Tuesday, July 13, 2010

New to the Garden: Cleome hassleriana

What an exotic, tropical looking flower for your sunny garden! I'm trying out a few annuals that 'reseed readily' and one of these is Cleome. It's native to Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and SE Brazil. People swear  it is 'easy to grow'. Ever heard that before? Some even say it becomes a weed. What a beautiful problem. It likes to wilt during the hot part of the day, but seems to recover with a tad bit of water. It likes well-drained soil, so I'll put it behind my agave bed in half day sun.  So far, any plant that can be transplanted in JULY is my kind of flower. My pet baby grasshopper, Ralph, likes the leaves. Ralph is pictured on the white flower below. As long as Ralph doesn't invite a few hundred friends, he can stay.

2 comments:

  1. Hello, thank you for selecting my blog for your list. Cleomes are pretty but they attract so many bugs down here. There is also a wild variety with yellow flowers, this is the host of the cabbage white butterfly larva. I think I will plant some more around the garden.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the info re: cleomes and bugs. I hope you can post a picture of the wild yellow variety. I'd love to see it. Your website is always fun to read.
    David (Tropical Texana)

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I always appreciate your comments & questions! Happy Gardening from David/ Tropical Texana

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