Anyone growing Encelia farinosa as an ornamental?

[Fusca]

I recently drove through southern Arizona for the first time and saw this amazing native plant growing all along the highways!  I visited the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix and sure enough I found the plant growing there.  It is obviously a tough plant and reseeds readily since I noticed small seedlings among older plants.  I found the silver foliage similar to Texas sage (Leucophyllum frutescens) and enjoyed the contrast of the bright yellow flowers as well.  Is anyone using this as an ornamental in their garden?  It seems to have a more compact form than Leucophyllum frutescens and seems like it would make a nice companion plant to agaves, yuccas and palms.

Jon

 

[Silas_Sancona]

1 minute ago, Fusca said:

I recently drove through southern Arizona for the first time and saw this amazing native plant growing all along the highways!  I visited the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix and sure enough I found the plant growing there.  It is obviously a tough plant and reseeds readily since I noticed small seedlings among older plants.  I found the silver foliage similar to Texas sage (Leucophyllum frutescens) and enjoyed the contrast of the bright yellow flowers as well.  Is anyone using this as an ornamental in their garden?  It seems to have a more compact form than Leucophyllum frutescens and seems like it would make a nice companion plant to agaves, yuccas and palms.

Jon

 

When were you in town.. and why wasn't i notified, lol    Jokes aside,

Didn't put any in the yard, but is a pretty popular companion in landscapes.. Easy, takes the heat ,cold, some wet if the soil drains well.. Can look ragged if not given water (Drought can reduce it to sticks out in the desert ) but springs back to life, almost miraculously, when it gets a good soaking. Flowers almost all year, though the biggest show is this time of year, into the spring. Bees LOVE it.. Leaves, stems, are supposed to have a scent but i haven't noticed.. Maybe it needs to be dried, like Sage sticks. 

Big plants can get a little wild in the landscape but can be given a light haircut to tidy up.. 

Like you said, looks great with Agave, Cacti, Yuccas and Palms, especially blue colored species.. You might just have motivated me to throw 1 or 2 in some empty spots i need to fill out front soon.

You get to explore other spots beside DBG while in town?

[Fusca]

 

3 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

You get to explore other spots beside DBG while in town?

Hey Nathan,

Unfortunately I didn't.  It was a spur-of-the-moment whirlwind trip, I only had a few days off from work and got "ramblin' fever" but still enjoyable!  I did get a chance to get some palms that aren't available in my area in addition to having a nice change of scenery!  Next time I'll for sure give you a heads-up.  I've got a couple of cousins who relocated to Phoenix recently from middle Tennessee that I need to visit as well.  I managed to snag a couple of these Encelia seedlings from the side of the road and got the entire taproot - I think they'll do well here.  I assume they'll look more silver in full sun.

By the way, I also got to drive through snow in New Mexico for a couple of hours early in the morning of Dec. 28 - the first time in 17 years! 

[Silas_Sancona]

2 minutes ago, Fusca said:

 

Hey Nathan,

Unfortunately I didn't.  It was a spur-of-the-moment whirlwind trip, I only had a few days off from work and got "ramblin' fever" but still enjoyable!  I did get a chance to get some palms that aren't available in my area in addition to having a nice change of scenery!  Next time I'll for sure give you a heads-up.  I've got a couple of cousins who relocated to Phoenix recently from middle Tennessee that I need to visit as well.  I managed to snag a couple of these Encelia seedlings from the side of the road and got the entire taproot - I think they'll do well here.  I assume they'll look more silver in full sun.

By the way, I also got to drive through snow in New Mexico for a couple of hours early in the morning of Dec. 28 - the first time in 17 years! 

I hear ya.. i don't think there's ever enough time to explore when you're on a trip somewhere, even when you try to have some sort of idea / plan regarding what you'd like to see, even if you have extra time.. Be glad you were out here now vs. come summer when it's 110F+.. Even the hour in the car between here and Tucson to pick up plants is a lesson in keeping your cool, lol.. Anyway, glad you got the chance to visit.

Having traveled this route many times, during every season except Spring, hard to imagine all that snow across New Mexico and S.E. AZ!. There was also drone footage on the news last night from  the AZ side of Nogales, covered in Snow.. lots of it. 

Yes, for the Brittlebush, give them all the sun you can to keep 'em silver.  If the seedlings you were able to get don't survive, there are plenty of nurseries here and down in Tucson that stock them, if need be, next time your out this way..  Think some of the nurseries out there can order them form here. A well known whole seller supposedly sells their plants to nurseries in Texas.  

Here's a picture of how they can look out in the desert when its really dry. Taken last Feb. during a visit up to the Superstitions. We'd had no real rain, area-wide all last winter so everything was looking quite sad. The local Echinocereus sp. and Barrel Cacti being the exceptions. The greener, *Bushes* on the hillside behind the Brittlebush are Foothill Palo Verde. Wasn't used to seeing these less than 10-15ft tall.

[Tom in Tucson]

Brittlebush are quite drought tolerant, but are somewhat sensitive to frost. A few years ago when temperatures fell below 25°F for extended periods of time in parts of town the foliage damage was apparent for a couple of months.

Hi 71°, Lo 36°

[Josue Diaz]

I've grown one for a couple of years. I use encelia and salvia apiana for the chalky grey-green foliage. They look great with grasses and other perennials. 

[Gonzer]

They can be somewhat of a pain in the a$$ to establish, but worth the patience. Naturally rounded mounds grouped en masse are quite impressive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Fusca]

8 hours ago, Gonzer said:

They can be somewhat of a pain in the a$$ to establish, but worth the patience. Naturally rounded mounds grouped en masse are quite impressive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

E

That's what I was thinking too.  The individual plant is nice but the sight of thousands of them lining the highway all in bloom really caught my eye.  They seemed to have a more rounded look than the one I photographed in the botanical garden.  And I wondered about the cold tolerance as well.  Thanks for the input @Tom in Tucson.  I don't think we get much below 25°F very often here and not for very long.