Olympic Mullein
Verbascum olympicum
(ver-BASK-um) (oh-LIM-pih-kum)
Synonyms: Greek Mullein, V. longiflorum var. pannosum
I saw this plant blooming at Wave Hill. It looked like a majestic perennial. The hairy leaves and flower stalks were quite tall and I liked the color of the flowers. I haven’t had much luck with Verbascum it always seems to be monocarpic. It has only come back once for me and then it died after flowering. I am not putting them down and now that I have seen this plant I might be tempted to try again. I am not going to give any growing tips because I don’t seem to be able to grow it. I do know some people that have been successful with Southern Charms Verbascum and I love the delicate color of those flowers. I have secretly always wanted to grow Arctic Summer Verbascum.
Here is the same flower with an Oriental Beetle (Anomala orientalis) crawling on it. These things were all over the garden this year. Here is a link to a Wikipedia article:
Oriental Beetle
4 comments:
My absolute favorite Verbascum. It takes two years for it to bloom but well worth the wait. The silver color of the big leaves are very striking too. I love how the flowering stalk winds around and around as the flowers open. A wonderful architectural specimen plant. I was able to buy tiny plants from a nursery twice but the ones he sold as V. olympicum for the following few years turned out to be some other large Verbascum and a dissapointment. I saw some planted in Seattle in front of a building and it was an eyecatcher for sure. They do die after blooming.
Hello! I just found your site and wanted to say thank you for the gorgeous photos and interesting blogging! I'm a relative newbie to gardening and I find it inspiring to read and learn about my new hobby. Many thanks!
Most (if not all) verbascums are bienniels. Low growing in year one, flower stalk year two. Mine seed all over, with I consider a feature, not a bug. I've got lots of pix of them at my site.
On your glowing endorsement, Ki, I will have to try a few in the garden.
Craig, I am assuming that you don't do anything special and the plants reseed.
heidi, I checked out your site and must say you have a unique product. Let me know if you want a couple of flower pictures for your website.
Chris
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