Plants

Peanut Butter, Glass, and WOW!

Nectar abundant flowers

Once you have inadvertently backed into or brushed up against the Honey Bush, you never forget that Peanut Buttery goodness of fragrance. It’s so intense! Plus, that powdery blue, ultra-textured foliage is so tropical and lush in the garden, it can be compared to none other.
Later, if we have some great spring warmth, this plant blooms with burgundy, nectar-abundant flowers that the birds adore.


I’m so excited about this particular plant because it’s a brand new Dan Hinkley introduction by Monrovia and it should be a hardier plant than previous ones that I’ve bought as “annuals” here in my zone 7 climate. Typically, I would have to overwinter them in the garage, so this will be a fun experiment. Monrovia advises that this plant is best for zones 7-11.

Evergreen

Monrovia also recommends planting this one a bit deeper for better hardiness, so that should help too. With great drainage and partial to full sun, this plant will get the oomph it needs to build a strong base before winter. In warmer climates, they are saying this new one will be evergreen, whoo-hoo!! Dan Hinkley is THE MAN!

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This one can get as tall as 8 feet. In the container that I will use it in this season, it will likely get about half that high, but that is just dandy with me. This Honey Bush is going into a teal pot that stands out over these lovely glass rocks of similar tones. I can’t wait to see it get fat and full!

Harriet Greenfield

Harriet runs the edible-bed and soil coverage for Garden Care. She and her partner Tom (a primary school teacher) live in the Adelaide Hills, on a 1,200 sqm market garden Harriet took over from her parents fifteen years ago. The block sits in a frost pocket about fifty minutes east of the city, with a cool-temperate climate that is brutal on tomatoes in October and gentle on brassicas in July. Harriet grew up walking the rows with her father — a third-generation grower — and likes to say she learned to weed before she learned to read. These days she runs the kitchen garden almost single-handedly, sells excess at the local farmers' market each Saturday, and writes for us on weekday mornings before the heat hits the polytunnel. She has strong opinions about hot composting (yes), no-dig (mostly yes), and the marketing copy on commercial seedling tags (no). Her current obsession is heritage tomato seed saving — she has a freezer drawer of envelopes labelled in her father's handwriting going back to the 1970s. She gardens with a kelpie cross called Wattle and two laying hens, Phyllis and Rita. If she is not in the garden, she is probably reading Eliot Coleman or arguing with the Diggers Club newsletter.

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