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Saturday, May 25, 2019

A MUSTER OF MULLEIN

Earlier this year I wrote about how I appreciated having several of our roadside mullein plants, Verbascum, in the garden for their early rosettes of soft grey leaves. Read here. Well here they are all grown up, and standing to attention ready for drill practice.


They would like to be in the sunken garden but can only look over the wall. They are destined to stay in the vegetable garden. Unnoticed as they spent the winter underneath stands of Love-in-a-mist, they seemed to shoot up within days-or was I just not watching. I think they benefitted from drip irrigation along the bed.
One thing about mullein, they want to stay put. I have tried without success to transplant them.


A trio of mullein on our septic field. Slower growing because of less water.


These accidental plantings are welcome. I have to pull some but every year several pop up and get to stay because they are well placed. Many are pulled.

A couple get to stay on pathway, between the septic field and wall, now cleared of bluebonnet skeletons.


But I may have been won over by some of the hybrid mullein displayed at the Chelsea Flower Show this year. Some pretty colors in peach and rose. Now to find the seeds.

15 comments:

  1. I love this! "Drill sergeants" indeed! I do love the mulleins!

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    1. I agree, one or two just make the right kind of statement.

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  2. I didn't know there were Verbascum that grew that tall. They do look as though they're peaking over the wall. Oops, I meant "peeking" but I guess both references are true! You have the loveliest self-seeders.

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    1. Thanks Kris. Almost time to pull them before I get too many next year.

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  3. mullein! i keep forgetting that I want these! nigella, too! aaaaagh! what a bad influence you are! :)

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    1. Are you quite sure? Somehow I think that they might both be a little too boisterous for your garden.

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  4. I've become a big fan of the pretty moth mullein, V. phoeniceum. It self-sows very manageably -- I'd even say sparingly -- so I leave it be in most places it comes up. The yellow version is what's persisted here; one season there were a few with white-with-pink-center blooms, but those never re-appeared. On my long list to try someday is the cultivar/seed strain 'Violetta' with purple flowers.

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    1. I looked up some of the hybrids and am ready to try them out. Especially the 'Violetta' you mention.

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    2. Just realized I've been fusing/confusing two different mulleins. Pretty weed moth mullein is V. blattaria, and V. phoenicium is a more gardenesque species.

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  5. How wonderful to have these even if sometimes you have to pull some.

    For some reason Blogger has been putting blogs I follow into my spam folder and yours was one of them.

    Have a lovely holiday ~ FlowerLady

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    1. And they put comments in my spam folder and I can't seem to change it other than saying-not spam. . Hope your holiday is a good one too.

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  6. This is the first year in 10 that I haven’t had any seedlings. Strange.

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  7. I always love seeing those blooms in my garden too. None so far this year though.

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    1. I have more than enough and would share but they do not like being transplanted.

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