New Zealand Flame Bush (Hebe): Tim is just passing by and is just as stumped as you are Lynda.

» Tim_Dutton - Tim is just passing by and is just as stumped as you are Lynda.

Tim is just passing by and is just as stumped as you are Lynda. I suppose this is yet another reason for NOT using common names on plants. I have a LOT of Hebes, but none of them are variegated, and here at least, all of them get sold as Hebe something-or-other. If it has been bred outside New Zealand there is every chance we would never have come across it here. That has certainly been the case for a lot of Leptospermum varieties, so I expect it would be for Hebes as well. Sorry Diana.

Apart from that, I agree with Lynda's comments on Hebe growing conditions. I feed mine every spring as well with a mulch of well rotted compost. They are supposed to flower better in subsequent years if you remove the spent flower heads, but there are so many flower heads on the larger bushes that it takes a long time. I never bother these days. Most will set seed easily and hybridise readily. I have all sorts of unnamed seedlings cropping up in the garden.

Tim Dutton

-- posted by Tim_Dutton