Fall Bloomer

This container sits on the brick patio which is just outside of the covered lanai and the full planting blocks the direct view to the pool filter. Container plants can be very useful in hiding unsightly or utility type equipment.

This lavender colored bloomer is called Marble Leaf or Peristrothe hyssopifolia Auero-variegata. In November the yellow and green leaved plant puts out tiny and delicate appearing lavender blooms. But, in truth, there isn't much delicate about this plant except its small flower.

Hoe and Shovel started out with one plant a few years ago.
Marble leaf propagates easily just by digging up a small portion of the existing plant with some roots and plopping it in another location. Whether it goes in a pot or in the ground, there will soon be another hardy plant to be enjoyed year round.

This is a plant I would recommend for so many reasons. It doesn't require lots of water. It blooms from November through May and we all know we need perennials that bloom in the winter. It attracts butterflies. It's even cold hardy to 20 degrees. It can take full sun which actually adds to the marbling of the leaves a little more or part shade is what it prefers in my garden.

The catch is the hardiness zone is 10 and above which rules out a good portion of dear readers.

I've placed it in the ground in several places throughout the garden and it spreads nicely as a ground cover. Here (above center) it is kept more like a low lying shrub along the turn in a stone pathway complimenting the coleus as its closest neighbor and across from xanadu, holly fern and impatiens.

You have to love seeing fresh blooms in November!