A rather beautiful name for a somewhat sparse green bush that Roger has accused of being a ‘weed’. However, in the last few days Leonotis (as we’ll call her) has been pushing out furry orange spider legs from her green foliage and making quite a show of herself. Some call her lion’s tail, another site said Leonurus means ‘lion’s ears’, others label her ‘wild dagga’. I found a site in the US expousing her legal status and recommending that you “don’t operate heavy machinery under the influence” – one of the more sensible ones hinted that she is rather a poor substitute for tobacco and has been smoked as such for aeons (possibly even by the bush men, yet another site boasts). So what a checkered past our Leonotis has, when all she wants is the peace to be in nature and do what she does best… shine!
Yay Sons – my wild dagga is also in bloom. It is the most beautiful plant and one of my favourites. I’ll post a picture in the next day or so.
Once it has flowered, cut it down right near the base and it grows back into a proper shrub with many branches. I’ve done this a few times on my plants and they are now metre wide and bushy.
Also very easy to grow from seed so save some from your flowers.
I think you might need to come over and help me with that pruning, I get quite nervous pruning plants… They are lovely and I do love them too…
i never really got why it’s called wild dagga, it looks like such a different plant to my amatuer eyes. but that orange is stunning, and the sunbirds particularly seem to go bossies for it.