Variegated Turk’s Cap

Description

Worth growing just for its randomly variegated bright white and green variegated foliage that is a standout in the garden. The sleepy, deep red 1" blooms glow like Christmas lights against the white and green foliage. Super easy to grow and care for and your Hummingbirds and Butterflies will show their appreciation for this attractive plant as well. Caterpillar host: Glassy Winged Skipper. This selection does show solid green new growth from time to time which should be pruned away. The Variegated Turk's Cap is also known as 'Fiesta'.

Turk's Cap are native to portions of the southern US although they have been passed around so much in southern gardens it may be hard to say just where anymore. Either way, these are excellent, hardy, and long-lived perennials with immense flower power. Shade tolerant, deer resistant, moderately salt tolerant, and moderately drought resistant once they are well-established and few plants can compete for adaptability. Provide your Turk's Caps with a well-draining, moderately fertile soil, preferably with at least 4-6 hours a day of direct sunlight for the best results. The more sunlight they get the fuller the plants tend to be and the more flowers they generally produce. The only real maintenance for Turk's Cap is to prune away the dead stems in winter where they freeze to near the ground and to mulch them as needed. Where they don't freeze back, a hard late-winter pruning will act as a renewal and may help to rid them of overwintering pests as well as to keep them full and in bounds (if you can stand to remove the flower buds).

A Dawn Stover Nifty Fifty favorite herbaceous plant! Dawn is a Research Associate at SFA Gardens in Nacogdoches, TX and currently maintains the Mast Arboretum plant collection. For more about Dawn, the wonderful arboretum, and Stephen F Austin's excellent horticultural program at SFA Gardensclick here.

Turk's Cap is well-loved and so is known by a variety of common names including: Turk's Turban, Ladie's Eardrops, Scotchman's Purse, Wild Fuchsia, Drummond Wax-Mallow, Texas Mallow, Mexican Apple, Red Mallow, May Apple, Wild Turk's Cap, Bleeding Heart, Sleeping Hibiscus, Sleepy Mallow, Cardinal's Hat, Manzanilla, Turkscap, and WaMallow.