August 31, 2017
Yes, it’s hot and what do we do at the nursery?
Yes, we’re going though a heat wave here in Moorpark, where our nursery is, a few days at 100+. What do we do on days like this? We’ll we do water early in the morning, which is what you should be doing in your garden, especially with new plants. We’re also plants seed flats. Many seeds will germinate faster in hot weather.
One seed flats we’re planting out is Penstemon parry. This is a magenta flowering penstemon that’s native to Arizona, where it’s really hot and dry. In our region of So. Calif. they are easy to grow can handle some extra water but don’t require it and flower early spring through summer and when they’re done flowering just cut them back. They’ll regrow and keep flowering until the end of summer and at that point they’ll be just a nice neat small bush ready to flower heavily in the coming spring. Great for hummingbirds too!
Here are some pictures of them in flower and then cut back.
And now just cut back – nice neat and green with new leaves.
and there are lots of other native a southwest penstemons that have similar growing habits that we are seeding today as well.
