Veronica, Hebe 'Pink Elephant'

Here in Albany, Oregon, my 'Pink Elephant', planted in the ground, sailed through several days of temperatures in the high 20's. The tip...Read Mores also stay pink year round.

I propagate this plant by mounding soil around the bottom branches and (be patient!) letting the plant root in the soil for a couple of months. Gently check the mound for roots and if there is a good quantity, sever the branch from the mother plant and pot up. This gives me a nice size plant and the mother plant will continue to bush out nicely.

The pink coloration is in early spring. A handsome border plant, easy to propagate by softwood tip cuttings about 2 inches long in late s...Read Moreummer. I use a 50/50 mixture of perlite (available as a hydroponics medium) and vermiculite (available as loft insulation material). Strip off the bottom few leaves. Keep the cuttings container in a saucer of water and mist the cuttings every day. All mine rooted well.
In spring plant out into pots in any standard potting soil. In late spring, clip the top inch off to encourage lateral growth at the base (which should already have started).
I live in NE France in a fairly mild climate. My soil is extremely chalky, but the hebes do well.
My cuttings method works well for fuchsias, penstemons, geraniums, pelargoniums, helienthemums and cistus amongst others.

From Botanica Garden Encyclopedia:
The large genus Veronica used to be interpreted more broadly to include all these shrubby speci...Read Morees (native to New Zealand and nearby islands, with a couple in Chile also) and some older gardeners still know them as veronicas. With over 100 species of evergreen shrubs, the hebes include many first-rate garden plants. They have neat, attractive leaves and often showy flower-spikes, which arise in the axils of the leaves. There are 2 main groups: the broad-leafed hebes, fast-growing shrubs with pleasing foliage and abundant spikes of small flowers ranging from white through pink to violet and blue over a long summer to fall season; and the whipcord hebes with small leaves that give them the appearance of dwarf conifers, and white or pale mauve flowers.
Cultivation: Most hebes are best suited to temperate to warm climates. In warm climates they grow equally well in sun or shade; in cooler climates sun is preferred. They like moist but will-drained soil and the broad-leafed types benefit from a post-flowering trim. Many of the whipcord hebes are mountain plants and tricky to grow at low altitudes. Propagate from cuttings in summer.