|Helleborus niger ‘HGC Jacob’ floral profile|

Picture this…our scene opens with a helicopter camera shot as it flies over the beautiful but rugged alpine landscape.  The snows of winter are beginning to melt as the dark months begin their journey to brighter days.  Down in the alpine meadows below bristling in the receding snow are tiny sunbursts surrounded by pristine petals as white as snow.  Can you hear the music of Ennio Morricone begin to swell?  The camera moves in on a close-up of our star…The Hellebore, botanically known as the Helleborus species.  Today’s featured star is actually a hybrid known as Helleborus niger ‘HGC Jacob’.

|Helleborus niger ‘HGC Jacob’ profile|

Hellebores, as they are often referred to, come to us from places in Europe such as Croatia, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and Southern Germany.  They are the stalwarts of the cool, shade garden.  Today’s star Helleborus niger ‘HGC Jacob’ has handsome leathery leaves of dark green with purplish stems topped with stunningly white buttercup-like flowers.  This species tends to bloom from November until April.  In warmer winter climates they have a tendency to kick off their bloom show in December when most plants are taking a vacation from the winter season. Thus the common name Christmas Rose.  They really take on a sophisticated quality when grown massed in sweeps under large trees or in other shady areas.  Another interesting feature that’s cool is the star-like cluster of structural seed pods it produces after blooming.  Very otherworldly and opulently odd.  The overall look of this hellebore is ruggedly elegant and poised. It grows in clumps up to 12 inches tall and wide, thrives in shade, likes moist, fertile soils, and regular water.  It can also handle temps down to -20 degrees fahrenheit/-28 degrees celsius.  So if you want to sprout some style in your shade garden profile consider growing some cool carpets of hellebores.

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|Eremophila hygrophana ‘Blue Bells’ bloom detail|

Today’s post headline sounds like the name of a Prince album or a Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew mystery.   In reality, it’s about a funktastically fab western Australian shrub called Eremophila hygrophana ‘Blue Bells’.  Eremophilas are also commonly referred to as Emu Bush or Poverty Bush.  Now, how someone can call a plant with such vibrant violet blue-purple flowers and plush silvery foliage a Poverty Bush is beyond me.  It should be called the Properous Bush with the luxuriant look it’s giving us!

|Eremophila hygrophana ‘Blue Bells’ profile|

There’s something about gray that is strangely comforting to me.  Especially when the texture is downy soft like a warm blanket.  Top that off with bold voluminous blooms the color of royalty and you have an overall vibe of a shrub that looks expensive but is really down-to-earth.  And by down-to-earth I mean that these plants are ruggedly tough shrubs.  Many Eremophilas, such as this one, come from arid habitats that receive little rain, making it a stylishly smart candidate for a dry garden.  Eremophila hygrophana ‘Blue Bells’ can grow into a 3 ft x 3 ft shrub.  You can also keep it smaller if you prune it back regularly which will also encourage it to flower like mad almost year round. Give it full sun, well-draining soil, and regular to low water.  It’s also hardy down to about 20 degrees fahrenheit/-6 celsius. Oh and did I mention the hummingbirds have a thing for the flowers?!  So if you’re faced with a dry situation, tired of the drab, and want to furnish it with some fab… lavish your landscape with the luxurious look of Eremophila hygrophana ‘Blue Bells’. Remember,  you’re worth it!

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|Forsythia viridissima koreana ‘Kumson’ leaf detail|

The venation in this foliage is so beautiful I can’t stand it!  We’re talking high fashion flora here.  It always amazes me when nature punches up the patterns to create something so spellbinding and so bold.  Here we have a case of a plant that in its other forms I find rather, well, regular.  The genus is Forsythia.  Forsythia remind me of early spring growing up in Michigan.  Do you know Forsythia?  It’s one of the first shrubs to bloom come early spring.  Late winter/early spring Forsythias, which are deciduous and generally leafless in the winter months, produce bright yellow blossoms on old growth branches.  You usually see them in flower arrangements in restaurants and shops in early spring heralding the coming of a new season.  For most Forsythias… that’s all they’ve got to show.

|Forsythia viridissima koreana ‘Kumson’ profile|

But then there’s Forsythia viridissima koreana ‘Kumson’ sometimes labeled as Forsythia koreana ‘Kumson’. It’s a multifaceted shrub both in leaf and out. In spring and summer, it outfits itself in fine fashion with a variety of frosty white vein-patterned foliage.  The look is dizzyingly delicious!  New growth stems are richly regal in purple color.   Come winter, as the foliage falls, bold, bright yellow flower buds form and unfurl their sunshine superblast of color for the early spring thaw.  We’re talkin’ some seriously stylish seasonal interest here.  So how can you grow such grooviness?  Well, give it part shade, well-draining soil (it can handle a wide variety of types), and regular water.  It can become drought tolerant once established.  It also can tolerate living in lands where the temps fall as far as 15 degrees to -20 degrees below fahrenheit/-28 to -9 celsius, in winter.  Grow it as a foundation plant or screen.  It can get 5 feet tall and wide.  So if you’re into putting some sophisticated profile into your style check out Forsythia viridissima koreana ‘Kumson’.  It’ll give you that woodsy wilderness wonderland vibe!

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|Dermatobotrys saundersii floral detail|

As The Plant Provocateur I am a sucker for the rare and unusual.  The kooky and the crazy.  The dreamy and the draizy.  Today’s model comes to us from the Zululand of South Africa.  Once in a great while I’ll run into this oddity at a nursery here or a nursery there, but not too often.  May I present Dermatobotrys saundersii sometimes referred to as the Tree Jockey.  Now where on earth did it get a common name like that?  Well, let me tell you when it comes to common plant names people like to get clever.  Turns out that this plant in its native habitat can be found growing as an epiphyte in the forks or saddles of decaying tree branches and trunks.  I guess someone got the notion that Dermatobotrys saundersii, in these situations, was saddled like a jockey on a horse.  The good news for us plant lovers is that it does just as well in a container.

|Dermatobotrys saundersii profile|

Dermatobotrys saundersii is a member of the Snapdragon family.  It produces a caudex-like root base that extends twisting, loopy upright woody stems that can grow up to 2 feet tall.  At the ends of these stems lustrous broad leaves with a citrus-like scent create a crown of growth.  Underneath the umbrella of glossy greenery, from June through December, a ring of cheerful cherry trumpet-like buds emerge to sound off in a beautiful display of starry blossoms.  Blossoming takes place autumn through spring.  As the stars fade, grayish-green fig-like fruits form and turn brown as they ripen.  They contain many seeds and a supposedly edible sweet pulp.  So to grow you’re very own Tree Jockey give it part sun/light shade, well-draining soil mix, regular water, and temps above 30 degrees fahrenheit/-1 celsius.  It is a semi-deciduous plant so it may lose some leaves in the winter months.  But even naked, the stems hold their fruit and can continue to bloom. As an added bonus, it totally digs growing indoors.  It’s a freaky deaky subtropical somethin’ and somethin’ that needs to be possessed.  Possessed I say!  If you happen to find one of these extraordinary oddities snap it up and get some subtropical snapdragon sexiness growing on!

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|Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ flower detail|

From across the ocean, from across the floral universe, comes this interplanetary, extraordinary craft.  Have you ever seen such a fantastic flower before?  Maybe.  Well, I must admit, I am seriously crazy about our featured model today.  We’re talking bananas, people.  May I present to you Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ in all of its electric-dynamite-eclectic overload of beauty.  Now, this is one of many species/hybrids of Eryngium otherwise commonly known as Sea Holly.  Now somehow, someway, a Dutch plant breeder created this bold blossom of blue steel.  I wish I could thank him personally because this is one plant that is just simply beyond!  Beyond what you say?  Beyond expectation, beyond beauty, beyond reality.  It’s definitely otherworldly and cosmically chic.  I could go on.

|Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ profile|

So what’s the deal with this plant?  Well, it’s in the carrot family with a bit of thistle realness goin’ on.  Its spiny foliage grows in mounded clumps about 18 inches wide.  The foliage, itself, is patterned with what looks like lightning strikes.  The look is bold and edgy.  In late spring, summer, and even fall, tall stalks up to 2, 2 1/2 feet arise from the foliage clumps to produce either arousing amethyst or blue steel starbursts of bracts that reveal icy cool cones of thistle-like flower heads.  The overall look is a plant architecture that is alluringly sculptural and sexy. Talk about texture for both the garden and as a cut flower.  Eryngium are considered a rock garden plant.  They love full sun, regular to low water, and well-draining soil.  These plants are perennial and do well in areas where temps fall as low as -20 fahrenheit/-28 celsius.  In areas of freezing and frost, the plants will defoliate until warm temperatures return.  In areas where temps stay above freezing, foliage is evergreen.

So isn’t it time to put some intergalactic fantastic into your world?  Nothing like a close encounter of the Eryngium kind.  Check it out!

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|Lotus ‘Amazon Sunset’ bloom detail|

Well, it looks like The Plant Provocateur forecast is gonna be a hot one!  Staring at these flowers almost feels like looking at flames licking up at you from your computer screen.  For your viewing pleasure, may I present the flor-optical illusion of Lotus ‘Amazon Sunset’ also commonly referred to as the Lotus Vine or Parrot’s Beak. Not to be confused with the flowering water plant commonly called Lotus.  This particular lotus is a hybrid of the original botanically named Lotus maculata.

|Lotus ‘Amazon Sunset’ profile|

Lotus Vine comes to us from the Spanish archipelago known as the Canary Islands. It’s a creeping perennial that is both a spiller and a thriller.  It looks amazing when planted atop walls or tall containers and allowed to cascade over in a spill of bluish-green leaflets that in mass look like soft billows of smoke.  When the warm weather hits, suddenly, out of nowhere, little flames begin to ignite and then suddenly you’ve got tiny fiery flowers everywhere.  The look is very tropical moderno.  Muy caliente baby!  During the spring months you can find this little fire starter at most nurseries.  In areas with cold winters, Lotus makes a spectacular annual.  In places where the winters are warm and mild it makes for a perennial with passion.  A burning passion.  Now to get the fire started you need to give this plant full sun to partial shade, well-draining soil, and regular water.  Try it in a hanging basket or in places where it can spill and do its thing.  If it starts to get long and scraggly prune it back some to encourage new growth and new flowers.  The bees and the butterflies will love you.  So, if you need a little spark in your park, whether it be a balcony, backyard, or beyond check out Lotus ‘Amazon Sunset’ and let its beauty burn!

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|Whitfieldia longifolia bloom detail|

Can you feel the fuzz?  Can you taste the tone of electric white?  Pure as the driven snow in the form of blazingly brisk, crisp, and clean blossoms.  May I present to you Whitfieldia longifolia from Africa.  Now this plant, commonly referred to as White Candles, seems to be as rare as a blue moon but don’t let that stop you from feeling its fever of fabulousness!

|Whitfieldia longifolia bud detail|

This shrub can grow up to 3 feet tall and wider if you let it.  Outdoors it likes living in warm temps no colder than the lower 50′s fahrenheit or 10′s celsius.  In climates where temps can get cooler it really prefers to be indoors where it can shine as a sophisticated specimen.  Give it a partial sun or shady situation, fertile, well-draining soil, and regular water.  It produces snowy spires up to 4 inches tall covered in fuzzy buds that hold frosty flared trumpets of amazingness.  When Whitfieldia longifolia flowers, which it seems to do most of the time, it tends to engulf the plant in a blissfully blinding blizzard of bloom atop lushly luxurious green growth.

|Whitfieldia longifolia foliage detail|

I really find the flower and feel of this plant to be a bit breathtaking.  It creates an aura so pure, so exhilarating, so positively charged.  Check it out.  If you can find it, give it a go and bask in its blizzard of beauty.

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|Bauhinia yunnanensis flower detail|

Have you ever seen something so delicately exotic?  So orchidaceously chic? Maybe you have…but blooming on a vine?  Eh?  This beautiful blossom belongs to none other than Bauhinia yunnanensis, mistakenly referred to as Bauhinia corymbosa. Commonly it is also called Phanera or the Climbing Chinese Orchid Vine.  This tropical twiner comes to us from Southern China and Northern Thailand.  It is an evergreen (in warm regions)/semi-evergreen (in temperate/cooler regions) climber that can meander its way to and fro anywhere up to 25 feet or so.  The clusters of flowers that bloom on this vine are an example of simple elegant exotica.  Check out those flared petals striped in rouge and blushed in soft purple and pink.  Feel the curl and the curve of the pistol and those stamens…yes I said it…so enticing!

|Bauhinia yunnanensis profile|

Check out those leaves!  They remind me of fluttering butterfly wings or two beans kissing.  Aren’t they pleasantly amusing?  This vine likes full sun/bright shade, temps above 25 degrees fahrenheit/-4 celsius, fertile, well-draining soil, and once established, has low water needs.  Once it gets climbing it produces bouncy clusters of fashionable and lightly fragrant flowers spring through autumn.  It climbs by tendrils so give it something to grab onto and let it grow to show you the extent of its elegantly exotic ecstasy.

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|Homalocladium platycladium foliage detail|

One of the credos of The Plant Provocateur is to always be a consumer of beauty. No matter the difference of opinion, I like to present the different perspectives of it. People love flowers but what about form?  I am a form freak.  I especially love plant form when it’s out of the ordinary. Take for example the form of, get ready for it…Homalocladium platycladium or Ribbon Bush also unflatteringly referred to in some circles as the Tapeworm Plant or Centipede Plant.  Now before you go all “Ewww…that’s nasty”, remember beauty can be found in the strangest of forms.  Segments are sexy!  Don’t forget it.

|Homalocladium platycladium foliage profile|

Homalocladium platycladium comes to us from the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific.  It’s an evergreen shrub that grows up to 8 feet tall and 6 feet wide, if you let it.  This shrub is made up of upright, flat segmented, ribbon-like stems that produce foliage and small fruit at its joints.  It looks like some sort of land loving kelp.  Very nautical new wave.  In spring, clusters of whitish green flowers appear in these joints followed by ornamental orbs of red fruit.  This shrub thrives in both full sun or shade, it loves well-draining soil, regular water, occasional fertilizer, and it prefers temps above 25 degrees fahrenheit/-4 celsius.  As a specimen or screen, in a container or in the ground,  it is an amazing textural plant.  Think of fine Italian tiles in plant form for the garden. Why not flavor your fashion with some funky form?  So strange, So bizarre, So beautiful.

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|Albuca shawii bloom detail|

Transport yourself, if you will, to the grassland meadows of the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa.  Before you the landscape unfurls into verdant carpets of green with stony mountain tops in the background.  The sweeping feeling you are experiencing is one of natural majesty.  As you survey the landscape you begin to see masses of yellow color blowing about in the lush grassy landscape.  As you step into the meadow you look closer to discover the color is coming from Albuca shawii.  Its flowers, the color of luscious lemon drops striped with delicate green, nod in the breeze.  Their cheerful color is both refreshing and exhilarating.

|Albuca shawii foliage + flower|

Albuca shawii is an African flowering bulb.  It grows into 18 inch/46 cm tall clumps of grassy succulent foliage.  Rumor has it that when the foliage is crushed it smells of licorice.  And if that isn’t enough when the growing season hits summer Albuca shawii produces succulent stalks that hold tiny green striped lemon drop flowers that resemble some sort of thimble-sized daffodil.  The flowers emit an aromatic almond perfume. This bulb likes to grow in full sun, well-draining soil with sharp drainage, and is hard to 25 degrees fahrenheit/-4 celsius.

|Albuca shawii floral profile|

There is something so effervescent about seeing these bulbs massed in flower.  The blossoms are like little lantern lights exploding with vivid vibes of good-day-sunshine-goodness.  I’d even go as far to say that this is definitely one of my feel good flowers of the year.  Get into it!

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|Chorizema ‘Bush Flame’ Flower Detail|

Australia is one of my favorite plant places in the world.  The plants there are so crazy and cool!  Here’s one that can’t help but be a show off, Chorizema ‘Bush Flame’ commonly referred to as the Flame Pea.  Can you feel the heat?  So vibrant in color it almost looks like it’s vibrating.  The heat of the opulent orange tempered with the funkified flash of fuchsia in the flower creates a contrast that will stop you in your tracks.  It’s very Willy Wonka and I love it!

|Chorizema ‘Bush Flame’ profile|

This Australian native shrub is evergreen and can grow up to 3 feet tall and over 3 feet wide.  It tends to ramble and trail making it an excellent idea for a tall container where it can spill over the rim or at the top of a wall where it can spill like a willowy waterfall.  The verdant foliage has a holly-like vibe to it.  These shrubs prefer full sun/part shade, light well-draining soil (they hate prolonged wet soil), regular water, and temperatures above 25 degrees fahrenheit/-3 celsius.  During the quiet months of winter leading into spring Chorizema ‘Bush Flame’ produces its amazing pea-like flowers that remind me of the colorful spinnaker sails you’d see during an international regatta.  It’s a shrub that brings about an emphatic and fresh element to the party.  The look is bold and bountiful.  Give it a grow and see for yourself.

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|Chilopsis linearis ‘Burgandy’ profile|

There are some desert plants out there that leave little to be desired.  Usually their appearance is rather scraggly or scrubby.  For the most part, this is due to survival adaptations.  But then there are some desert plants which adapt in ways that produce components of visual beauty you shouldn’t ignore.  One such plant is Chilopsis linearis ‘Burgandy’ commonly known as the Desert Willow.  Chilopsis linearis ‘Burgandy’ grows as an open, airy, deciduous large shrub or small tree. During the warm, dry months of the year it produces bodacious trumpets of reddish-purple flowers with golden striped throats that resemble rays of the sun.  In a dry desert or drought tolerant tableau these trumpets provide a seriously stylish blast of beauty!

|Chilopsis linearis ‘Burgandy’ foliage|

The Desert Willow can grow 12 to 25 feet tall and wide.  It’s native to areas in the Southwest U.S. and down into Mexico.  From spring through fall it’s outfitted with long, willowy thin leaves the color of crisp green apples.  Gives a great fresh look to a dry design.  It likes full sun, well-draining soil, and regular water spring through early fall.  Once the fall months arrive it should not be watered so that it can endure a dry period. This discourages new winter growth that can be damaged by frost.  The tree itself is hardy to -10 degrees fahrenheit/-23 celsius.

So if you’re into native plants, a touch of southwestern style, and inviting hummingbirds to the party (they love the nectar of the flowers), consider Chilopsis linearis ‘Burgandy’.  The look is ‘desert hot’ bustin’ out with a bonanza of beguiling beauty!

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|Euphorbia greenwayi blue detail|

Here’s a little plucky succulent Euphorbia I came across the other day. Euphorbia greenwayi blue. It looks like something out of a Jules Verne novel but in miniature.  Very not-of-this-earth cool!  It’s perfectly at home in a small vessel on a hot sunny windowsill or outdoors planted in a well-draining dry garden bed where temps never go below freezing and the sun almost always shines.

|Euphorbia greenwayi blue profile|

This succulent sends up icy-blue whip-like stems adorned with rich thorns the color of the perfect pinot noir.  These stems can grow up to 18-24 inches/45-60 cm in length.  In their youth, the stems are festooned with purple blotches that fade to green as they mature.  They look like the teeny tiny arms of some mysterious beast from the bottom of the sea.  Growing it is easy.  Grow it in a soil that provides excellent drainage, give it bright light, and let its soil dry between waterings.  One important thing to note is that if any parts of this plant are broken or rupture they exude a caustic white milky sap, so handle with care.

The miniature majesty of this plant really turns on when sunlight hits those thorns.  We’re talking some serious electric light orchestra beauty here.  The look is stylishly savage.  So if you’re into it and you’re feeling a little dangerous, tame the beast, and put some Euphorbia greenwayi blue into your life.

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