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| BFFF (Big fat fluffy fellow) |
I'm a sucker for odd plants. Big plants. Hard to grow plants. Almost all plants.
I found this one over at Sunny Crest early this past summer. it was along the back edge of the greenhouse where we choose our tomato plants each year, looking gangly and kinda scraggly, but utterly different from anything I'd ever seen.
It was labeled Lion's Ear.
Seemed like a decent buy at around five bucks, so it came home with us.
Turns out it is a South African member of the mint family and is reportedly popular with hummingbirds.
What a time I had getting it going. It is a BIG plant and it was rooted in a tiny pot. It was so root bound there was barely room for dirt. I planted it near the arbor where it would have some support for its lengthy stems and watered it and watered it and watered it, every single day. This btw was before the summer monsoons started and it rained seven times a day for weeks.
Anyhow, it struggled hard for a while and I just about gave up on it, but then as summer slowed to a crawl it took off. It is now taller than the arbor by at least a foot and still growing. However, the hummers pretty much ignored it until migration got serious. Now it is the hit of the neighborhood, with Ruby-throated Hummingbirds stabbing their beaks into the fuzzy flower tubes like knights jousting for nectar. It must be good stuff for them, as they look like tiny flying bowling balls, they are so fat. (Check out the waistline of the little guy above! He's gonna need suspenders to keep his pants up.)
I really liked it and will grow it again next year if I can get it. Worth every bit of the effort it took.
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3 comments:
This is a new plant to me, had to Google it. You found a winner Looks gorgeous but I don’t have a place for a plant that can grow to 6 feet. Reminds me of the tiny puppy you adopt at the pound only to have it grow to Great Dane size.
Love that Latin name! Leonotis leonurus :)
I'm gonna look for one next year . .. we've got a new huge flower bed and it'd be fun to try to grow this tower.
I hope that sweet bird finds a pair of suspenders!
Denny, new to me as well, but so weird they caught my eye. I wouldn't call them pretty but they are certainly interesting. I would grow them just for fall hummer food, as they really seem to love them and visit every flower.
Cathy, I caught that too and got a kick out of it. I was a little hesitant to introduce an imported mint, but it appears not to be invasive at all and so interesting in appearance. Plus, anything for hummers! I plant most of my best vegetable ground to cannas for the big, bright fall flowers for the little guys.
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