Last week The Garden Guy attempted to take your mind off the impending doom from the arctic blast with a little "Mele Kalikimaka" from Hawaii. I know I failed — if you are a gardener, you are suffering. I too was leaning toward a mood of dark hysteria brought on by five days of 11-17 degrees Fahrenheit. Then a lifeline came in the mail: I received the new Spring 2023 Preview catalog from Proven Winners. There on page 14 were the new 2023 Proven Accent Plants, one of which, Waikiki Sunset, took me back to Hawaii.
Although I currently have a landscape of burnt toast, color is sure to come again. If you have not grown Waikiki Sunset, just know it is a mood changer, a spirit uplifter from the plant world. Waikiki Sunset will have you looking at The Bright Side (more on that later). But before I tell you why, let’s get down to the botany and taxonomy of this treasure.
Waikiki Sunset is known botanically as Lysimachia congestiflora with the recognized common name of dense-flowered loosestrife, moneywort and occasionally golden globes. None of the common names do the plant justice. Waikiki Sunset, on the other hand, fits perfectly.
As you may have gathered, it is related to the Goldilocks creeping Jenny, which is Lysimachia nummularia. Goldilocks is hardy to zone 3, while Waikiki Sunset is hardy to zone 7 (though I hear some touting zone 6).
Goldilocks travels in the garden and can cascade 24-plus inches over the rim of a container or basket. Waikiki Sunset won’t spread nearly as much and is taller, able to reach around 10 inches. But Waikiki Sunset offers green and gold variegated leaves and gorgeous golden globe flowers sporting rusty red centers or throats that persist off and on most of the summer.
I have grown them in between flagstone patio rocks with blue scaevola and was delighted. Son James has used them with blue lobelias in containers, which were dazzling. The blue partners as complementary colors and are a natural choice. But I want you to look at The Bright Side, which I mentioned earlier. This is a Proven Winners recipe that is as colorful as Carnival in Rio.
The Bright Side recipe is so simple it makes me think we all must be guilty of trying too hard when it comes to container partnerships. The Bright Side features Waikiki Sunset lysimachia, Superbells Red and Superbells Tropical Punch calibrachoas. You will notice the clusters of golden globe flowers certainly stand out, but the golden chartreuse and green variegated leaves add a special pizzazz.
Many in the industry talk of this plant’s ability to stand out in a monoculture planting. Proven Winners added on to this idea by combining Waikiki Sunset with the new Graceful Grasses Queen Tut. This gives you monoculture on the bottom, then elegant tufts of green towering over the planting. Trust me, this is drop-dead gorgeous.
If you are trying in the landscape, amend tight heavy soil with 3 to 4 inches of organic matter, and work it shovel-deep, 6 to 8 inches. As you probably have gathered by now, I am a proponent of incorporating a little preplant slow-release fertilizer. It is considered a sun to part-shade plant. I have a high-filtered shifting sun, which also seems perfect.
When planting the Waikiki Sunset lysimachia or any other perennial, take care of not planting too deep. Plant where the top of the root-ball is even with the surface of the soil. The Waikiki Sunset is spreading, so space 10 to 12 inches apart.
Water to get the plants established, but then sparingly. A light application of a slow-released, balanced fertilizer a month after transplanting should be sufficient for vigorous growth. Commercial landscapers growing in mixed containers tend to use a preplant controlled-release granular fertilizer, followed up by dilute liquid feeding the rest of the summer.
It won’t be long, and this record cold spell will be thankfully forgotten. Use this down time to make your list of plants and start thinking of combos or recipes like The Bright Side that you may want to try.
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(Norman Winter, horticulturist, garden speaker and author of “Tough-as-Nails Flowers for the South” and “Captivating Combinations: Color and Style in the Garden.” Follow him on Facebook @NormanWinterTheGardenGuy.)
(NOTE TO EDITORS: Norman Winter receives complimentary plants to review from the companies he covers.)
