Meet Jerusalem Sage

Posted March 19, 2009 by Andrew

Jerusalem sage (Phlomis russeliana) is a herbaceous perennial of the mint family native to Syria. For most of the year, it’s a rather unassuming chartreuse, evergreen rosette of leaves, but in late spring and summer it sends up stems of whorled flowers of an inimitable soft yellow I love.

All parts of Jerusalem sage are covered in fine white hairs, further softening its visual effect in the garden, and a sure sign it’s drought tolerant. Plants with this peach fuzz often are — it reflects sunlight and reduces water evaporation from leaves. As a rule of thumb, many plants from Jerusalem sage’s native Mediterranean are also drought tolerant.

I’d longed for Jerusalem sage since I first saw it in a White Flower Farm catalog in the 90′s, and was thrilled to have a good place to grow it in 2007. I succumbed to my inner plant nut and ordered just two plants, all I could afford, though they’re much better planted en masse. My sagelets arrived, I planted them, held my breath, and then…. Nothing. For the rest of the season, they lived, curled a bit in the heat, uncurled when happy, but otherwise did nothing.

I read reports Jerusalem sage could be temperamental and unblooming. I fretted over whether mine would bloom. Finally, I forgot about them and moved on to more free and easy bloomers, like that floozie buddleia.

The following spring, I noticed the rosettes had indeed stayed green under the snow, a bit brown around the edges, but the bar was set low. I had zero expectations of the plant. Well, you can imagine my surprise when one rosette sent up four stems of flowers. Four! I was beside myself.

And some interesting flowers they are. Whorls of hooded bracts make their way around the stems, looking for all the world like yellow canopies of tiny merry-go-rounds. I left the stalks on to dry through the growing season, and just this month cut them down in anticipation of new flowers.

My understanding is that Jerusalem sage needs well-draining soil and won’t tolerate wet feet. It enjoys full sun, but I have read report of it growing in part shade under trees in dry situations, and that’s it’s also salt tolerant. While not for those in need of instant gratification, I’ll attest that Jerusalem sage is a unique plant and absolutely worth the wait. I’m hoping for twice the flowers this year.

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Meet Bert

Posted February 27, 2009 by Andrew

These days, my garden is mostly dormant, plants under a partial blanket of snow, some leaf litter from the fall, some mulch. One of the few who stands out at this time of year is one of my evergreens. Blogosphere, I’d like to introduce you to Bert.

Bert is my only plant that has a name; indeed, I do not typically assign name, gender, or otherwise anthropamorphize the denizens of my garden, but Bert was one of the first here, and I don’t know… He just kind of said, “Hey. I’m Bert.” Thus he was.

Bert is an austrian pine cultivar called ‘Oregon Green,’ purchased from Nunan’s in Georgetown, Mass. I planted him two years ago in the hot south-facing corner of our front flowerbed where an old pine had been cut not too long before we moved in — I had to have its stump ground before making Bert at home. At the time I didn’t know it, but now I hope the soil around that old pine retained a bit of its conifer-friendly higher fungal ratio in that tree’s absence.

Bert has since settled into his corner, uncomplaining, facing heat and drought without so much as a sniffle. Bert is slow growing and should stay relatively small for a tree, topping out at 12 feet, perhaps hitting 20 feet after as many years. I certainly look forward to having him around that long.

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