Flowers for Both Christmas and Valentine's Day

How would like gorgeous red, tubular flowers blooming at Christmas time and lasting past Valentine's Day, all packaged up in an attractive, low-maintenance shrub?  Well believe it or not, such a shrub exists.  Let me introduce you to 'Valentine' (Eremophila maculata 'Valentine').  

Valentine is a somewhat new introduction to the landscape.  My first experience with Valentine occurred in 2000, when one of the sales representatives at Mountain States Wholesale Nursery, who introduced Valentine to the landscape trade, came by my office with two 5-gallon Valentine shrubs for me to try out.  Well, I love getting free things and was more then happy to try these new shrubs out. 

Young Valentine, six months after planting, next to Trailing Rosemary.

Well, a couple of years later, I had planted over 50 Valentine around the landscape area I was managing at the time.  I fell in love with their flowers and my landscape crew loved how easy they were to care for.  

Nowadays, you will find Valentine in both commercial and residential landscapes.  An interesting fact that many may not know is that many of the arid-adapted plants that thrive here are native to Australia, including the species Eremophila. 

USES:  Valentine provides much need color in the landscape during the winter months and will bloom through early spring.  Red is often a color missing in the desert plant color palette which this shrub provides.  Valentine grows fairly quickly and will reach a mature size of 4 ft. high and 4-5 ft. wide.  I pair it with groundcovers such as Blackfoot Daisy or Trailing Rosemary and perennials such as Parry's Penstemon and Desert Marigold. 

Valentine when not in flower.

When not in flower, Valentine is still very attractive and is hardy to 15 degrees F.  It does best when planted in full and/or reflected sun.  Their leaves turn maroon at the tips during the winter adding some fall color to the landscape.

MAINTENANCE:  You can hardly get an easier shrub to grow in the landscape.  Valentine does best with regular irrigation and soils with good drainage.  If planted in areas with wetter soils, let the soil dry out between watering to prevent root rot.  

Okay, you will probably not believe this, especially coming from me....the person who rants and raves about beautiful shrubs that have been incorrectly pruned by being sheared....but here it is:  Valentine shrubs should be sheared.  That's right, I said they should be sheared.  Believe it or not, there are some types of shrubs where shearing is the best way to prune them.  This is true for Valentine.  They should be pruned ONCE a year, once they have finished blooming in the spring.  DO NOT prune later in the year as this will remove the branches that will produce the flowers later in the year.

Here is the first bloom of this season on my Valentine shrub.

Well, would any of you be surprised to know that Valentine is my favorite shrub?  I mean, what is there not to love?  It has everything....low-maintenance, attractive foliage, thrives in the heat and sun and most importantly, gorgeous winter color.

In this landscape area I designed, you can see Valentine in the background paired with Parry's Penstemon and Desert Marigold.

So run, don't walk.... and go and add Valentine to your landscape.