Saturday, May 28, 2011

Heliotrope for Garden Fragrance


Cherry Pie Flowers 香水草
Originally uploaded by beautifulcataya

I bought a Basket Marino Heliotrope in a 4 inch container yesterday. It has purple blue flowers and purple/dark green foliage and grows to 16 inches tall.
Another name for heliotrope is cherry pie flower.
Many heliotropes grow to 4 foot tall and wide attractive shrubs and they prefer sun or part shade, and shelter from wind.
Most people grow Heliotrope for its delicious sweet scent, though the tiny flowers are pretty too. The scent is similar to vanilla.
The flowers can be white, mauve or purple.
Heliotrope is considered half-hardy, to 40 degrees F. so needs to be over-wintered indoors in many areas.
I also bought some liquid seaweed as a treat for my vegetables and flowers.
What did you plant this week?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Terra, I have never grown heliotrope but I have smelled its sweet fragrance. I love the deep purple color especially. Thank you for your sweet comments on my Memorial post. Blessings to you and yours this weekend. Mildred

farmlady said...

Hi Terra, This is a beautiful plant. That it is fragrant too is lovely. I don't believe that I have ever seen one. Must look for it at Lowe's or WalMart.
I didn't plant anything this week. Have been waiting for some seeds to sprout and doing some weed control... and then, today, more rain. All this rain is amazing. I find it a bit inconvenient now but, in the summer when I have to water everyday, I will miss all this moisture.

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

I love heliotrope and have not had it in years. Needless to say in our climate it doesn't do too well---needs pampering and I usually put it in a pot. I remember one year I lucked out with 4 plants directly in the flowerbed, and it was AMAZING the scent when on the porch or working out there!
Besides the beautiful color, there is the amazing perfume!

XXOO~~
Anne

BumbleVee said...

It rained all week....and I was just happy to be able to move around enough to do a bit of baking... still can't reach into the second shelf of any cupboards...

and...didn't actually plant any flowers.......but, did "plant' a little bear in some phlox blossoms to take her pic...

sunny today and will be outside just enjoying some of that...

GardenOfDaisies said...

I tried to grow some of this one year and the scent was beautiful! I get too much sun though, and it didn't like it's location. So I have to enjoy it in other people's gardens.

Unknown said...

Oh, I like that name Cherry Pie flower. Your garden looks wonderful, as I browed around your blog. I am so glad to meet you.

Karen

Toyin O. said...

Very beautiful plant, thanks for sharing.

Sandra Evertson said...

Love the intense purple color!
Sandra

Maggie May said...

I love Heliotrope and the butterflies love it too.
In UK we regard it as an annual because it isn't hardy enough to survive our winters. It is popular in parks and public garden displays.
Many thanks for visiting me. Lovely to *meet* you.
Maggie X

Nuts in May

Annesphamily said...

We are trying to get a garden in our new place but with all the rain adn now the 90 degree temps it is a struggle. But a few flower plants we started finally started popping up! I love your pretty planter. Hugs Anne