Today’s #oneadayplant is an unseasonably late flower on one of my favourite plants; Parahebe perfoliata (I’m not going to adopt the renamed name. It is and was P. perfoliata and that is just fine by me) (Digger’s Speedwell) . Parahebe, like Hebe and other allied Genera are going through (have been for a decade now) a name change to Veronica, so you may well also find it under V. perfoliata and the Speedwell bit of the common name makes sense when you look at the flower. . From South Eastern Australia, but perfectly hardy in the UK, it throws out single stems (weird as they don’t really side-branch at all) from the crown of the plant with perfoliate leaves (i.e. leaves that appear to have have a stem passing through their centre, actually, they are densely packed in pairs that overlap). At the tips, in summer, slightly pendant racemes of a very pleasing purple-blue flowers are formed. . Not a typical herbaceous perennial, but then not a shrub or typical sub-shrub either. An oddity and wonderful for it. . The foliage is evergreen and very leathery in a wonderful grey-green. Plants are often a bit straggly and uneven, but merge well with other plants, are great wedged in between rocks, or at the top of low walls allowed to hang over slightly. . It is way less common that it should be, perhaps because it can be miffy to root from cuttings, but I love it. There is a white flowered form and one with more toothed foliage called ‘Pringle’, I have never seen either and would dearly like them. . I like it here with Koeleria glauca (blue grass) as a differing texture in a simile colour. Needs sun and decent drainage. Can tolerate being very hot and dry at times, once established. Should be seen more. . #parahebe #parahebeperfoliata #veronicaperfoliata #derwentia #hebe #newzealand #seaustralia #plants #gardens #plantingdesign #koeleriaglauca #grasses #veronica #speedwell #gardening #gardeningadvice #iplantsman #gardeningtips #fleurs #fiori #blummen #bloemen #flores #foliage #glaucus #subshrub (at Crowborough, East Sussex) https://www.instagram.com/p/CHpsbkbgWF7/?igshid=1cy0u0xhz1bai
