Seasonal Plant Feature: Wine Cups
Wine Cups
Wine Cups, or Callirhoe involucrata is a hot pink delight. It reaches tall heights and blooms all summer long, making it a great statement piece in any native-focused garden.
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Wine cups, also nicknamed Poppy Mallows, are native through much of the United States. They can be found in meadows and prairies stretching from North Dakota down into Louisiana. They are members of the Mallow Family, which includes some of our other favorite natives, like Pineland Hibiscus.
Since they are widespread throughout the Great Plains, Wine Cups are great for drier, unirrigated patches of your garden. They have a thick taproot like a carrot that reaches deep into the soil to draw water that not all plants can access. Wine Cups are also perennials, so they will come back to show off their beauty year after year. Though they prefer full sun for maximum blooms, they will also tolerate partial shade– a truly undemanding plant!
The growth habit of Wine Cups is very interesting, and lends itself to even more uses in the landscape. Stalks can reach a height of 2 feet, but they often fall over when unstaked. That said, fallen stalks can grow and reach horizontally, creating a mat-like groundcover with bright pink flowers. They will also trail beautifully out of hanging baskets or over ledges.
Our Poppy Mallows can be grown from seed, but they require some extra care! Seeds should be soaked in water overnight and stored in a refrigerator for 30 days in wet sand before planting. This simulates the cold overwintering that seeds experience in the wild. Wine Cups can also be grown from cuttings, but wait until February, when blooming has finished but new Spring buds have not yet set.
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Although eating Wine Cups is uncommon, their roots and leaves are in fact edible! Their tuberous taproots are sweet like yams and can be eaten cooked or raw. Tubers are largest in the winter after the plant has finished its yearly bloom. Since taproots are sensitive, be sure you think carefully before digging one up!
Just like their mallow relatives Okra, Wine Cups are mucilaginous and become somewhat slimy when cooked. This trait makes them a good add-in for a nice thick stew.
Beyond being edible, Poppy Mallow has medicinal uses! Its roots can be made into a concentrated tea to treat pain, particularly of the stomach and head. The roots can also be dried and ground for smoking. It has been observed that inhaling the smoke or bathing affected areas in a smoke bath can also reduce general pain.
Spirit
The Spirit of the Wine Cup struck me hard this Spring. She is almost neon in hue, the kind of color that makes us question how it could possibly be natural. She is powerful, bright, and in your face– a boldness to aspire to.
Just yesterday as I sat in my yard, two hummingbirds fluttered their way up to my Wine Cups. They danced around the bright flowers, dutifully drinking the nectar within. It was this moment that made me choose Wine Cups as the Whimscapes plant feature this season. I honestly didn’t know too much about them, but intuition guided me to take on the project.
The first thing that struck me about the plant was its botanical name. The latin name for its genus, Callirhoe, is the title of an ancient Greek novel. It tells the story of a supernaturally beautiful woman by that name who has two suitors feuding for her love. Kind of a fun way to start thinking about a plant! She started to seem like the belle of the ball, and maybe even a little standoffish and arrogant.
As I began researching and learning more about this species, the ecological role it plays began to add depth to my vapid Greek character profile. Aside from being beautiful, Wine Cups are nurturers of wildlife.
Their nectar is popular with hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies. Their leaves are a favorite snack of rabbits. They are a larval host plant for the Gray Hairstreak and Checkered Skipper Butterflies. The amount of life that gravitates towards these plants is absolutely beautiful.
Thank you, Wine Cups, for being beautiful, confident, and nurturing. May we learn from you and emulate your traits!
Featured Plant: Yaupon Holly
Yaupon Holly, or Ilex vomitoria is a somewhat common landscaping plant in the Southeastern United States. Its dense, weepy branching brings a unique structural element to any garden, and it produces bright colorful berries through the winter.
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Yaupon Hollies are considered native from Southern Texas on the Eastern side of Oklahoma all the way to the Atlantic Coast of Florida, with a Northerly sweep in range along the coast in South Carolina. They are a low maintenance evergreen tree, with many cultivars that provide a different aesthetic spin to your landscape. They range in height, but most Yaupons will not exceed 25 feet, making it a great tree for a smaller space. It can also tolerate sun or partial shade, so it can fit nicely as a thicket shrub beneath a larger canopy tree. Many people prune and hedge them, but their natural branching pattern is absolutely divine.
Yaupons can be female or male, with only female plants producing flowers and berries. Check with your nursery about plant sex, or start your tree from cuttings using a female parent! Berries are usually red, with some varieties offering a cheerful golden berry as an alternative. These little fruits provide much needed food to wildlife through the winter; both birds and mammals eat them readily. It is also a food plant for Harry’s elfin butterfly larvae, thus contributing to all sorts of habitat creation.
Yaupons are known for being disease-resistant and drought tolerant. They are best planted in early spring, which allows the roots plenty of time to establish before the heat of summer sets in. Dig a hole wider than the rootball of your sapling, but not too much deeper. Replace the soil and water her in thoroughly. Yaupons are easy, no stress!
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It may be surprising to see “vomitoria” as the species name for such a well-loved plant. The story behind this name has real intrigue. Yaupons are actually one of two native plant species in the United States that contain caffeine. Native Americans in the Southeastern United States brewed Yaupon Tea for centuries, a practice that remained popular in the region well into the 19th century. “Black drink” was often consumed in excess and brewed with other plant materials, and it caused early botanists to vomit. This experience contributed to the plant’s Latin name, but it is important to note that the Yaupon itself was not the culprit. Yaupons are actually closely related to Ilex paraguariensis, the plant used to make Yerba Mate, and the tea is a totally viable option for an energy boost!
On top of acting as a caffeine source, Yaupon Tea is high in antioxidants. Recent research at University of Florida cites that it has the caffeine content of green tea and the antioxidant content of blueberries! For more details on all of the wonderful properties of Yaupon, check out the Yaupon Tea House.
Based in Savannah, Georgia, this apothecary has really brought the benefits of Yaupon to the forefront. They have tons of great educational resources, as well as some unique holly products. Check out their website here!
Spirit
The spirit of Yaupon runs deep. During the winter months, we slip into a quiet lull. We sit inside. We curl under blankets. Leaves fall from trees, and here in New Orleans, cinnamon Cypress needles coat the streets like a snow blanket.
Yaupon trees are a beacon during this time. Their bright red berries feed birds and other wildlife, and their tiny green leaves hold steadfast onto branches. There is something so important about winter berries, even if they don’t feed humans in the corporeal sense.
You might dart into a thicket with clippers, bundling branches together to hang in your window or tucking them into a pine wreath for a splash of color. Their red against green foliage is powerful– a sharp visual contrast, a deeply conditioned representation of holidays and mirth.
A bit of a pagan myself, I am always reminded at this time of year of the story of the Holly King and the Oak King. I first heard the story as a child, and for some reason it really stuck with me. It tells of the two kings dueling on the Solstice, and eventually, the Oak King would triumph and bring back sun to the cold, dark winter. When I think of this story now, the Holly King feels misunderstood. He is a bearer of gifts in the wintertime, not a domineering prince of darkness. He knows when to step back. He knows that in spring he will pale in comparison to the Dogwoods and the Irises. Let’s give him his moment of brightness now.
Featured Plant: Jewels of Opar
Jewels of Opar, or Talinum paniculatum, is a longstanding favorite. Its playful blooms and seedpods add a splash of magic to any garden. Try munching on its leaves for a juicy, nutrient-dense garden snack.
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Jewels of Opar is a succulent perennial native in much of the Southern United States. It is a hardy, determined little plant that does well in full-sun, but can also tolerate some shade. There are several cultivars of the plant, including some with variegated leaves. It looks great in clusters as an alternative to non-native evergreens, retaining a joyful green coloration year round.
Beginning in June, it shoots out dainty stalks of sweet little flowers. These eye-catching pink color bursts continue to produce well into the Fall, even with minimal maintenance. As each flower fades into fruit form, it leaves behind a tiny jewel-toned orb. These fanciful seedpods keep the plant visually interesting even after flowering.
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Jewels of Opar is also totally edible! It’s a favorite gardening snack of ours, with its crunchy and earthy leaves. August in New Orleans is a tricky time for growing greens. As the movement to source food locally grows stronger and stronger, the difficulty of getting that leafy Vitamin K deep in the delta is real.
There are plenty of widely celebrated heat-tolerant greens, but most of them originated in South America or Southeast Asia, like Sweet Potato leaves and Malabar Spinach. Jewels of Opar takes it one step further.
A member of the Purslane family, these juicy leaves are packed with good stuff.
Spirit
It is utterly neglectful to overlook the spirit of a plant. What joy can it bring us? How does it sing? Jewels of Opar works as a cut flower in fresh arrangements, and it shines even more when dried and paired with grasses and branches. There is something pure magic about the bursts of perfectly round seeds on Jewels’ stalks, and we love the eternality of a plant whose beauty continues beyond its green life.