Wishlist: Baccharis halimifolia
There’s something wildly appealing about the horticultural tableau of the roadside, when it isn’t taken up by invasive species. From Texas to Florida and up to Massachusetts, Baccharis halimifolia, the groundsel tree, is one plant I’m always glad to see growing by the highway.
My earliest memory of Baccharis takes me back to a time when I’d first begun to notice plants, when my two sisters and I would frequently be packed into the back seat of a rattletrap Volvo and shuttled an INFINITE hour and a half to my maternal grandparents’ in central Mississippi. I remember the plant’s fluffy seedheads all over fall roadsides, and I remember thinking it must be a weed because it grew from cracks in the pavement, but still… A pretty darn cool weed.
In fact Baccharis was such a cool weed I became curious as to other plants that grew in the most inhospitable places, and something of an obsession was born. There’s a good chance that weed first sparked my interest in drought-tolerant gardening.
Cut to 2009, when I’d decided Baccharis might fit perfectly, rebelliously, into my plan for my front flowerbed. I inquired on Twitter as to whether anyone grew it on purpose, and when none other than Margaret Roach replied and said she’d grown it for years and loved it, I ordered mine post haste.
I’ve so enjoyed watching this plant grow in the past year. It’s fast growing, so it’s quickly taking its place at the table. Its silvery leaves are a fascinating shape. My only worry is whether I’ll get those fluffy seeds since I only have the single female, and I don’t know of others growing nearby. All signs point to no, but the nursery I ordered it from intimated they could probably snag a male plant for me too, ahem, as in “It grows EVERYWHERE here, you crazy fool.”
So we’ll see! In the meantime, it’s grown a good four feet, so I’m thinking it’s happy. One more to cross off the list.
Here’s a slideshow from various Flickr users where you can see those lovely seedheads →
- Posted by AK on 2010 Mar 11 at 1443
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That’s a great story!
Thanks, Liza!
Wow! Great photos.
Not come across anyone else growing Baccharis before.
Have grown Baccharis, not sure of species, because its 90 miles away, for many years in family garden, in North Devon UK.
I didn’t plant it, just pruned it occasionally, when it got out of hand.
I had wondered whether my pruning was to blame for the lack of flower but now I see from you and the RHS that, like humans, both are needed!
Life is a bit short to look up the requirements of everything!
Best Wishes
Robert
Thanks, Robert! It’s true, I’m usually pretty up on requirements, but sometimes I’m willing to go out on a limb (Ha!) before double-checking. Margaret Roach reports that hers did the fluffy seed thing, and I don’t know that there were any pollenators around, so who knows? I’ll look into getting a male if need be, but I’m really enjoying it as a foliage plant in the meantime.
Amazing how times change…and plant palettes change. From weed to drought tolerant plant. There is a nice CA native called baccharis pilularis that looks a little weedy, but does with with no water after establish. It needs room to breath..and too big of shrub for us..but love seeing it on the hills here. Matti
@Matti: Cool! I googled it — that is one gorgeous plant! Does look large, though. California has so many great, unique native plants. I think sometimes weeds just need a change of venue to be beautiful.