Smart Water Use
Summer Strong
Summer Strong plants are not only beautiful but tough enough to handle the hottest days. PCWA is pleased to partner with the UC Master Gardeners of Placer County to highlight Summer Strong flowers, shrubs and trees that are water-wise, well-suited to Placer County's environment and available at local nurseries.
Fire-wise plants are also Summer Strong. You can learn more about Fire-Wise landscaping, including a list of plants used in the Maidu Fire Station Makeover in Auburn on our Fire-Wise, Water-Wise Landscaping page.
Featured Plant of the Month
SPRING WILDFLOWERS!
Margarita BOP Penstemon
UC Master Gardeners
of Placer County
‘Margarita BOP’ Penstemon or ‘Margarita BOP’ Foothill Penstemon
Penstemon heterophyllus ‘Margarita BOP’
By Laurie Meyerpeter, Master Gardener
What's with that name? Margarita BOP? …BOP??!?!! The “BOP” is short for “Bottom Of the Porch”! It's a natural hybrid from Las Pilitas Nursery and it was growing at the “bottom of the porch,” hence the BOP part of its name. The nursery took note of what a heavy bloomer it was and how tough the plant was (despite getting run over by bicycles, skateboards and dogs) and began to propagate it.
It's a California native. It's actually a hybrid of probably two native penstemons. One parent is our own local Foothill Penstemon, and it is thought that one grandparent may be Penstemon laetus, also a California native. Because it’s a hybrid, it exhibits a trait called hybrid vigor and the plant is extremely floriferous. The Placer County Master Gardeners were testing it in their Demo Garden a few years back, alongside a standard Foothill Penstemon, comparing how many pollinators each plant attracted and Margarita BOP Penstemon won hands down, simply because it had more flowers than its more ordinary sibling.
Bloom: A spring bloomer, ‘Margarita BOP’ Penstemon has stalks of clear, sky blue blossoms that change to a stunning purple as they begin to fade. Swoon! If you keep the dead flowers clipped off, it will bloom again.
Water needs: Low to very low, once established.
Sun: Full sun, part shade.
Size: ‘Margarita BOP’ is roughly 1-2’ tall with a 2-3’ spread, depending on location.
Care: Low water requirements. Snip the dead flowers and you may get a second and third bloom.
Availability: ‘Margarita BOP’ Penstemon is seasonally available just about everywhere in the spring. Other penstemons include the native Foothill Penstemon, often available at native plant nurseries and native plant sales, and other hybrid penstemons and cultivars like 'Electric Blue', 'Blue Spring' and'Catherine De La Mare', also available at seasonally at select local nurseries. Collect them all!
Bonus plants: For your own spring superbloom, combine ‘Margarita BOP’ Penstemon with California native wildflowers. Toss some California poppy seeds around ‘Margarita BOP’ in the fall or early spring for a stunning combination. ‘Island Pink’ Yarrow, Achillea millefolium ‘Island Pink’ is another native cultivar (and a UC Davis Arboretum All Star) and ‘Margarita BOP’s blue blossoms combine well with the pink yarrow flowers, blooming at roughly the same time. Various yarrows are widely available at local nurseries.
Information:
UC Davis Arboretum All Star, Santa Margarita Foothill Penstemon: (https://arboretum.ucdavis.edu)
UC Davis Arboretum All Star, Island Pink Yarrow: (https://arboretum.ucdavis.edu)
Previously Featured Plants
Click on any of the dropdown(s) below to see previously featured Summer Strong plants.
California Fuchsia
California Fuchsia
Epilobium canum (or Zauschneria cana.)
By Laurie Meyerpeter, Master Gardener
This plant is one of our California natives and one of the few natives that blooms in late summer and fall. It looks good as a foliage plant throughout the summer and then after Labor Day, it’s SHOWTIME! Hummingbirds love this plant! A tough, low maintenance plant that looks good throughout our hot summers.
Bloom: Red to red-orange blooms resemble fuchsia flowers in late summer and fall.
Water needs: Low to very low, once established.
Sun: Full sun, part shade.
Size: Different cultivars have different heights from low ground cover to 1.5’ high and to 2-3’ wide. Low varieties spread more than others.
Care: Low to very low water requirements. After bloom, it should be cut back to the ground every year for best looks. Easy, once a year maintenance; low varieties are so forgiving that they can be mowed once a year after bloom.
Availability: Various cultivars are available seasonally.
Bonus plants: De La Mina Verbena (Verbena lilacina 'De La Mina' or Glandularia lilacina. This plant often has fall flowers.
Lion's Tail
Lion's Tail
Leonotis leonurus
By Laurie Meyerpeter, Master Gardener
Lion's Tail blooms throughout the summer and fall. The orange flowers bloom in whorls up the stem. This plant is a hummingbird magnet! The leaves are a surprisingly lush green for such a low water plant. The blooms make good cut flowers.
Its common name is Lion’s Tail but the scientific name Leonotis translates to “Lion’s Ear” and leonurus “lion-colored”.
Bloom: Orange tubular flowers arranged in whorls up the stem of the plant, it blooms throughout the summer and fall.
Water needs: Low once established.
Sun: Full sun.
Size: 4-6’ tall and wide.
Care: Low water requirements. Can be cut back in late fall after bloom for best appearance next season.
Availability: Lion’s Tail is readily available seasonally.
Bonus plants: Nice companion plants include many of the low water, ornamental grasses that shine in late summer and fall. Here are two: Karl Foerster Reed Grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’) and our native Deer Grass (Muhlenbergia rigens). Both are Arboretum All Stars.
Crape Myrtle hybrids and cultivars
Crape Myrtle
Lagerstoemia hybrids and cultivars
By Laurie Meyerpeter, Master Gardener
Nothing says “Summer Strong” more than crape myrtle. Crape myrtle is one tough tree. When conditions get rough, crape myrtle is there, shouting its hot pink, red, white or lavender blooms while the rest of the region melts during our hot summers. When other plants wilt in the heat and the drought, crape myrtle growls, “Here, hold my beer,” steps up, and then knocks our socks off with its brilliantly colored flowers, throwing a party every summer with its crepe-paper-like blooms that just cover the tree for weeks. It doesn’t matter how you take care of them, whether you painstakingly prune them or ignore them, whether you water them weekly or forget most of the time, whether they you coddle them or give them tough love, Crape Myrtles bloom.
And if summer blooms aren’t enough, it goes on to have an autumn encore with brilliant fall color. Mature trees have gorgeous ornamental bark.
Crape myrtle cultivars come in many sizes, from trees to small shrubs. Choose cultivars that best fit your location, space, and color choice.
The hybrids are more resistant to powdery mildew.
This plant is an Arboretum All Star.
Bloom: Pink, lavender, red and white cultivars available. Peak bloom is during the hottest months of July and August.
Water needs: Low once established.
Sun: Full sun. Without full sun, it may flower slightly less and some flower colors like red will be muted.
Size: Size varies depending on the cultivar.
Care: Low water requirements. Needs little pruning or care. Excessive pruning is discouraged.
Availability: Crape Myrtles are widely available year-round.
Bonus plants: Supporting cast includes Lantanas (Lantana montevidensis. L. sellowiana, L. hybrids) which bloom profusely throughout the summer and fall. The flower colors often overlaps Crape Myrtle as well, for example ‘Muskogee’ Crape Myrtle shares a similar lavender color as Lantana montevidensis for a soft lavender effect, and ‘Natchez’ Crape Myrtle can be matched with white lantana hybrids for a “full moon” garden of “summer whites in the night”
De La Mina Verbena or Cedros Island Verbena
De La Mina Verbena or Cedros Island Verbena
Verbena lilacina 'De La Mina', Glandularia lilacina.
By Laurie Meyerpeter, Master Gardener
Just say it. Verbena lilacina 'De La Mina'. Fun, fun, fun! It just skips off the tongue like a nursery rhyme. Or if you're short on time, De La Mina Verbena is almost as fun to say. Either one is so rhyme-y and joyful. Glandularia lilacina is a newer name but many nurseries continue to use to the older name for this plant.
Everything about this plant is joyful. This charming perennial or small shrub has lovely fern-like green foliage and tiny purple flowers in profuse numbers. Its heaviest bloom is in the spring but it has profuse flowers in the summer and fall as well. In some climates, it can bloom nearly year round, although in this region, it seems to take a slight break during the cold season. It’s a selection from Cedros Island off Baja California and is hardy to about 25 degrees (similar to citrus). Butterflies love it.
This plant is a favorite of master gardeners and is a staff favorite at the UC Arboretum in Davis.
Bloom: ‘De La Mina’ Verbena blooms in spring, summer, and fall, and sometimes into winter during warmer years. The diminutive purple flowers are shades of purple and although small, the plant is usually covered in the tiny blooms. The flowers are butterfly favorites and have a light, spicy fragrance.
Water needs: Low, once established.
Sun: Full sun, part shade.
Size: This plant is 2-3’ tall, and 3-4’ wide with a rounded form.
Care: Low water requirements. Lightly prune in late fall to maintain compact form.
Availability: 'De La Mina' Verbena is available during the warmer months at local nurseries, sometimes sporadically. If not in stock, it’s worth asking when it will be re-stocked or check back in a few weeks.
Bonus plants: Many other low and very low water plants are butterfly favorites as well. Besides De La Mina Verbena, consider yarrows like ‘Island Pink’ Yarrow (Achillea millefolium ‘Island Pink’, an Arboretum All-Star) and other yarrows, Santa Barbara Daisy (Erigeron karvinsianus, an Arboretum All-Star), and Catmint (Nepeta x faassenii, an Arboretum All-Star). All bloom profusely in early and mid-summer with repeated blooms throughout summer, and make a nice combination. Yarrows, Santa Barbara Daisy, and Catmint are all readily available in local nurseries.
Information:
CalScape, De La Mina Verbena: (https://calscape.org)
CalScape, Island Pink Yarrow (https://calscape.org)
UC Davis Arboretum All Stars, Island Pink Yarrow: (https://arboretum.ucdavis.edu)
UC Davis Arboretum All Stars, Santa Barbara Daisy: (https://arboretum.ucdavis.edu)
UC Davis Arboretum All Stars, Hybrid Catmint: (https://arboretum.ucdavis.edu)
Santa Barbara Daisy
Santa Barbara Daisy
Erigeron karvinskianus
By Laurie Meyerpeter, Master Gardener
This is a tough plant with nearly continual bloom. It begins flowering about the time you pull out the shorts and sandals in spring and flowers until you get out a sweater in the fall. It may briefly shut down during an intense heat wave but will quickly resume once the swelter stops. If you're out in the heat, this plant is blooming.
Santa Barbara Daisy is lovely trailing over a wall or used in a container. It can stand on its own but it also shines as a supporting plant tucked in among other water conserving plants and flowers, where it flowers prolifically without stealing the show. It’s an underappreciated workhorse in the garden and it’s a wonderful plant for this region.
This plant is an Arboretum All Star, a group of water-conserving, heat-tolerant ornamental plants that thrive in this region. The plants have low maintenance needs and have value to birds and pollinators. Here is more information about the All Star program: https://ccuh.ucdavis.edu/arboretum-all-stars.
Bloom: Santa Barbara Daisy blooms from spring through fall. It may shut down bloom briefly during an intense heat wave but soon after, it will resume its floriferous habit.
Water needs: Low once established.
Sun: Full sun, part shade.
Size: Santa Barbara Daisy is a spreading or trailing groundcover-type perennial that grows 1-2' tall and can spreads 3-5'.
Care: Low water requirements. Can be cut nearly to the ground to renew if it gets too big or rangy.
Availability: Santa Barbara Daisy is readily available at local nurseries throughout the growing season.
Bonus plants: Other low-water, complimentary floriferous Arboretum All Stars include ‘Island Pink’ Yarrow (Yarrow (Achillea millefolium ‘Island Pink) and other yarrow varieties, Cape Balsam (Bulbine frutescens), several Lavenders like ‘Goodwin Creek’ (Lavendula x ginginsii ‘Goodwin Creek’) and ‘Otto Quast’ (Lavandula stoechas ‘Otto Quast’) , and Santa Margarita Foothill Penstemon (Penstemon heterophyllus ‘Margarita BOP’). Most are available at local nurseries on a seasonal basis.
Cleveland Sage (and other Salvias)
'Winnifred Gilman' Cleveland Sage
Salvia clevelandii 'Winnifred Gilman'
By Laurie Meyerpeter, Master Gardener
Along with gorgeous flowers, the leaves of 'Winnifred Gilman' and other Cleveland sage cultivars are highly aromatic. When the Placer County Master Gardeners teach a propagation class at Del Oro High School, this plant is a huge favorite of the teens because of its beautiful aroma and the unique flowers.
'Winnifred Gilman' is one cultivar of Cleveland sage but local nurseries may stock similar and interchangeable Cleveland sage cultivars such as 'Allen Chickering'. And the terms "salvia" and “sage” are both used interchangeably to describe this very large family of plants. Many of them are California natives. Salvias are beloved by hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies.
Bloom: 'Winnifred Gilman' blooms in late spring into early summer, with a light bloom later in the summer. The distinctive whorled flowers are shades of blue and violet. When not in bloom, the plant forms a mound of gray-green leaves that are very aromatic on warm summer days.
Water needs: Low to Very Low once established.
Sun: Full sun, part shade.
Size: 'Winnifred Gilman' Cleveland sage grows 3-4' x 3-4' mounded shrub if unpruned. Other cultivars may be slightly larger and wider if unpruned.
Care: Low water requirements. Lightly prune in late fall to maintain compact form.
Availability: Cleveland sage is seasonally available. Local nurseries typically stock either 'Winnifred Gilman' Cleveland Sage or 'Allan Chickering' Cleveland Sage throughout the spring and summer months.
Bonus plants: Many other salvias or sages are Summer Strong plants with low water requirements and good summer looks. Besides 'Winnifred Gilman', 'Allen Chickering', and other Cleveland sages and cultivars, check out these readily available salvias: 'Bee's Bliss' Sage (Salvia 'Bees Bliss'), White Sage (Salvia apiana), and Hummingbird Sage (Salvia spathacea). A fantastic and popular family of plants! Available seasonally at local nurseries.
UC Master Gardeners
of Placer County