A must for the garden, Orthosiphon labiatus

Salvia is a justifiably popular genus with many species that boast fragrant foliage and wonderful flowers.  There are other genera in the same family that are equally wonderful but hardly known outside of their homelands.  Orthosiphon labiatus is one of these treasures.  It came to me as a plant from Steve Owens of Bustani Plant Farms  in Oklahoma, where a plant has to be tough to survive.  It is not a hardy perennial there or here (then again I didn't leave the plant outside through a winter), but blooms continuously once it gets started in early summer till frost.  The foliage isn't particularly pleasant smelling but its not obnoxious either, and in any case like most members of the mint family it is of little interest to critters such as deer, so that's always a plus.  It roots easily from cuttings and produces plenty of seeds.  I cut back and dug up the plant after some light frosts and put it in a pot in the garage, where it is still alive.  Not doing much but still alive, hopefully it will act like Salvia guarantica Black and Blue which I also dig up (only one of 2 clumps this year, they are getting too big to fit in pots) and cut back and keep alive till spring when it can go out.  It gets some light and cool temperatures where it is camped out for the winter.    
Orthosiphon includes a few species from Africa and this one ranges from South Africa into Zimbabwe and is sometimes grown in gardens in both countries.  It is a magnificent thing that just gets larger and more floriferous as the summer goes on, and of course attracts all kinds of pollinators.  I truthfully knew little about this plant till I grew it myself, and I was surprised at how well it performs with minimal care and some good sunshine. 

Crotalaria, not your usual annuals

Crotalaria is a large genus with both annual and perennial species.  Most are concentrated in Africa though they are found elsewhere too.  This year I started several from seed but two got large enough to get out into the garden.  Unfortunately I lost the tag on the yellow species, it is an African one and I will have to grow out more seed from what I have to figure it out.  Another very unfortunate thing is that it is not self fertile (the only crotalaria I have run into so far with this annoying trait) so I did not get seed from it, nor was I able to propagate it from cuttings.  It has blue green glaucous leaves and gets quite robust, and bloomed all summer long right till frost.  Since I have several spp of crotalaria seeds, I can rule out a few names but will have to actually grow more out from what I can't eliminate as this species and make sure to get more than one plant started.  Perhaps I will send a photo to the supplier so I can get a good ID and more seed of it, I don't think I could have too much of such a nice flower. 
The second species is one I collected many years ago in a cornfield in Malawi, where it grows as a weed.  It has lovely bluish flowers, not common among African crotalarias, nearly all of which are some shade of yellow.  I think it is C. polysperma.  It is easy to grow but only opens its flowers for several hours each day, but it does produce abundant seeds and is very self fertile.  So its no problem to propagate, this one plant made hundreds of seeds even though it was off to a late start due to me not getting the seed started earlier. 
The seed pods of all crotalarias are known as rattleboxes because they actually do rattle when dry due to the inflated pod and numerous seeds inside. Like other legumes, the seeds benefit from being soaked and/or chipped and soaked to ensure that water gets through the thick seed coat.  This speeds germination, and they like full sun and warm to hot weather to do their best.  Some species bloom in winter, which is unfortunate as they would otherwise be good garden plants.  I collected seeds of some species in Malawi that are also nice plants but have the fault of winter blooming habits which precludes them from anything but greenhouse use in NY.
There are some other species I have grown earlier and need to restart from seed as well as some that are being maintained indoors as small plants because they didn't come up fast enough to get out in the garden in time.  They will have a head start next year so I should have some more of these intriguing African legumes to experience in my garden later this year. 

Crinums, tough bulbs for tough places

Crinum bulbispermum "Jumbo"

"Jumbo"

C. moorei

C. moorei

Found crinum from South Carolina

The other found crinum from South Carolina, growing in the same location as the pink one above

Crinum is a fairly large genus with quite a few hybrids, and some of the species and hybrids are more cold hardy than might be expected.  The species C. bulbspermum is especially cold hardy, and all the bulbs I planted out in my home gardens came through last winter, the coldest in decades, unscathed.  They were young bulbs, maybe 3 years old in most cases, from 2 different sources, a few of a "Jumbo" strain from a PBS seed distribution, and many more from South African seed. One of the Jumbos bloomed in October, much later than it should have, so the flower didn't open completely due to the cold but I was pleased nonetheless.  C. bulbispermum tends to not offset readily, but its hybrids often do.  I have one such hybrid or selection growing from seed now, it has been named Oaklawn Cemetery strain from where it was found by Nestor, a crinum aficionado if there ever was one.  He sells on ebay as bulbsnmorenurseryfl, and the numerous seeds were a bonus I got with an order of three crinum bulbs.  I am overwintering the seedlings under lights so they can grow continuously and get large faster so I can plant them out in the garden.  The true bulbispermums that I did plant out last year were maybe the size of tulip bulbs or smaller and I planted them deep, but they were quite quick to resume growth once the danger of frost was past, and I hope the bulbs fattened up so many more will bloom next year.  Jim Shields of Indiana has posted information on Crinum hardiness in a climate that is colder than mine, according to that information C. variabile is the most hardy.  I have small seedlings of it coming along so it will get its chance in the open garden one day. 
At school I have a pink C x powellii that has survived for several years in an unprotected location.  C. powellii does not set seeds (though I think its pollen can be used for hybridizing) but does offset readily.  I planted the alba form in my new flowerbed I carved out of the front lawn, it is a blooming sized bulb from a Brent and Becky's late season discount sale.  It didn't flower, which is not unusual as crinums don't like disturbance and take a while to settle in.  Next year I am pretty sure it will flower, its got great sunshine in its location and I amended the heavy soil we have here with roadsand and compost to make it more suitable for what I like to grow. 
In pots I also grow several other crinums, including C. moorei which I grew from South African seed. It has lovely pink flowers and offsets readily, and it fairly quick to bloom from seed. I just haul the pots inside for the winter into the cool garage and allow it to remain semidormant with an occasional watering.   I also grow C. macowanii from Malawi that a friend collected for me, it never offsets and wont form seeds.  I have since acquired both seeds from South Africa of the same species and a large (well huge actually) bulb from Telos Rare Bulbs when they were having a sale on crinums and oxalis early this fall.  I only wish I had ordered more crinums, Diana was trying to get rid of some of them because they take up a lot of space, and the bulbs I got were impressive to say the least.  They will have to grow new roots, so I am keeping them unpotted till spring, at that point they will be able to grow new roots when it is warmer and their is less risk of root rots.  If the macowanii from Telos blooms next year I can cross it with my form from Malawi and then get my own seeds. 
Nestor sells a lot of crinums on ebay, and with each order you get a cd that has many nice photos and a great deal of information on the various crinums he grows, including many "found" ones growing in all sorts of odd places. You see, crinum grow all over the deep south, and are indestructible (we don't have the amaryllis caterpillar that is their main enemy in Africa), often outliving their owners or even their homes.  So there's lots of "found" heirloom crinums to hunt for down south, where they have been surviving as long as they get enough sun to grow.  I also found a couple of crinums in a field off a highway entrance ramp in South Carolina, I dug up one example of each and they are in pots now.  I don't know if they were purposely planted there (but crinums aren't the sort of thing highway beautification folks plant) or, more likely I think, they might have been on a property that was demolished when the highway was built.  Either way there are plenty left where I found them, and they should grow for many more years as they are not that close to the roadside.  The biggest threat they face is probably trees growing up around them, they can survive in shade but really need full sun in most cases to do their best. 
No one around here grows crinums, as with most parts of the USA homeowners only grow what is familiar to them or what their landscapers suggest.   I could never have my gardens look like everyone elses, after all novelty is the spice of life, especially in gardening!  So next year if more crinums bloom in the front gardens I guess the neighbors will be gawking at one more "weird" flower growing here as I continue to expand and remodel the gardens at my home.
If you want to try growing C. bulbispermum in a cold climate area, it is best to either get large bulbs or grow your own from seed in pots. The pots can be allowed to dry out and go dormant for winter if you don't want to keep them growing year round, and then when the bulbs are large enough to plant with their noses at least several inches under the ground surface, you can place them out in the garden.  As far as I know they do not successfully resow in cold winter areas so it seems it is necessary to get the bulbs to a decent size before putting them outdoors.  And if it is too cold for some crinums that you wish to grow they do fine in pots, just make sure the pots are as large as possible because they are greedy feeders with thick roots.  Haul them in for winter and dry them off, or if you have the space and good sun you can keep them in leaf.  If you are down south, well growing crinums is idiot proof, just plant in sun or partial shade in the case of C moorei, and provide enough water.  Soil type wont likely matter, they can even manage in the clay soils that are so common down south.  They will take time to establish, but once they do, remember, crinums are forever.