Horticulture Report: Veronica Ground Covers

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Plant Name:  Veronica species
Common name:  Speedwell
Plant Type:  Perennial Groundcover
Plant Height:  4” – 8”
Plant Width:  18” – 24”
Bloom Time: May/June
Flower Color: Blue, Pink, White
Exposure: Full Sun to Part Shade
Soil Requirements: Moist, Well-Drained
Water Needs:  Drought Resistant; For Best Bloom Water Moderately About 1” a Week.
Fire Resistant: YES; Plant 30’+ from House.
Attributes:  Attracts Butterflies/Hummingbirds; Deer Resistant. NOTE: Veronica tends to be deer-resistant, though extreme conditions deer with graze on plants they otherwise wouldn’t eat.
Uses: Rock Gardens; Flower Bouquets; Perennial Border.
Note:  Showy in Full Bloom; Cut Back for Overwintering; Deadhead to Extend Bloom.
Native to: Northern Europe; Asia
Oregon Native: NO
USDA Hardiness Zone: 3 – 8

Veronica species

  • Blue Woolly Speedwell (Veronica pectinata)
  • Turkish Veronica (Veronica liwanensis)
  • Thyme Leaf Speedwell  (Veronica oltensis)
  • Snowmass® Blue-Eyed Speedwell (Veronica Snowmass P018S)
  • Veronica filiformis (Creeping Speedwell)
  • Veronica peduncularis  or umbrosa ‘ George Blue’
  • Veronica Repens
  • Veronica peduncularis
  • Veronica liwanensis
  • Veronica oltensis
  • Veronica Repens

Today in the Garden

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Madia elegans:  Elegant tar weed.  This is blooming right now.  It is a sun-loving native annual that self-sows widely.  Drought and deer tolerant.  Blooms morning and evening, but closes up during the middle of the day.  See the bumble bee getting pollen off the flowers.  The plant is about 3′ high and 1 1/2′ high.  

Madia elegans:  Elegant tar weed

Epilobium canum, or California Fuchsia.  It used to be called Zauschneria californica.  It is a later blooming perennial.  It is drought and deer resistant.  This one is right near an alley and a driveway, and is fine with hot, dry soil.  Hummingbirds love it.  I plant it with dark blue Bachelors’ Buttons, annuals which seed around.

Epilobium canum: California Fuchsia

Gaillardia , or Blanket Flower.  It is a long-blooming perennial with interesting round seed heads.  If  some of the seed heads are left on, it will self-sow.  This particular plant is probably a hybrid, called Gaillardia x grandlora ‘Goblin’, which is a more compact cultivar.  The native is Gaillardia aristata.  It is drought tolerant and deer resistant.

Gaillardia: Blanket Flower

Praying Mantis on Verbena, previously seen eating a bee from the head down.  After crawling up on this bloom, she crawled down on the stem and basically disappeared, lurking until another insect came along.

Praying Mantis on Verbena

Photos and article by Sherri Morgan, AGC Vice President

Garden of the Month: August 2021

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House of Thai – 1667 Siskiyou Blvd

The August 2021 Garden of the Month from the Ashland Garden Club is the front of the House of Thai restaurant at 1667 Siskiyou Blvd.  The restaurant opened in May of 1989, after remodeling the building and starting the garden.

In the mid 80’s, Jit Kanchanakaset, a single mother of five came to Ashland in search of a safe, peaceful life her for family.  A strong-willed, energetic, and hardworking woman, she recruited her kids to help establish the eatery, and then later its garden. 

Ten years later, she met and married Phil Crompton.  They spent much of their time doing what they enjoyed most, gardening and giving back to the village in Buriram, Thailand where she grew up, by donating to schools, hospitals, and underprivileged families.  Jit passed on in April 2020.

The garden has evolved over time with gradual improvements.  There are large, well-established ponderosa pines along the eastern edge.  Gorgeous rhododendrons bloom beneath the pines in May.  Much smaller crepe myrtle trees line the western edge and bloom in August.  In between are a small fishpond and waterfall that were constructed by the contractor who was remodeling the building.  Blue herons have been known to visit the pond, hoping to catch the elusive fish.  Also there is a small lawn, plus a stunning Buddhist shrine. 

The colorful concrete and steel shrine, said to weigh 1000 pounds, was installed a little more than twenty years ago. Jit’s legacy lives on through her family as they continue her traditions while carrying on the restaurant. The family and staff offer respect to the shrine every Friday morning, honoring the house spirits and summoning goodwill.

Article by: Ruth Sloan, AGC Garden of the Month Committee Chair

Photos by Larry Rosengren.

Oregon Native: Pacific Wax Myrtle

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Botanical Name: Morella californica
Common Name: Pacific Wax Myrtle
Bayberry–Family  Myricaceae


Plant Type: Broad leaf Evergreen
Water use: Moderate -High
Growth: moderate rate to 10-30 feet (3-10m) tall and wide
Habitat:Usually occurs in wetlands but occasionally occurs in non-wetlands.
Characters: The leaves of Pacific Wax Myrtle are a bright, glossy green with black dots, pleasantly aromatic, pointed at the tip, with occasional teeth along the margins.  The flowers are tiny, but the fruit is attractive in clusters of dark purple, bumpy berries.
Native Plant: Yes 
Firewise: Yes
Attributes: The leaves of Myrica californica have a spicy aroma that can be used like bay leaves to season food, hence the plant is often referred to as California Bayberry.
Uses In the Landscape: The Pacific Wax Myrtle is our best native shrub for screening.  Several can be trimmed into a hedge or it can be mixed with other evergreens to create an informal screen.  Wax Myrtle also is able to fix-nitrogen in association with the bacteria, making this shrub especially useful for habitat restoration in soils with low fertility
Bloom Period:  May-June.
Fruit ripens November. Used by Wildlife:The fruit is eaten by many kinds of birds, most notably the “Myrtle” (Yellow-rumped) Warbler, but only in small quantities.
Use by People: Although Pacific Wax Myrtle is related to the Northern Bayberry, attempts at boiling the fruit to extract wax produces so little, to make it hardly worthwhile. A gray-brown or maroon-purple dye may be obtained from the berries.  Although the wood is reported to be heavy, very hard, strong, brittle and close-grained, this species is different than the Oregon Myrtlewood, Umbellularia californica, (AKA California Bay Laurel) used for artistic endeavors found in gift shops all along the Oregon coast.

Propagation:  Seeds collected in fall should be abraded or soaked in warm water to remove the waxy coating; they then require 3 months stratification at 40ºF (4ºC).  Heel cuttings of half-ripe wood in July or August reportedly have fair to good success.  Layering in the spring is the quickest method.

Larval Host to:

Banded Hairstreak
(Satyrium calanus)

Photo Credit: Megan McCarty, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Red-banded Hairstreak
(Calycopis cecrops)

Photo Credit: John Flannery from Richmond County, North Carolina, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

http://nativeplantspnw.com/pacific-wax-myrtle-morella-californica/

Report provided by: Lynn Kunstman, Jackson County, Oregon Master Gardener and Wildlife Management

Posted by: Carlotta Lucas, AGC Board Member

Today in the Garden: August 4, 2021

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Flowers & Photo by Carlotta Lucas, AGC Board Member

Squash Bees are in Oregon!

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Few insects can digest the pollen of squash plants. But where squash plants go, squash bees have followed. Now, they’ve made it from Mexico and the Inter-mountains West all the way to Oregon. Learn about the journey of these special bees and their kinship to this family of plants.

Oregon State University https://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/pollinators/great-oregon-squash-bee-hunt

Journey of the Squash Bee:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAQVNl0C-H0

Rogue Valley’s Bee Girl Website: https://www.beegirl.org/blog/squashbee

Squash Bee Peponapis pruinosa ~ Photo USDA ARS, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons