While at the Botanic Garden in Phoenix I photographed this plant (there was no plant label). I assumed it was a Phlomis and that I would be able to find its name and hopefully be able to buy some seeds easily when I returned home. It isn’t in any of my books and a quick search on line hasn’t thrown up anything similar. Any ideas would be gratefully received. Thank you
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Looks like Leonotis to me 🙂
Maybe, it looks similar but the petals are shorter. Leonitis leonurus (sin. Phlomis leonitis) is a South African plant and I think all the plants at the Botanic garden were natives. Thanks for the prompt reply. Christina
Certainly looks like a Phlomis and the seedheads look like phlomis seedheads. Apparently there are more than 100 species of phlomis, 3 that I thought might be vaguely similar were Phlomis longifolia, P cretica or P sierra Elvira, don’t know if this is any help or not, hope so!
Thanks Pauline, I did find P cretica but the images had yellow petals so I wasn’t sure; I’ll check the others. Christina
Looks like one of the phlomis we have in the garden. Ours is a paler yellow. the name escapes me at the moment…
Maybe the colour wans’t true on the post. One of the reasons the plant caught my eye was that it is orange, I colour I now use quite a lot in my garden, so far Scott’s suggestion seems the most likely
Wait up, I imagine the grey furry leaves are Phlomis?
But the spike of flowers is Leonotis. If you look down the stalk you can see a first green leaf.
You have two plants growing together. Those tiered flowers are distinctive for the Leonotis. Comes in orange, or white, not yellow.
Yes, sorry there is another silvery leaved plant in the background. I have another image I’ll post that too to be extra sure, Christina
I’d agree with Scott that it looks like a Leonotis – perhaps Leonotis nepetifolia? That is still not quite native to the US, but apparently not uncommon in Mexico.
Must be but the flower colour is a foxing thing. RHS help desk?
I can’t help with the identification, but it is an interesting plant!
FYI- I posted a link to this post on WMG today: http://wifemothergardener.blogspot.com/2012/02/post-202-for-love-of-blogging-and-my.html
Hope you are warming up!
I think I might have found your flower in this months Gardeners World magazine. In an article about annuals they show a photo of Leonotis leonurus and the flowers and leaves look exactly as in your photo, hope this is some help!
Thank you Pauline, this is what I love about blogging. As you can see below some others came up with this too. I’ll have to investigate whether seeds are available.