Thursday, April 14, 2016

Lion's Tail - A Perennial Summer Burst of Orange

Lion's Tail - A Perennial Summer Burst of Orange
I once had lion's tail in my garden. I first planted it in 2013, hoping that since it was a perennial shrub, it would give me many years of orange flowers.  It did not bloom until August. (See photo at right.) It was supposed to grow big -- maybe as big four to six feet wide and tall. I left lots of room for it, because it's supposed to be very colorful. I was hoping that since it did not really need dry season irrigation it would become a large splash of orange filling a good portion of my side flower bed toward the street. It never happened. Now it appears my lion's tail, instead of becoming a perennial summer burst of orange, has disappeared.

By September 1, the plant had grown to what you see below. I still had high hopes for it.

Lion's Tail - A Perennial Summer Burst of Orange
Lion's Tail in Bloom September 1, 2013,© B. Radisavljevic


By the end of September, it was as you see it below. It was beginning to spread.

Lion's Tail - A Perennial Summer Burst of Orange
Lion's Tail in Bloom September 28, 2013,© B. Radisavljevic


One day I walked into Home Depot, and this is what I saw in their garden department.

Lion's Tail - A Perennial Summer Burst of Orange
Lion's Tail in Bloom at home Depot, © B. Radisavljevic

I was hoping my lion's tail plant would be at least this size someday, but now I can't find it at all. It's a perennial that is frost sensitive. A frost may have killed it. Because of all my surgeries last year during the lion's tail late summer blooming season, I wasn't out taking photos of my garden. I don't remember seeing it last year.

Lion's Tail - A Perennial Summer Burst of Orange


It did bloom in summer of 2014 (see above photo), but it certainly never grew to become like its big brothers at Home Depot. I see no trace of it in my flower bed now where I think it was. Perhaps it's hiding and will  pop up again in late summer. Or, perhaps, it was a plant that failed in my garden.

Originally I was going to write about Lamb's Ears, which is thriving in my garden, but I've already written about lamb's Ears here.

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Lion's Tail - A Perennial Summer Burst of Orange

This is my twelfth post for the 2016 AtoZchallenge, a Blogging Challenge for the month of April, 2016. My theme is plants, since this is a gardening blog. Here are links to the other posts if you missed them.

A is for Apple Blossoms
B is for Bottlebrush
C is for Carnations
D is for Daisy

E is for Elderberry
F is for Flowers
G is for Gazania
Hollyhocks are Edible
Irises Are Garden Survivors
Jupiter's Beard: A Mystery Finally Solved

3 comments:

Sandy Segur said...

That is a very pretty flower.

treetracker said...

I was all set to run to Home Depot for my own Lions Tail but then I see its not frost hardy. Not a good choice for Colorado where we expect up to 10 inches of snow this weekend. Oh well, I'll have to content myself with the irises that refuse to die. Visiting you from the A-Z challenge.

BarbRad said...

Mary, irises are more beautiful. And they smell better.

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