Plant of the Week: Sundrops (Oenothera fruiticosa)

Sundrops or Southern Sundrops as it is sometimes called is a delightful, bright, showy member of the evening primrose family. It is a day flowering, not evening or night flowering member of the Onagraceae.  This is a tough plant that likes average soil and moderate moisture, but will do just fine and can tolerate poor soils.  It likes sun but can tolerate some shade.  It grows to about 18" tall and will slowly spread via rhizomes. This is quite a showy plant with 4 bright yellow petals in the flower that only persist a day or so but new flowers appear daily for a continuous show for several months.  It has 1 - 3" lance shaped leaves.  It is, for the most part, disease, deer and insect pest resistant. If it likes where it has been planted and the conditions are good, it can spread aggressively, though this is usually not a problem.  The genus name of Oenothera comes from the Greek "Oïnos" meaning wine and "ther" meaning wild animal.  One of the interesting pieces of folklore is that this plant has magical powers that made hunters lucky and the American Indians used to rub their moccasins in it to mask their smell to get closer to game.  The Germans felt when the roots were soaked in wine you could tame wild animals and the roots were thought to be very nutritious.  I love this plant growing with purple coneflowers and butterfly milkweed.  There are several varieties on the market including 'fireworks'  which is a more compact form. The variety 'Youngii' is a bit more showy with bright red buds and leaves that turn scarlet red in the fall.