Viewing comments posted by Skiekitty

They seem to form colonies. Beautiful flowers that look very much like false indigo.

A very low-growing evergreen penstemon. Requires hardly any care at all. This plant is in mostly shade (gets less than 3 hours sun a day).

Survives zone 5 winters with almost no protection at all and no winterkill. This is its 3rd year in the ground. Expecting it to get about 8-10ft as it's already over 5' tall right now. Eastern face, rocky nasty hard soil, watered VERY sparingly. A true xeric rose.

Not very tall, the bloom is about 16 inches but the swords are much taller, about 2'

This is a pretty tall bearded. It's about 40" tall.

This has been classified at my local nurseries as an annual. Let's see if it comes back.

This plant was introduced from Eurasia as a comb for textile workers working with fine wools to "warm" the threads. When it is used as a comb, it can create pockets of air within the fibers to make the fabric feel "warmer."

I've had this plant for 4 years now. This is the first year it will be blooming. It blooms only on "old wood", so a new baby plant will take a long time to develop the "old wood" in order to bloom. It also requires a lot more moisture than other lilacs.

Of all the lilacs I have, this one smells strong, but has a HORRIBLE vase life. Less than 8 hours before it looks HORRIBLE. I do not recommend it for cutting/vase keeping.

From what I've read, people in India, where this tree is native (this particular cultivar is man-made), use these trees to make living bridges over smaller rivers with the roots!

Supposedly this plant does NOT make a good cut flower as it supposedly will smell of cat urine if the stem or leaves are bruised or cut.

Never trim this plant in the fall/winter. If you do, you will not get blooms the following year. Always, if you need to trim, do so right after it blooms in late spring/early summer. This plant blooms ONLY on old-wood, never new growth.

If you're lacking in blooms, make sure that this plant gets a lot of moisture in the winter. Dry climates can prevent lilacs from blooming if they don't get a lot of moisture in the winter. The more snow/water they get in the winter, the more blooms you'll see. If we don't get snow, I always winter water my lilacs just like the trees. My neighbor has a lilac the same age/size and about 5 feet away from my lilac and you can tell that I winter water & they don't.. the blooms on their lilacs are very stingy whereas mine will be covered in blooms.

This is a volunteer in my yard. Almost impossible to eradicate, so I just let it be. Blooms whether I water it or not, attracts bees. Good through zone 5 xeric with no protection in a rock garden setting.

Needs partial / dappled shade for the variegated leaf color. Full sun will cause the leaves to turn solid green. Not as vigorous a grower as some other lilacs, but comes back year after year. Kinda stingy on blooms, scent not as strong. Recommended only as a small oddball plant, not as a centerpiece lilac.

Very xeric plant, grows over 6' tall and wide for me. Gets blasted by full sun for 4-6 hours a day in a rock garden. Attracts butterflies and moths readily, you can smell it literally 10 feet away. Highly recommended if you have the space for a huge plant! Does not like to be trimmed however. A very leggy plant.

I have a number of these penstemons and all of them are in partial shade. I have found them to be practically foolproof, surviving horrible heat / drought / baked-clay soil. Hummers love them. They're not fussy about watering, hanging on and blooming with less than optimal conditions. A very xeric plant.

Amazingly, this plant is actually part of the Spiderwort family!

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Liliopsida – Monocotyledons
Subclass: Commelinidae
Order: Commelinales
Family: Commelinaceae – Spiderwort family
Genus: Dichorisandra J. C. Mikan
Species: Dichorisandra thyrsiflora J. C. Mikan – blue ginger

Survives Colorado Zone 5 in a rock garden w/no winter protection at all.

VERY much a bee magnet. Mine grows much taller than the 2'.. more like 4'.

Survives zone 5 with protection, smells wonderful, VERY nice vase life.