Scutellaria Species, Pink Texas Skullcap, Cherry Skullcap

This plant took off in my Norfolk, VA garden. I didn't water or give it much attention. It blooms from spring through to early fall. In c...Read Moreold winters, it has dies, but green leaves grow from the brown woody stems each year. It struggled for a few months after a flood last year, but recovered nicely. I've had it about 3 or 4 years. It's about 1'x3' (and 10" tall). I wish I would have picked up a couple more b/c it makes such a great border plant. I'll try propagating by cutting this year. Even though it's ugly in winter, it's spring-fall flowering makes it a great plant.

Looks somewhat weedy and the leaves are nothing special, but it does great with zero care (by care I mean shade, water, fertilizer, winte...Read Morer protection, etc.) here in S. Louisiana. Stays in a compact clump and flowers quite regularly. After 2 years in the ground, mine is only about 1.5 feet wide and under a foot tall. And since it's a native plant, I have to give it a thumbs-up. The main reason to grow this is that it forms a such a dense clump that light cannot pass through it and it hence acts as a great weed barrier. I bought mine at a big-box store with initials HD in 2012 and have never seen it for sale at that store, nor at any local independent nurseries, nor at plant shows. So if you see one, buy it. Then again, it's easily propagated by sticking a cutting in a glass of water and waiting a few seconds for long white roots to pop out.

Update, summer 2014: Both of my plants have died as a result of massive flooding this May (14" in 48 hrs.) (They did survive the icepocalypse winter we had.) I've lowered my rating from Positive to Neutral and cancelled my zipcode report for my area code, 70090. Oddly, some cuttings I kept in my kitchen in a glass of water did fine for several months, so water on the roots does not appear to be the problem. The problem is apparently the microorganisms in the outdoor soil that become overabundant after the ground gets waterlogged. And my plants never really got a pleasing color of green, probably due to heat stress. Overall, I don't recommend it for Louisiana.

In Boston, MA (Z6a) this is a performs beautifully as a bedding plant. Blooms its head off nonstop all summer and fall. Foliage stays fre...Read Moresh-looking all season.

Doesn't make it through our winters.

In commerce, I often see this plant labeled "Scutellaria frutescens".

I've been growing these happily for 3-4 years and keep adding more because they do so well in South Texas. This February I pruned back f...Read Moreairly hard the oldest ones which had quite a bit of dead wood from a very dry summer. They've perked right back up and filled in.

I have them growing in full sun (western exposure) on a slight slope -- some soil over rock. They appreciate some supplemental watering during the summer if it does not rain -- particularly if you want them to bloom. They reliably bloom late spring and in the fall -- a deep purple-pink. Mine have never frozen back in the winter (at least a few exposures to temps in the mid-20s).

They're very tidy and mine are less than 1' tall and the oldest ones are around 2' across. A great plant to grow at the front of the bed or under a taller leggier plant (mine are with Damianita daisy, Mexican feathergrass, Mexican oregano, and Salvia greggii)