Viewing comments posted by dirtdorphins

I purchased A. desertorum for the purported 3 month blooming period throughout the summer months, with regular dead-heading. I am far too lazy and distracted to accomplish any sort of regular dead-heading, but the image posted above with bumble bee shows fresh blossoms at the end of July during a standard summer heat wave. I'm a believer now!
The plant is grown in full sun for the most part, with some part-shade conditions for a few hours in the afternoon.

This plant is more of a mat-forming sub-shrub with a remarkably long bloom period. I bought it labeled as Chrysanthemum hosmariense, thinking it would bloom in the fall. After its first winter in my Northern Utah garden, it began blooming in April, peaked through May, and continued blooming through June. I sheared it to appreciate the silvery foliage, and it continued with sporadic blooms through the heat of July and August, commenced blooming regularly again in September, and continued through November until successive hard freezes froze all of the buds. Foliage still looks great though!

This tree maintains a narrow, columnar form. It is reportedly slow to establish.
It develops brilliant yellow fall color, but in my area we usually have strong winds just as it is starting to color and it drops all its leaves while they are still greenish-yellow. My 2014 photo was taken the day before the wicked wind and leaf drop.

This mum has reddish buds and opens reddish, then fades to a sort of peachy-terracotta color

The color of the blooms is really more of a 'hot pink' than the rose tones my camera somehow blessed them with...

Fantastic plant! I planted three last spring; they bloomed fairly consistently all summer. Two (pictured above), in well-drained soil, survived the winter whereas the third, in poorly-drained soil, did not. Zn5b

This is a great plant in the right place! It can either be a problem solver or a problem creator depending on placement.
Spreads rapidly and extensively by runners and self-sowing under ordinary and xeric garden conditions. Can successfully execute a hostile invasion within one growing season. It has been likened to bindweed on the interweb...runners have traveled more than 3' under boulders in my rock garden and the plant regenerates from root fragments. I have resorted to chemical control in the ongoing reclamation project and regret the fact that I did not research this plant adequately.