I think that plant was my first post in GW. It didn't like SoCal in my garden. It limped along for a year or so then faded away. Beautiful thing though. Never was able to get more info about it. The roots were too shallow at that age, the plant never established enough and my soil way too sandy, for it to be let go very dry during its stay, so I never really learned about the drought tolerance. I had it planted in an area that was bright, but had high, dappled shade during the mid-day of summer; full sun during the winter (under a sycamore tree). Wishing you luck with yours!

Here is a link that might be useful: old Starrfire thread

I should go to the source Greg Starr of Starr nursery and ask him about it. He mostly sells agaves.It says part sun to sun in well draining soil and xeric on the label. I think I will lean more to the part sun and add some compost to my very gravely soil. It said to be from a northeast mexican mountain so the rain patterns will be similar to here , I think with a bit of summer humidity and a bit of winter humidity. I have four plants so I will spread them around and see who does best.

oooh, scutellarias of this sort are quite new (and thrilling) to me....although it is a moot point where I could situate such scree garden contenders within a more woodsy setting....not that this puts me off trying at all.

2 of the four went into these holes. first I removed the top soil which was very gravely and constituted about three inches. Then I pickaxed the MARL. ( think I will change the last A in my name to a L after today).That is what you are looking at.

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For years the lavender liked this stuff. I just made a small hole in the marl and inserted the 4" lavender and they got huge, but the drought of '11 killed things and the dirt never grew anything well after that. Even wild flowers had a hard time, so I am getting rid of the marl and putting in a xeric dirt. Lets hope it does the trick and breathes some life into the mix.

The scutellaria has the winter to grow roots and make itself at home..

I dug up a volunteer S. suffrutescen's with "Marl's" name on it in case you want to add a tight cherry red ground-covery one to plant along with those fancy ones you bought. I like these because the leaves are small and the whole plant makes such a tight mound that slowly gets wider every year. The reason the plant does so well is because its from 'stolen' seed I got from a garden I passed by one day. I stole exactly 3 seeds and had one come up. My mother in law had a saying "If its stolen it, it'll grow". She had lots of good garden wisdom like that.

They don't volunteer much, nothing like the prolific volunteers I get with S. wrightii. There is some kind of small beetle that likes to chew on the S. wrightii but they leave the S. suffrutescen alone, go figure. These little black beetles showed up a couple years ago and seem to have me staked out now for a yearly stay. Do you get those?

I also have a whole brown paper grocery bag filled to the top with liatris seed labeled "Marl". Out of a zillion seeds maybe a few will take hold in that stuff you hard core gardeners down there call dirt. Gads girl, what an ordeal that looks like.

It is not all like that. some spots are worse than others. There are spots worse than this, but most are better. It's a wonder anything volunteers in this. but the oenotheras, calylophos and callirhoe involcratas do all the time. One can see why bringing in soil is the way to go. Its a screaming scree of a scree. Technically it is not a scree because that is stuff that falls off a slope and collects at the bottom of a mountain or cliff, forming its own slope.

I have been going down the border, hole by hole, as I get the energy and the sandy compost to amend it.

I have not noticed that bug down here, but most of my S. wrightii died in the drought. I have some I put in this spring. I should move them because they got covered up by my Broom snakeweed that really went to town.

campanula, you don't need a tough scree like that to grow those common Texas native scutellaria's. They do fine here in any soil that drains well. They are pretty easy and undemanding.

mara, I lost a few of the S. wrightii in that extended rainy period we got last spring, probably the roots rotted but it was only the ones at the lowest points where the run off from higher up slowly drained down keeping the soil too wet. I didn't loose any to the weeks of scorching heat and drought in 2011 but Texas had been in the drought longer than us at the time and I was able to give some additional watering being on municipal watering rather than relying on collecting it like you do.

A good scutelleria for more of a woodland setting is the scutellaria ovate ssp. bracteata. It does spread from tubers and rhizomes, making a controllable clump under my trees. It will not bloom well on dry years so it would be happier east of here. Scutelleria drummundi likes in-hospitality

Scutellarias are not thought of as a xeric plant in Texas because they are comfortable in a normal garden conditions. That concept is changing with years and years of water rationing. I have not seen an azalea or camilla in the nursery for years.

I am confused, which is not altogether an unusual state of mind for me. I think I am calling S. drummundii the wrong name -- S. wrightii. Are these two different plants? I've been talking about the blueish leaved purple scullcap you sent me some years ago. It takes dry shade rather well so between it and Salvia greggii I use them a lot for those areas as well as in full sun.

I pulled out some September shots of both kinds.

I think that you have S. wrightii
"Native Habitat: In prairies, bluffs, and open woods mostly on the Edwards Plateau, south to Nueces county and north to the Plains Country and Northeast and North Central Texas. Well-drained sand, loam, chalk, limestone. "

I see the drummundii out on caliche bluffs and open fields, not open woods. Also the foliage is a darker green on the S. drummundi and the whole plant is more dense.

I put the S. wrightii out ion a caliche bluff and they were not very happy. I have some now in a edge of woodland situation (1/2 day sun and better soil) and they are happier.

Here is a link that might be useful: Scutellaria list at LBJ wildflower center

Each time someone posts about a Scutellaria, I look it up and it isn't hardy here. There appear to be 3 native Scutellaria here, but none particularly ornamental. Does anyone know of any nice-looking Scutellaria that grow in colder zones? Although I am in a wetter area than TX, I do have areas of well-drained soil, enough so that I've usually been able to overwinter Agastache rupestris.

I think there are several possibilities, after perusing that list From the LBJ wildflower center that I put in my entry above. Lots of times things are hardier than their natural range. Tx Ranger grows many Texan wildflowers that I have sent her. She grows things that are native in the the rio grande valley. Gardening is all about finding those limits and pushing them. If you tap on the plant symbol it will take you to the gov. plant Data base for the map of its range. Also if you scroll down and it will have some people that sell it maybe. Sometimes the nursery might be north of the natural range showing that the plant has more hardiness than what is needed in its range.. Many of these , I have NO experience with. I am just reading the info and thinking about what I know about your conditions (as a Texan that went to school in NY state)â¦not much but some. Enough to be dangerous. LOL.
Scutteleria incana
Scutellaria ovata ssp. bracatea ( I have this one, lots . It like a part shade situation)
Scutellaria ovata rugosa (looks really nice but might be chancy)
Scutellaria resinosa ( high Countery Gardens sells this one and has some others that are hardy in Colorado)
Scutellaria serrata ( is sold at a place up by the finger lakes)

High Country Garden carries S. resinosa 'Smoky Hills' (of Kansas)and it is rated at Z 4-8. I got a Dark violet hybrid scutellaria from them but it is still thinking if it likes my place. I might need to move it out into more sunlight. I did take some cuttings off of it that are being very slow about growing. These plants like the cuttings to be taken before budding so I might have been a little late. They are alive. HCG is sold out of most everything right now, So , one would have to wait for the next crop, next year.