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Image: Brian Pyle @rancho_brian
(Cutting Grown)
Now, this doesn’t look very Gondwanan — you might be thinking I’ve been huffing the potting soil too long and forgot how to read a map. Possibly. But I’m down with Californian natives (or hybrids of them), and Trichostema × Midnight Magic is a winner I just had to grow. It’s a compact, rounded shrub with dark, minty (seriously minty) foliage and upright spikes of velvety purple flowers. It’ll bloom its socks off from spring into fall and is a magnet for hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies.
Thriving in full sun with well-drained soil, it’s drought-tolerant, low-maintenance, and a very garden-friendly selection — a cross between the California native Trichostema lanatum and the Mexican species Trichostema purpusii.
Flower Color: Purple
Bloomtime: Spring-Fall
Height: 3-4 feet
Width: 3-4 feet
Exposure: Sun
Soil Type: Good Drainage
Cold Tolerance: 26-28f
Irrigation requirements: Low
Trichostema × Midnight Magic
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Reviews
Trichostema lanatum was a must have plant for me due to those wooly purple blooms. But after having 4 of them all fail on me over the years in my Sacramento Valley garden, I had to give up...way too finicky and I heard that even from professional growers.. 'Midnight Magic' keeps the gorgeous blooms, minus the fuzziness, of T. lanatum, and gets a hardier constitution from the T. purpusii parent. So cool that Troy has added this to his line-up; you'll love this plant in your garden.