On Jul 10, 4:12*pm, "David E. Ross" wrote:
On 7/10/11 9:55 AM, songbird wrote:









Higgs Boson wrote:

Last year I bought a flat of Pink Clover and went to a LOT of trouble
to spread the little plants around an area where I wanted ground
cover. At first they did fine;seemed to be spreading; bore those cute
tiny flowers.

But last few months, the leaves have turned red.

Does that mean this is an ANNUAL???!!!! *That the plant is dying? *Or
is it going into -- can't think of the word; my mind is going g -
temporary inactivity? * Or what else could be happening? *It's July,
facrynoutloud; plants should be flourishing.

Any experience out there?

* some clovers die back after
flowering for a bit until the
rains return.

* if the area is regularly mowed you
might want to raise the blade height
as it gets dryer to let the plant
shade the soil.

* also perhaps add different species
to the mix that are more drought and
heat tolerant. *the green ferny yarrows
work well here in the lawn and in
gardens (i much prefer them over the
more coarsely leaved silvery yarrows
we have that are bright yellow when
they flower). *the ferny kinds when
left alone flower and you can get them
in white, pale yellow, pink and red
(probably other colors too, but those
are what we've got here). *i never go
out of the way to water them and they
do fine. *in the lawn, they stay green
even when the grasses and clovers go
dormant.

* songbird

Since Higgs Boson lives about 25-30 miles from me and since he indicated
the leaves were turning red, I assume the "pink clover" is not a clover
at all. *I strongly suspect it's Persicaria capitata in the knotweed
family.

It was not represented as "clover" qua clover by Armstrong Nursery.
The tag did explain that was a popular name. I don't have it now, so
don't remember whether the botanical name was given.

HB

P. capitata has pale pink flowers about the size and form of white
clover. *However, P. capitata definitely does not have clover-like
leaves. *Its leaves are larger than most clovers and are not compound.
That is, it's a one-leaf "clover". *The leaves are oval with a pointed
tip. *They are normally green with a red chevron. *Sunset indicates the
entire leaf might turn pink when mature. *I know the whole plant turns
red in the winter but does not go dormant. *In fact, some of mine bloom
all year long.

True clovers (at least the clover weeds in my garden) have tap roots.
P. capitata does not, but it does send out additional roots along its
ground-hugging stems.

This confusion between pink "clover" and true clover is why I often use
botanical names. *I know of several unrelated "cherries" and two
unrelated "mock oranges". *The tropical bulb commonly called "amaryllis"
is in the genus Hippeastrum and not in the genus Amaryllis. *Star
jasmine is not a true jasmine, and a rock rose is not a rose.

I once read that plants shipped for commercial purposes across state
lines in the U.S. had to be labeled with their botanical names to avoid
confusion.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: *California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary