Love them! My first summer in the Willamette Valley was a new level of summer heat that I've never experienced before. That was 2021, the infamous heat dome that ravaged the PNW. I picked up a Strawflower on a whim and it sailed through summer without skipping a beat, non-stop bloom. Not so with Osteospermum, Petunia, Traling Lobelia, Lotus (Parrots Beak), and several other annuals that summer, they all became lush blobs of green foliage. I wanted a repeat performance in 2022 & 2023 but I never found any plants.

Happily, I was at Wavra Farms & Nursery, Salem, Oregon yesterday and they had four varieties! Almost all of my annual plantings are complete for this season, so I only picked up one, Granvia Harvest Orange, which is a large upright variety.

Highly recommend wavrafarms.com for anyone near Salem. Diane brings in/grows some really cool and rare stuff.

Growing helichrysum bracteatum and helipterum roseum this year, Rouge. Snails ate all the first sowing of the helichrysum so I did another sowing so the seedlings are still waiting to be pricked out. The helipterum are due to go in the ground this week. I vaguely remember growing something called xeranthemum annuum a few years ago. They all make nice additions to a cutting garden (and do well in my sunny allotment). I used to grow limonium sinuatum (but only grow the perennial l.perezii these days).

I do like the budding flower for this plant:

It's fun to run my fingers over the papery blooms when fully open too. I think they're lovely and I can't seem to ever get enough of the blooms. I wish I could get mine bushier; it is my lack, I am no good at it. My favorite were the apricot-peach I grew with burgundy centaurea. This year is silvery rose, and it is almost as lovely with the purply blue larkspur.

I also grow Silvery Rose and I love it. I've grown some others but I love the coloring of this one. I first grew it back in 2019 when I was growing flowers for my daughter's wedding, and I have not been without it since. I always like to have a little patch of it. And yes, there are some amongst my reseeded blue larkspur and it is indeed lovely!

Mine are in one of the sunniest parts of my yard, but even that gets evening shade. It's a dry sunny garden (my lavender grows quite well here) and they get very little supplemental water. I do what I call "survival watering" if we are in drought conditions, which is watering lightly just enough to keep them alive for another day or two lol.

Overall I'm a quite neglectful gardener (not my fault really lol; I just don't have lots of time to spend out there) and they plug right along without me. I love the color, the texture, the fact that they manage on their own, and the way they look in bouquets. I even experimented with some dried flower bouquets with them.

Double thumbs up from me!

:)

Dee

rob333, you've got me thinking now... what was the name of the apricot-peach you grew? I think I did a similar color and I can't think of the name of it. Maybe it was the same one you grew...

:)

Dee

That's what I hate about Gardenweb these days... There's actually a link where I typed apricot peach.

Why is it no longer highlighting links?

Your glowing reports have got me extra excited about this plant.

That is what I find so appealing about annuals ie the huge variety of choice.

Oh, sorry rob333! I see it now! Yeah, links used to be much more visible. Now unless you run your mouse over line-by-line as you read, it's hard to tell there's a link.

Funny, the flower is actually just called Apricot Peach. I guess I was expecting more of a *name* lol. Thank you!

:)

Dee

Funny that I just saw this post….. I picked up a beautiful yellow strawflower hanger just a week ago from a local seller. It wasn’t too expensive and it’s big and sooooo very yellow! I love the look and feel of them, and the bees love the flowers! I also like that the flowers close when it’s cloudy…..it intrigues me. Like crocus, what makes the plant do that?

For display I often cut the hanging parts of a hanger off and place the pot either directly on the deck or in a large empty container so it appears to be planted in it.

I picked up a beautiful yellow strawflower hanger just a week ago from a local seller.

It is only this season that I acquired a strawflower (hence this thread). But I am pretty sure it hasn't been readily available at chain nurseries or big box ones...right?

I have not seen strawflowers at any big box store or chain either. I picked mine up from a local seller who buys from proven winners (among others I suppose). My plant was “hot off the truck” and I snatched it right up. 😆

debra

Here are the first flowers on Granvia Harvest Orange. I'm impressed, but then again, I'm a freak for orange.

And I love how my nearby Sempervivum Gold Nugget mimics Granvia Harvest Orange!

Maybe I am easily impressed but I love looking at the flowers of this plant. Each one seems to be at a different stage of development.

Hey guys. My favourite new annual of 2024! This plant is so cool. As a cat lover it reminds me of a feline in that every time I see it I want to "pet" it ;)....Iove that straw like quality. It is so unexpected. It must last forever as a dried flower eh?

(And is it my imagination in that the flowers close up somewhat at night and on cloudy days?)

How are yours doing @artinnaturez8b?

Correct me if I am @djacob Z6a SE WI but since you mentioned "Strawflower" and "Proven Winners" in the same breath I am thinking that yours is this

https://www.provenwinners.com/plants/chrysocephalum/flambe-yellow-strawflower-chrysocephalum-apiculatum

(and so not like mine which is Bracteantha bracteatum)

Getting better and better, and once again Bracteantha has endured a nasty heatwave without even noticing. I can't say that about any other annual this summer, except perhaps Lantana. Granvia Orange is very upright and is just what I was needing in this spot, which is now deep within a newly developed part of the garden.

except perhaps Lantana.

Yup. Hard to throw these plants for a loop because of heat.

My favourite annual this year. Thanks all for your experiences.

Have you noticed that if you gently brush the dry petals they make a musical sound sort of like a xylophone? This plant just keeps on giving.

I am going to stop everything I am doing and go "play my plant"!

rouge and artinnature, such lovely photos of lovely plants! I'm not even that big a fan of red but rouge your strawflowers are very eye-catching!

artinnature, funny thing - YEARS ago, when I first started gardening, I received an orange phlox by mistake in a mail order. I was horrified. I thought why on earth would anyone ever order anything ORANGE? LOL I was actually embarrassed that the company would think I ordered that on purpose! Well, I have done a complete 180 since then. I wouldn't say it's my *favorite* color in the garden (I'm still a sucker for a nice pink/purple combo!) but I have definitely come to see the value of orange in the garden. I have one large bed now that is a yellow/orange/red bed (as mentioned above, not a huge fan of red either but I can see it's value!) and perhaps while not as .... elegant... as my preferred colors, this bed is fun and vibrant and I'm loving the orange! Might have to branch out from my usual Silvery Rose strawflowers next season!

:)

Dee

diggerdee, these are for you! This summer will go down in my journal as The Summer of Orange.

And...I've never seen Calla with more than one "petal". One of mine has decided to produce two and even three per flower!

artinnature those are great photos - I cant believe how even the background looks planned and coordinated lol - the blue pillows and yellow plate near the orange flowers, that green umbrella in the background with that gorgeous purple hydrangea - is it really that purple in real life?

And your patio looks lovely - that blue pot (gosh I'm a sucker for a blue pot lol!) with the rug, and the birdbath and that wonderful bit of elegant fencing - it looks like a great place to relax and enjoy the view!

Thanks for sharing your garden!

:)

Dee

diggerdee - Yes that Oregon Pride Hydrangea really is that intensely blue-purple. I pretty much need to be surrounded by plants at all times or I get a bit twitchy;-) The patio is my favorite place to hang out and take it all in, at least until the temperature goes over 85F or so, which is does a lot lately. I do control the colors in my garden fairly strictly!

I pretty much need to be surrounded by plants at all times or I get a bit twitchy;-)

Hey @artinnaturez8b, what a coincidence as I 'suffer' from the same 'condition' ;).

(gosh I'm a sucker for a blue pot lol!)

@diggerdee zone 6 CT I thought of you when I spied our red petunia in its blue glazed pot.

oh my gosh, rouge - a PETUNIA in a BLUE POT! Haha, LOVE the pot - very jealous of that petunia!! That's as nice as the fast food restaurant petunias!!

:)

Dee

So here is this same pot today October 28. It has seen temps of -1C and it is still holding its own. The Strawflower is still trying to send out new flowers. I havent dead headed for awhile now and from what I have heard it isnt hard to start them from seed...right?

By far this has been my favourite new annual. Thanks for the many posts in this thread.

If you haven't been deadheading then you will have plenty of volunteers. I grew them a couple of seasons back and now they just volunteer and coax me into giving them a pot or two. Also, you will find yourself getting into dried flower bouquets just because of them.

UPDATE for July 2026 with this year's "Strawflower" (with an Asarina wislizensis 'Red Dragon')

A gorgeous healthy plant. I have never grown strawflowers but I may make an exception for this one!

And does it actually have a musical sound when you “play” the petals? Inquiring minds want to know! 😁

I grew the Australian strawflower Rodanthe chlorocephala some years ago and I'm growing Pearly Everlasting now. All these strawflower species are in the Gnaphalieae tribe of Asteraceae and they all would be host plants for the American Lady Butterfly. The name has been changed Bracteantha bracteata to Xerochrysum bracteatum.

Pearly Everlasting, Anaphalis margaritacea.

Rodanthe chlorocephala

And does it actually have a musical sound when you “play” the petals

You can add musician to my resume ;)