Landscape Ideas for Dallas: Fan Flower
I’m a fan of the Fan Flower (Scaevola), it’s a great annuals for Dallas. This plant grows 6-12″ tall in part sun to part shade, blooming mid summer to early fall. It has rounded basil like leaves and can be propagate by taking soft wood cuttings in late spring plant. They should be planted 8″ apart, a little closer in shade as they will take longer to grow. The ‘New Wonder’ cultivar can survive temperatures into the low 100s and down to freezing. It’s can be used as a tender perennial in these parts and is originally from eastern Australia.
Fan Flower is a heat and drought tolerant plant so it’s perfect for Texas. One look at it’s blooms and it isn’t hard to tell where it got it’s name from.The petals are arranged around a yellow center which is a nice contrast. The flowers are a pretty shade of blue but are also available in Pink. do look like a fan. ‘Blue Wonder’ is the cultivar most commonly found. Other varieties are ‘New Wonder’ and ‘Purple Fanfair’. These plants are easy to grow and require little care often not being to particularly bothered by pests.
You can prune Fan Flowers by pinching them to keep them bushy.
This self cleaning, low maintenance plant is more expensive than your typical annuals but it’s worth every penny. It looks best when planted in masses. A good companion plant is Coleus, Persian shield and Ti/Thai plant.