Here’s Phlomis tuberosa ‘Bronze Flamingo’, in full bloom. I first encountered phlomis via a photograph in a gardening book and sought it out last August. It has a statuesque appearance, with strong stems holding interesting whorls of flowers spaced like pompoms. It stands a bit over 3 feet tall.
‘Bronze Flamingo’ settled in well and wintered over with no trouble. It has a hardiness rating of zone 5 in Canada (zone 4 USDA). It’s quite a tidy, upright, undemanding plant, and I’m surprised it is not more popular in North American gardens. If you google ‘phlomis’, many of the responses will be British sites, as phlomis species are better known there.
Phlomis is commonly called Jerusalem Sage. It does look a bit like a salvia (the salvias also being commonly referred to as sage), and in fact, both phlomis and salvia are members of the mint family, Lamiaceae. Besides P. tuberosa, there are several other phlomis species you may encounter in gardens. I have one of these, P. russeliana, which features yellow flowers, but it was miserable in the dry, full sun location I had chosen for it and is now recovering in a location with dappled shade.
Phlomis tuberosa is native to central to southeastern Europe and central Asia, where it inhabits steppes and dry meadows. I couldn’t find any background information as to the origin of this ‘Bronze Flamingo’ cultivar, although the name is said to refer to a bronze tinge of the leaves.
I like this phlomis tuberosa but in our garden it tends to self seed a bit too much. I prefer P. russelliana. It is shorter and bulkier. It does not self seed but it spreads (not much). Once your russeliana is doing better, you will see what I mean. I am surprised it did not take full sun. My russeliana does get some shade but I thought it would have preferred full sun! I have better not move it!
I have seen P. fruticosa in Victoria. I should perhaps try it as they say it survives in zone 8 but “restart from the ground in colder climate”. Perhaps it could come back from the roots in Ontario.
Alain, I don’t usually have much trouble with self-seeders because I mulch so heavily, but we’ll see. I wouldn’t mind a few more or this plant. Yes, I was surprised russeliana needed rescue. It was wilting back so much every day, it was in danger of total demise, even though I watered it regularly. Tuberosa also required watering early in the season, but is okay now. I’d like to try fruticosa too.