Mojave sage has an appealing growth habit and beautiful foliage, not to mention its colorful bracts and flowers when in bloom. But either this plant isn’t cold-hardy enough for my yard or its roots rot, causing it to die over the winter.
Have you ever grown a highly touted plant, only to have it poop out on you? Have you carefully provided correct sunlight, appropriate watering, and even talked to it periodically, only to be disappointed?
It happens to all of us. That’s not to say a particular plant is an utter failure or that you are, either. It’s just that the plant may not be a good fit for your yard.
I’ve had my share of misadventures.
Take Mojave sage (Salvia pachyphylla), for example. After listening to a fellow gardener in Denver rave about this plant’s virtues, I planted three of these beauties in my front yard. I love this sage’s silvery evergreen leaves, mauve bracts, and violet flowers.
Mojave’s cultural requirements:
- Moderate water during establishment.
- Full sun.
- Loam, sandy or dry clay soil. Dry clay. I amended the soil for better drainage, planted the shrublets in the driest, sunniest section of my yard, and virtually ignored them after establishment.
Every year for three years, I would go out in the spring to find one or two of them had died over the winter.
I suppose I could have mulched them heavily for winter, but then I would have run the risk of retaining soil moisture that would rot their roots in my clay soil. So I’ve concluded that I probably would be better off growing this sage in only loam or sandy soils (if I had them), even though High Country Gardens says it can be grown in dry clay.
I’ve replaced my Mojaves with blue avena grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens). The grasses offer stunning blue color with no maintenance other than cutting these darlings back each spring.
Then there’s Miss Molly butterfly bush (Buddleia x ‘Miss Molly’). When I spotted this shrub at the nursery, I had to have her. Molly’s blooms are so intensely pink.
But our relationship hasn’t been good over the past four years. Instead of growing 4-5 feet high and wide, Molly has become scrawny, growing 4 feet high, but only 2 feet wide. I’ve pruned her to the ground each spring, which is what we do with butterfly bushes in Colorado. But she refuses to fluff out, so I’ve given up on her.
I’ve noticed that butterfly bushes are more difficult to grow in Fort Collins than they are in Denver. Then again, maybe I haven’t found the right cultivar yet.
In spring when plants come alive, purple pillar rose of Sharon begins producing leaves at her base. But the top part of the plant looks like ugly sticks for a good part of the spring. She doesn’t flower till September, and her blooms are sparse. You can see purple pillar’s twigs sticking up just to the left of the serviceberry tree.
Purple pillar rose of Sharon (Hybiscus syriacus ‘Gandini Santiago’) looks like she would make a perfect specimen or small hedge with her columnar growth habit and splashy red-and-pink blooms.
But Sharon has issues. First, she’s extremely slow-growing. Second, she takes forever to leaf out in the spring. Third, her blooms are sparse compared to other cultivars of rose of Sharon. Fourth, she’s a late bloomer. Last year, she started blooming around September 6. On September 8, a snowstorm with record cold temperatures blew into Fort Collins for two days. You can guess what happened to Sharon’s blooms.
I’ll likely grow tiger eyes sumac (Rhys typhina ‘Bailtiger’ Tiger Eyes) in Sharon’s place as a specimen. Tiger’s leaves are slow to emerge in the spring, but once they do, Tiger looks spectacular and stays that way till fall.
Finally, there’s Zinfin Doll hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata ‘SMNHPRZEP’). I planted Zinfin in part shade with amended soil. Like all hydrangeas, she requires lots of water, so I watered her regularly. Her blooms are spectacular. But the blooms didn’t start showing up until September in 2019. And in September 2020—well, you know what happened.
Although Zinfin Doll is a gorgeous plant, she’s not a good fit for my yard.
These disappointing experiences won’t stop me from experimenting with new plants. After all, I’ve had far more successes than washouts.
Blossoms & Blueprints 