Claycord plant lovers should not worry too much about forgoing their love of plants when making water conservation a priority. This just challenges gardeners to become more creative with their plant choices.
Searching for interesting and attractive plant life that requires smaller quantities of water are heat and sun loving, and tolerant of poor soil conditions is easier than you might realize. Xeriscaping is a garden/landscape movement that embraces the idea that you install plants whose natural requirements are appropriate to the local climate. It’s a fabulous idea in landscaping!
Teucrium is the botanical name for Germander. This Mediterranean plant family thrives in thin, poor soils, infrequent watering and sweltering heat. The Teucrium family is resistant to deer, and rabbits. The blossoms are attractive to bees and butterflies. Teucrium has both evergreen members and perennial members of its family.
The Blue Wall Germander is a very common evergreen selection of Teucrium, formally called Teucrium fruticans. This super-shrub can reach heights anywhere from 4-8 feet tall and 3-5 feet wide. Tiny leaves of silver-gray stand out against the deep blue flowers, creating a cool element in the landscape. Use successfully in front of a fence, the gray colored foliage will explode from its background, generating instant landscape impact.
If you are the proud owner of a Claycord hillside, the Wall Germander is a must have. The vigorous growth will be consistently pleasing. Try the Wall Germander in one of your landscape trouble spots, it is a proven winner. Growers will enjoy blooms from January through July. Great companion plants to consider mixing for additional interest is the Leucadendron Winter Red which reaches 4-5’ tall and wide. Its open habit will compliment the roundness of the Blue Wall Germander. The Winter Red Leucadendron has reddish to garnet foliage. These two shrubs together are real stunners. Add some California native, Salvia Clevandii Winifred Gilman for spiky flower power, and you will successfully have a low water, poor soil loving landscape that any water conscious gardener would be proud of.
For the Claycord garden lovers that have limited room, there is a dwarf variety of Blue Wall Germander. The Teucrium Fruticans compactum is neat and tidy shrub. This hardy evergreen is hard to find at nurseries and garden centers, but well worth the search. Eventually this selection will reach 2 feet tall and wide. Teucrium Compactum is excellent in beds and borders. Use in combination with Phormium Jack Spratt, and Sedum Autumn Joy. The Jack Spratt will add contrast texture and color, while the Autumn Joy’s fleshy foliage makes for an interesting statement, while its flower clusters beckon bees and butterflies.
Teucrium majoricum is another fabulous germander. They refer to this plant as the Gray Creeping Germander. Creeping Germander reaches only about 3 inches tall and eventually 2 feet wide, making it an outstanding groundcover. The silver leaves appear hazy on the ground, making a nice standout. Lavender honey scented clusters resembling the blooms of alyssum are visible late spring through summer. This groundcover looks impressive against dark decorative bark. Install the Creeping Germander in lean soil, without compost. Salvia Hot Lips would pair nicely with this Germander. This perennial has red and white two-lipped blossoms. The long blooms can be expected late spring through fall. Moonshine Yarrow would be another great companion; it begins to bloom in early spring, a lemon yellow flower cluster atop gray stems. Both the Salvia Hot Lips and Yarrow would keep the hummingbirds and butterflies coming to your Claycord garden.
Teucrium Summer Sunshine is a perennial variety of the Teucrium family. Sun kissed yellow foliage clumps to heights of 6-8 inches tall and 12-15 inches wide. This is a splendid rock garden plant. Spikes of pink flowers appear in the summer, and look soft against the lemon colored foliage. Install with Sedum October Daphne and Salvia May night for a perennial border with no need for care, extra water, or fertilizer.
Happy Gardening!
Nicole Hackett is the Garden Girl at RM Pool, Patio and Gardens, located at 6780 Marsh Creek Road in Clayton, 925-672-0207.
Nicole writes for the Clayton Pioneer Newspaper, and Claycord.com. She is also the Clayton Valley Garden Club 2012 President.
Email your questions to thegardengirl@claycord.com
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