My sister has a clump of Asystasia Coromandeliana in her garden. It’s beautiful, she says. I wanted to pull the weeds and replace them with some nicer Asystasia but she championed them. I can see why though – the small, delicate white flowers can look quite fetching when seen en masse.
Discounting this wild variety, there are another 4 types of Asystasia in our garden. The first to find a home with us was the purple Asystasia Intrusa.
Then came the pink one. This was sold at a ridiculous price when it first hit the scene. But my sis couldn’t resist the color. I decided to settle for a cutting instead …
One day, I chanced upon the A. Gangetica. The light lilac flowers were about thrice the size of the Intrusa. I picked a limp and discarded cutting nearby and hoped I wasn’t too late. I planted it but wasn’t sure if the cutting made it until it bloomed.
The Asystasia has weak stems so mixed planting is recommended. I grow this amongst other plants like melampodium, otacanthus caeruleus and angelonia so that the plants can support each other.
Just when I thought I’d seen it all, my neighbor showed me her Asystasia Mysorensis and said it was edible. She picked me a huge bunch of the luxuriantly green vegetable.
The A. Mysorensis makes a great soup and is a firm family favorite. We cleared some space for it so that we could have a constant supply. Googling, I found out that the other Asystasia varieties appear to be edible too! But for now, I’ll just stick to the familiar ….
The Asystasia is easy to maintain, needing just an occasional pruning to keep them tidy. It’s a great fuss-free addition to the garden yielding something that pleases the eye as well as the palate.
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Care and propagation: most soil types ranging from loam to clayey soil; partial shade to full sun; water moderately. propagate using stem cuttings
i took a pic of a plant at the melbourne botanic gardens earlier this year. not sure what it’s called. where can i email it to u for verification?
sure, vivien. i hope i can help.
vivien, you can email me at typicalgardener@yahoo.com
used to have this…when i was much…much…much younger…soooo many years ago….but hv not come across them since…until i met ’em in your blog….. errr tg u seem to hv all d plants that i used to have sooo long ago…n hv now lost..for example this purple beauty n Helianthus angustifolia….n i noticed u also have fennel…??!! i had dill some time ago…have tried lavender…which grew to abt 8″ high n then gave up…!! still have a rosemary…which seems 2 b doing well so far….have a pot each of sage…oregano…n thyme….but have never tried fennel….thot it is the least tolerant of our heat…? BTW do u have chocolate cosmos…m yearning n itching to get at least one plant…n i have acidanthera in my garden….bloomed once…went dormant…now full of green leaves…. m hoping to see them blooming again….
hi norhaini, my acidanthera bloomed one season and is now gone – i just hope there there are corms underground,
the fennel was given as a seedling by a friend. all died except for that lone survivor. you seem to grow lots of things. do you have a blog i can visit?
well…i think u have more variety of plants than i do…. no….unfortunately i do not have a blog….aaahhhh there is always too much to occupy my time that i do not seem to have much left to spare to build one….tho d idea has often played d peek-a-boo in my mind….
same here, until someone asked me for my blog – that gave me the incentive to start. i hope you will consider starting one, norhaini. would love to read yours.
out of all the pic above which 1 is the asystasia intrusa?
the top and bottom photos, erin. second photo as well but there is a gangetica there as well.