Not nearly as well known as it's cousin, Phlomis russeliana, P. cashmerii is a smaller-stature plant with soft, lilac-pink flowers instead of yellow.Forming a tidy basal rosette of felty, gray-green leaves, it sends up these lovely flower spikes with whorls of pink, fuzzy flowers. Very drought tolerant once established, it's a tough, pest-free performer in our garden.
In the photo above, you can see the rich maroon flowers of Clematis 'Niobe' growing on a nearby trellis, a fortuitous combination, indeed!
Like other species of phlomis, P. cashmerii is partially evergreen, meaning that it retains leaves through the winter, although these are always the worse for wear come spring. If you get around to it, cut all the old foliage down and it will push up new, fresh ones. Or, if you forget, the plant will still push new leaves up, which tend to push the old ones down and out of sight. We usually cut the old leaves off, though, to avoid a soggy, rot-inducing collar of old foliage around the base of the plant.
We usually let the seed heads remain on the plant, which add architectural interest in the late summer garden, at least until my sweetie gets tired of looking at them and chops them down.
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