At first glance, this elegant, upright, small shrub looks as if it would revel in a dry sunny spot, much where you would expect to grow lavender and rosemary. You would imagine that its silver grey leaves and tiny white flowers would sit happily in a typical Mediterranean habitat. Well, it didn’t take long to discover that this plant originates in southern Africa … and guess what? It mostly grows along river banks and watercourses!
I raised my plants from seed and planted them out the following spring. I am ashamed to admit that, at the time, I didn’t look into their preferred environment and assumed they’d like it sunny and well drained. As it turns out, they seem to like that too!
I imagine that given the hot sun and damp, if not waterlogged, soil that they get in southern Africa, they would attain the 2.6 metres quoted on the Plantz Africa website; however mine have barely reached one metre after three years.
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2 replies on “Gomphostigma virgatum”
It looks very neat and pretty. I’ll keep my eyes open for it. Thanks for mentioning it.
A new one to me -interesting !