Plantamnesty   

PlantAmnesty   

Hebes By Keith Dekker

Hebe (pronounced Green-Leafed Hebes HEE-bee) is a genus of The green-leafed hebes have the largest plants mostly native to leaves of the bunch, grow taller, and sport New Zealand, where the flashiest blooms. These plants can range over 90 species can be from 18 inches to four feet tall, with showy found. The genus flowers of pink, purple, white, or blue. name comes from the Greek goddess of Some of the green- leaved varieties, such as youth, Hebe. the tricolor hebe and the variegated hebe have variegated foliage with white- or rose- Hebes are fairly new to colored edges on green leaves. One is easily the Northwest tempted to bring one of these attractive gardener. Only a few plants home from the nursery. But a word hebe varieties were of warning: the larger-leafed varieties are available 15 years ago. not as cold hardy as the smaller-leafed But when you go to the varieties. You may end up with winter nursery now, the freeze damage or, worse, lose the plant choices seem to expand altogether. Be sure to talk to a nursery every week! person to determine which varieties are Although hebes have an the toughest. amazing variety of leaf The good news is that, if you do take a colors, they can all be chance with the green-leafed varieties and identified by their four they survive the winter, they react the best perpendicular rows of of all the hebe types to pruning. leaves in opposite or decussate pairs on the stems. Flower colors Here are some pruning tips: in later winter vary from small white and early spring, your plant may look pretty blooms to showy spikes bad, but resist the urge to prune it until at of pink, blue, or purple. least March or April. Small sets of new leaves will appear on the stems where there Let’s talk about the is still life. Prune the stems down to these many different new leaves and the plant should rebound. varieties available to Prune off any stems that do not show new gardeners in the growth, or other stems that are too leggy. If

Northwest. They can after several years of growth your hebe is be divided into three leggy, with leaves only at the top, spring is different groups as the time to prune. Cut the stems in half or follows. within six inches of the ground. Where there were leaves in the past, new ones will sprout and fill in nicely by mid- summer.

These varieties can also be pruned after Whipcord Hebes bloom by up to one half of their height. This The hebes in the third group are called makes the plant thicken up, and some will whipcord hebes and look distinctly different bloom a second time. I would only do this from the other two groups. The name to varieties that bloom early so they have comes from their appearance with tiny plenty of time for new growth to harden off leaves close together that look like scales. for cooler weather. The whipcords come from the alpine areas of New Zealand (even higher elevations Grey-Leafed Hebes than the grey-leafed). They require little The members of the second group, the water and are very drought-tolerant when grey-leafed hebes, tend to be shorter and established. I have one in my yard called hardier. They usually grow more as a Hebe ‘James Stirling’, which is very drought mound or groundcover and most have small tolerant. It surprised me by slowly growing white blooms. Some favorites are the pagei to almost four feet tall. Whipcords can hebe and sutherlandii hebe, which come make a great accent plant that can also be a from the mountainous areas of New conversation starter (as in “what the heck is Zealand and seem to be more able to that?”). survive our northwest winters. Because of their shape and size, they require less A Few Words to the Wise pruning, which is good, because these Choose a hebe (or two) that will be tough hebes are much harder to prune than the enough to withstand our winters. Plant other types. Sometimes they sprout back, them in the right place the first time and but sometimes they just die. Some can be you won’t need to do as much pruning. reduced just after flowering, and others can Wait until spring to renovate a hebe, be lightly sheared. cutting stems down to a show of new The best advice with the grey-leafed leaves. Touch-up pruning, which should varieties (as with all plants) is to put them in be done after the hebe blooms, will the right place. Many hebes will grow thicken the plant. If your hebe does die bigger than the nursery tag says. My friend from a cold winter, or looks pretty awful Tina has one of the so-called small varieties from years of unsuccessful pruning, just that grew four feet tall and wide enough to pull it out and pop in another variety. swallow up a large section of her yard. They’re just too much fun not to have. Though in the mountains of New Zealand they stay small, here in the temperate Keith Dekker northwest hebes may grow larger. Keith Dekker Landscape Services

Arthur Lee with hebe Arthur Lee with heebie jeebies