This daisy-like native perennial wildflower has a delightful chocolate aroma.
The plant got its name from the chocolate scent of its flowers.
The flowers have yellow rays and a maroon-brown center.
Chocolate flower is a tough, easy-to-grow perennial with excellent drought tolerance.
The chocolate-scented flowers open at twilight, and their cocoa aroma wafts through the garden in the early morning.
This is a great plant for cottage gardens, perennial borders.
rock gardens, and gravel gardens.
Because of its drought tolerance, it is also suitable forxeriscape gardens.
For best effect, plant chocolate flower drifts or mass plantings.
How and When to Plant Chocolate Flower
Plant potted chocolate flowers after the last spring frost.
Dig a hole about twice the diameter of the nursery container and about the same depth.
Place the plant in the hole and fill in original soil to the top of the root ball.
Gently compact the soil and water well.
Water deeply in the absence of rain until the plant is established.
Space plants 2 feet apart.
Care Tips
After the plant is established, the care for chocolate flower is minimal.
Light
Chocolate flower needs a location in full sun.
Water chocolate flowers regularly during the first growing season to help it establish a strong root system.
Overfertilizing the plant may backfire and cause poor bloom.
In spring, cut chocolate flowers back to 2 to 3 inches above the soil level.
Poorly draining soil commonly leads to root rot.
How to Propagate Chocolate Flower
Because of its long taproot, propagation by division is not recommended.
Instead, propagate it from seed.
Like many wildflowers, starting it from seed outdoors after the last danger of spring frost works best.
Scatter the seeds over the area and barely cover them with soil as they need light to germinate.
Gently spray the area with a hose in the absence of rain.
Germination takes up to 4 weeks.
Its long taproot makes it difficult to transplant once established but gives the plant excellent drought tolerance.
It tends to self-seed in the garden.
There are many differentpenstemon types.
The leaves are lance-shaped or oval, sometimes purple-red as in the popular cultivar ‘Husker Red’.
Some Western species need outstanding drainage to dry conditions and won’t thrive during wet weather.
This fine-textured, warm-season grass can be incorporated easily into mixed borders, meadows, and wild gardens.
It has bluish or green stems and produces tan flower spikelets, which turn silvery white as they age.
Lavender varieties abound: The darker the flower, the more intense the aroma.
In optimal growing conditions, chocolate flower spreads by self-seeding.
If you prefer to control its spread, deadhead or mow plants right after they finish blooming.
