What are those gorgeous acid green leaves: Lady B, I adore <i>Helichrysum petiolatum</i> and have both t

» Marge_Talt - Lady B, I adore <i>Helichrysum petiolatum</i> and have both t

I adore Helichrysum petiolatum and have both the silver leaf and 'Limelight' in pots.

The silver one is in what passes for sun for me, at the edge of the parking area - but gets some shade from taller things in that pot as well as self sown Cleome towering over it.

'Limelight' is in a pot at the entrance to the covered walk - sort of part way under the overhang in some shade - gets some afternoon sun.

Water those pots once a day in summer - for everybody in them.

I have also kept it in a fair amount of shade and sometimes think it does better here with some shade - at least in a pot.

I winter them over in the pots in the pseudo greenhouse. My only problem with them is some dratted little leaf minor that makes hash out of the leaves, leaving dirty black and webby messes to be pulled off.

I have not heard of anyone who grows this in a more northerly clime having this problem, nor have I read about it in British gardening books - and they use this species a lot for bedding and pots in summer.

Do any of you guys who grow this have this problem?

I have never seen the culprit who inserts the minute little worm like critters into the leaves, but if one has loads of time and patience and searches diligently on each leaf, one can find a teeny hole where it goes in and even if there is no sign of damage; know it is coming soon.

I've lost a few plants to total defoliation from this, but they will usually leaf out again once all the damaged leaves are removed - but talk about tedious!

Still, I don't like to be without these plants.

Marge

Gardening in
Shade

-- posted by Marge_Talt