Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Update on the Florida Scrub Skullcap

I should have waited a couple weeks before highlighting the Florida scrub skullcap (Scutellaria arenicola) in a post.  When I got back from my trip to Boston, where I helped to create a pollinator garden for Sean, the skullcaps were in full bloom.  How full of blossoms the plants are and what a beautiful blue those blooms are!

You can see from the number of flowers dropped on the ground that they've been blooming for a while and were probably even a bit showier than they are in this photo.

Just for kicks and giggles, here are a couple closeups.  The first is of the blooms...

...and the second is of a bloom spike about to break into full bloom.

This is their first year!  I am so glad that I picked these up from Dara and I hope they continue to do well and even increase in future years.

3 comments:

Gardener on Sherlock Street said...

Looking good!

Corner Gardener Sue said...

They are pretty! I have some of a different kind that I got from our local arboretum, even though they are not native here. They are probably a cultivar, too.

Gaia Gardener: said...

Sue, in Kansas I had a very dainty little skullcap called Smoky Hills resinous skullcap, collected originally from north central Kansas in the Smoky Hills there. I loved it. It was a tiny plant, but just covered with blooms for about a month in the spring. After blooming, it would die back and disappear until the following spring. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the same skullcap that you purchased at your local arboretum; I got it at the Dyck Arboretum plant sale in Hesston, Kansas.