A must-have, all-season, hardy, ever-blooming, butterfly nectar shrub.
I can’t say enough good things about our garden’s mainstay yellow-flowering ever-green shrub. Thryallis (Galphimia glauca) has taken center stage in our front yard in past years, and now two of them stand as pillars in our backyard butterfly garden. Rain or shine, little golden flowers meet each day with vibrancy and joy never to be seen droopy or mopey by the middle or end of a sweltering summer day. Soaking in the full sun to partial sun, this cottage-garden plant creates a beautiful shimmer of yellow on a breezy sun-filled day.
It requires practically no maintenance with the exception of pruning to keep it compact and to promote new growth from the base of the shrub. From my experience, it responds very well to hard pruning. If we let both of our shrubs grow freely, we will have two 9-foot specimens on our hands! Earlier this spring, one of these two eager growers almost smothered my Porterweed (Stachytarpheta) shrub, which eventually had to be rescued and relocated.
I prefer this plant positioned as a backdrop to shorter shrubs thus creating multiple horizontal layers of flowering plants. As a result, we have the pleasure of viewing colorful blooms from our sliding glass doors all year long, especially during the winter season. Even our butterfly visitors enjoy frequent sips of nectar from this dependable plant. So, for now, this tried-and-true grower is welcome to thrive in our garden indefinitely.
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