Saturday, July 21, 2007

Sea Lavender

Sea Lavender

My too-blue garden is blooming ecstatically and that's got me missing the Oregon coast. Some people buy bumper stickers. Others collect shot glasses. My Grandma used to purchase spoons... from everywhere she visited.

My souvenirs are perennials. I collect some whenever I'm on a road trip. Sea Lavender (Statice) was an impulse purchase in Oregon and I fully expected it to be another lesson in futility.

Surprise, surprise it has happily adapted and is flourishing in my polka dot garden.

Sea Lavender is so named because it grows wild in salty marshes (which is why it's loving my alkaline soil.) I have no idea why it is so amazingly drought-tolerant, since it prefers a saltwater marsh, I'm just glad that it is.

Bright clumps of paper-like, purple flowers bloom mid to late summer.

Snip the blooms before they fully open and use them for dried flower arrangements.

Limonium Latifolium (Statice or Sea Lavender,) USDA zones 4 - 11, grows to about 2 feet tall, adding bright purple texture to the garden.

1 comment:

Gail said...

Kate: I have very alkaline soil, so much so that the PH test doesn't read at all. This soil is black (looks of oil), made in layers stacked flat on top of each other. When wet it gets so sticky, when dry it cracks and turns dusty and can mushroom in areas. I would appriciate any advice you can share on how to build this soil up. Thank you.
Gail