many flowering perennials, they were short-lived and I did not replace all of them. I don’t really have a good reason for not replacing them, but at the time, I was busy managing other gardens and landscapes and did not have the energy to focus on my own….sad wasn’t it?
Well, here is how I found my plants……last winter and spring, we received much more rainfall then usual. In late March, I was checking around the garden for weeds when I saw some tiny leaves starting to poke their way through. I looked closely at them before ripping them out and discovered that they were the offspring from my original plants.
Lost Plants, Paperflower (Psilostrophe cooperi)
Paperflower was the first of my lost perennials to return. The seeds from my original plants had laid dormant for 8 years until the copious rainfall caused them to germinate. I love this little plant with its gray-green leaves but the coolest thing is that as the flowers die, they become papery in texture. You can see the spent flowers above towards the right lower corner.
This plant makes a great groundcover and has bloomed for me spring through fall.
Goodding’s Verbena (Glandularia gooddingii)
Although I have grown many different types of Verbena, this one is my favorite. I love the delicate, tiny purple flowers and the way the plant spreads out on the ground. Definitely not a fussy plant, it will flower like crazy throughout the spring and off and on during the rest of the year.
Like many flowering perennials, it is rather short-lived but does self-seed. It looks fantastic when placed next to boulders.
Desert Marigold (Baileya multiradiata)
The last plant that has made it’s reappearance in my garden was my Desert Marigold. This flowering perennial grows very well in the southwest and can be seen lining the roadways during the spring, especially when we have had sufficient rain. It does very well in the residential landscape as well and is sometimes treated as an annual wildflower.
The sunny, yellow flowers can be seen off and on, year round. They are very easy to grow from seed, but can be purchased in 1-gallon containers. However, it has been my experience that my Desert Marigolds last longer when I grow them from seed, rather then transplant them from containers.
I am so happy to have all of these plants back in my garden 🙂
Don’t you just love the feeling you get when you find something that you thought you had lost?
