Two intercrossed altheas – Blue Angel and White Angel – have been diagnose the latest Texas Superstars for characteristics that make them a top option for landscape painting lover .
Blue Angel althea , one of the two cultivars named Texas Superstars , is a stout , warm - season perennial that flower throughout the season . ( Texas A&M AgriLife Research exposure )
Blue Angel is a vigorous grow shrub to small tree with an elongated blooming season featuring beautiful single down , broadly trump - regulate flowers . The variety crosses Bluebird and Diane altheas .
White Angel althea flowers are a open , crisp whitened and also produce flowers throughout the summer months . ( Texas A&M AgriLife Research photograph )
White Angel althea conflate Diane and Rose - of - Sharon bush hibiscus and provides similar garden characteristics but have a larger final size and numerous clean lily-white flush .
Texas Superstar is a registered stylemark owned by AgriLife Research , a state agency that is part of the Texas A&M University System . industrial plant are designated Texas Superstars by the Texas Superstar executive panel , which is made up of nine AgriLife Research , Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Texas Tech University horticulturalists .
To be destine a Texas Superstar , a plant must not only be beautiful but do well for consumers and growers throughout the state . Texas whizz must be easy to disperse , which should ensure the plants are not only widely useable but also reasonably priced , said Dr. Mike Arnold , Texas A&M AgriLife Research landscape painting plantsman , College Station .
' Good choice'“There are several characteristics that make these cultivar a better choice than other althea , ” he said . “ apart from the exotic look , the flowers have unique colours . The Harlan Fisk Stone blue is vivacious , and the white is a good , frizzly , unmortgaged white . These are resilient industrial plant with prolific flowering and high-pitched output over a long period of time of time , which makes these varieties a good choice . ”
Both cultivar offer up elusive , versatile plants with reliable and attractive warm - time of year flowers , Arnold said . They mature as vertical woody deciduous shrubs or little tree , and both varieties perform full in full sun or wakeful afternoon shade , he said . Shady localization lean to reduce flower product .
Blue Angel altheas can grow 6 - 8 foot in height and offer a dense canopy . White Angel altheas can be large with similar foliage density . ( Texas A&M AgriLife Research photo )
Blue Angel is somewhat smaller than the typical species character , maturing at 6 - 8 feet after several year . flora finally form upright oval to vase - mold habits with a facing pages adequate to or often less than their tallness .
“ The Blue Angel is more compact with a nicer , denser canopy than other altheas while the White Angel is likewise slow but big , ” Arnold said . “ It ’s good for in most options , especially urban landscapes , and is a comparatively unfailing variety for any homeowner . ”
Both varieties can be engraft as bare - root plants in early winter , or container - grown or balled - and - burlapped plant life year - around , he said .
The plant require well - drain soil , Arnold allege . plant are well - adapted to a cooking stove of dirt pH but may occasionally require Fe chelate compound in very mellow pH soils .
These plants reply favorably to good fertility , but can persist in low to restrained richness soils , he said . They are moderately drouth tolerant and gloomy maintenance once established .
Blue Angel and White Angel can be incorporate in landscape as a general - intention deciduous shrub , warm - season accent , limbed up as a belittled Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , or grown in large landscape painting containers . Flowers provide ecosystem service as pollinator and hummingbird attractants and are sometimes employed as cut off flowers for floral arrangement .
Insufficient wintertime temperature reduction can sometimes reduce or detain budbreak in warmer parts of Zone 9 . householder could get light aphid infestation , but they can be controlled by spraying plants with a warm stream of water .
“ Aphids can be a problem as with any hibiscus , but can be dealt with without pesticide , ” Arnold said . “ Other than that , Blue and White Angel althaea are two great choices for any landscape painting . The plants are rugged once they are establish . The flowers are vivacious and are corking attractors of butterfly and other pollinator , and the salmagundi are n’t aggressive invading growers so they do n’t postulate much maintenance . ”
More entropy about other Texas Superstar flora and a list of wholesalers and retailer who sprout them can be found athttp://texassuperstar.com/.
Source : AgriLife Today ( Adam Russell )
