Why English gardeners rave over Hebes and Kiwis take them for granted is one of the mysteries of the gardening world. But this could change if more of the locals get a glimpse of Hebe ‘Totara Pink’, a compact, shrubby variety which has a bountiful display of large pink flowers from mid summer through to early spring.
This is one of those useful shrubs that you can pretty well plant and forget, although if there’s a summer drought the first season after planting it will need a bit of extra watering to help it through the difficult times. The only other thing it needs is a bit of light pruning to remove the old flower heads when they finally finish. This isn’t essential but does help the plant to grow more strongly and flower even more freely next time round.
There’s much pleasure to be had from growing Hebe ‘Totara Pink’ with other easy-care, free-flowering, handsome shrubs. For instance, it’s striking as a foreground to Dichroa ‘Blue Sapphires’. Try it tucked in behind free flowering perennials too, such as dark velvety-blue Salvia ‘Indigo Spires’ and Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies’.
Another idea is to grow a collection of bushy Hebes in a group, so they intermingle, combining their flower displays and making an exceptionally low maintenance planting. A combination of blue, pink and white varieties is very appealing and is an excellent way of creating beauty in a hurry in new gardens, for these shrubby Hebes establish themselves quickly.
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Schemes & Themes
using Liddle Wonder Plants