Señorita Rosalita Cleome celebrates her 15th

The fiesta de quince años is a celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday, obviously with its cultural roots in Mexico and throughout Latin America. The girl celebrating her 15th birthday is a quinceañera. While I am not exactly sure of the birthday, it was 15 years ago that our girl of the plant world Señorita Rosalita cleome won her first award. Today she has won 237 of the top awards in the country and forever changed the world when it comes to using the cleome in the landscape. Before the arrival of Señorita Rosalita

Before the arrival of Señorita Rosalita gardeners were concerned about growing cleomes because they have thorns that can be quite painful. They also don’t like the fact that cleomes reseed, A LOT, thousands of seeds. Those two issues kept you many from growing cleome, but that all changed 15 years ago.

Señorita Rosalita is shorter than typical cleomes. It is sterile, which means it sets no seeds. It also does not have thorns, and it blooms all season long. With attributes like that, you would guess it would be an award winner. The list of awards that humbles most other plants has proven its adaptability across the entire country. This includes the 2009 Mississippi Medallion Award Winner, my last year as an Extension Horticulture Specialist with MSU.

Cleomes are usually planted from young transplants in warm spring soil which means we will soon be entering the prime planting season. Select a site that is well drained and receives plenty of sunlight. Morning sun and afternoon shade will also work well.

If the bed is poorly drained, add 2 to 3-inches of organic matter. Be sure and apply a good layer of mulch after planting. This really helps prevent moisture loss to evaporation and deter weed growth which competes for both water and nutrients. Cleomes are drought tolerant once established. In midsummer, give them a little fertilizer, like a 5-10-5 and you’ll help push them into the fall season

Señorita Rosalita is available in a cheerful lavender-pink color. It can be used in any style of garden and in a wide variety of plant combinations. In the landscape, place Señorita Rosalita cleome to the rear of the border in a bold group. Space them 20 to 24 inches apart. They combine wonderfully with other flowers like petunias, phlox, salvias and vincas. I’ve seen great combinations using them with yellow daylilies.

Their exotic spidery flower structure allows them to also work wonderfully well in tropical gardens with bananas and elephant ears; after all, they do come from South America. To be honest, they fit in cottage gardens just as well and would be exceptional in public areas like golf courses and parks. They reach close to 4-feet in height, attract hummingbirds and butterflies, and offer both heat and drought tolerance

By all means, if you are looking for the unusual flower as the thriller plant in mixed containers then you could hardly pick a better choice. Your choices for spiller and filler plants are limitless. Some of my favorites would be Diamond Frost euphorbia or Flambe chrysocephalum as fillers and Goldilocks lysimachia.

The popularity of Señorita Rosalita has given way to two more exciting selections from Proven Winners. Pequeña Rosalita offers the same color but on an even shorter plant reaching only 36-inches tall. Newest is Señorita Blanca with the same height and blooming powers as Señorita Rosalita but a pristine white bloom.

Your garden can celebrate this fiesta de quince años of Señorita Rosalita in an exciting festival-like atmosphere all summer long, get ready, it may be cold now but spring is coming. Follow me on Facebook @NormanWinter TheGardenGuy for more photos and garden inspiration.