 |
Berkheya purpurea |
 |
| second-year bloom |
|
| first-year bloom |
|
| Cool fuzzy new growth from the center of the rosette |
Thistly taprooted plant with purple daisy flowers in summer. When we first grew this in Pennsylvania, I was afraid we'd see nothing but leaves, because some sources say it's not hardy there – but luckily, it bloomed in August of its first year. Purple daisies, rather nice. We didn't get much of a show that first year, and didn't see any sign of the plants through mid-May of the following year - so I had resigned to growing this as an annual, and was watching the progress of new seedlings, when sometime in June I noticed that the original plants had returned after all. Better yet, they developed quickly, blooming in early July. What was coolest, though, was how the flowers are carried on long, thin, spiny-ridged stalks, giving them a dragonesque appeal. Years later, I started a new batch from seed for our Houston garden. Interestingly, they didn't develop nearly as fast in this warmer climate, and never got close to blooming in their first year. Most of the seedlings perished in summer heat, but a few held on, and acquired some vigor through the winter months.
|
| Still going strong in early November, after several overnight freezes have killed off many tender plants. |
|
| Ready to go in early March in our Houston garden |
|
| I like the look of the plants in early June, making impressive mounds of silvery-green prickly leaves |
|
This plant used to grow in our garden, but it slipped away... One or more images of this plant are included in my stock photo catalog About my plant portraits
PlantLinks to other web pages about Berkheya purpurea
Some particularly helpful links to other websites | Plantzafrica | cultivation information, description, and photos |
Visitors to this page have left the following commentssparklebridie | Jul 26, 2009 | Great pictures of Berkheya Pirpurea I bought it at a car boot sale had no idea
what it would look like thought it was a thistle. |
Mel | Sep 27, 2011 | I love Berkheya and bought a plant and grew many more from seed after seeing it at flower shows, where the flowers were 8-12 inches high. We are in a dry sunny spot in Essex and my flower stems are 3 feet plus! This is a bit of a hazard as they flop over the path cutting legs of passers by and covering my tulbaghia which subsequently didn't flower. Do you have problems with excessive height? I note you have a clump next to a path. My plants are currently in a tub trug awaiting relocation to a less valuable space in the garden!! Our original plant was indeed planted next to a path, which led to some of the same problems you mention (ours was perhaps two feet high). That one didn't survive, and our main plant that's still around is in a more out-of-the-way spot. In fact, I didn't notice it flower this year! |
- Seed from '06 trade. Baggy 70F (70%G, 9d)
- Seed from '06 trade and from '07 garden. Baggy 70F (80%('06) and 7%('07) G, 7d)
- Seed from NARGS '17/'18 exchange. Baggy 70F (73%G, 4-11d)
- Same seed as above. Baggy 70F (67%G, 5-12d)
I welcome comments about my web pages; feel free to use the form below to
leave feedback about this particular page. For the benefit of other visitors
to these pages, I will list any relevant comments you leave, and if
appropriate, I will update my page to correct mis-information. Faced with an
ever-increasing onslaught of spam, I'm forced to discard any comments including
html markups. Please submit your comment as plain text. If you have a
comment about the website as a whole, please leave it in my
guestbook. If you
have a question that needs a personal response, please
e-mail me.
Last modified:
March 02, 2019
Contact me
|