Jerusalem Sage (Phlomis fruticosa)
Today’s Interesting Plant comes from a friends garden. I was visiting Keri from the Animalbytes blog and came across this wonderful phlomis in her garden. It is quite a striking plant, while also being water wise and a great attractor for insects and hummingbirds.
Photo: Douglas E. Welch, A Gardener’s Notebook
Phlomis fruticosa (Jerusalem sage[1]) is a species of flowering plant of the Lamiaceae family, native to Albania, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Turkey, and regions of the former Yugoslavia.
It is a small evergreen shrub, up to 1 m (3 ft) tall by 1.5 m (5 ft) wide. The sage-like, aromatic leaves are oval, 2-4 inches long, wrinkled, grey-green with white undersides, and covered with fine hairs. Light yellow, tubular flowers, 3 cm in length, grow in whorls of 20 in short spikes in summer.[2]
The specific epithet fruticosa means “shrubby”.[3]
It is popular as an ornamental plant, and has gained the Royal Horticultural Society‘s Award of Garden Merit.[4]
As a garden escape, it has naturalised in parts of South West England.[5] — Wikipedia
- Jerusalem Sage (Phlomis fruticosa) at Wikipedia
- Jerusalem Sage (Phlomis fruticosa) at Daves Garden
- Jerusalem Sage (Phlomis fruticosa) at San Marcos Growers
Previously in the Interesting Plant series:
- Hummingbird Sage (Salvia spathacea)
- Seaside Daisy, Beach Aster (Erigeron glaucus)
- Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia)
- California Lilac (Ceanothus)
- Bigberry Manzanita (Arctostaphylos glauca)
- Douglas Iris (Iris douglasiana)
- Malva Rosa (Lavatera assurgentiflora)
- Baby Blue-Eyes (Nemophila)
- Coral Bells or Alum Root (Heuchera)
- Deer Grass (Muhlenbergia rigens)
- Echeveria ‘Lola’
- View all past “Interesting Plant” posts
Interesting Plant is a series from A Gardener’s Notebook blog and podcast that highlights the most interesting plants I find in my Internet and real-world travels — Douglas