Cleome Senorita Rosalita in the former garden of Kathryn Hipkin in BrisbaneA fairly recent introduction, this Cleome hydrid is quite different to the annual Cleome, which can grow into tall plants with large heads of sticky. spidery flowers, with thorns on their stems. The hybrid form is a more bushy version, and is perennial in our Sydney climate. It grows to around 1 m tall and has pretty purplish-pink flowers over a very lengthy period: in fact, almost all year round!
Perennial Cleome with Justicia betonicaIt likes a sunny, dryish position, and copes well with our increasingly hot summers. It is not sticky, has no thorns, and does not self-seed. What's not to like? There is a purplish-pink cultivar called 'Senorita Rosalita', a white form with a pink tinge to the buds and dark stamens named 'Senorita Blanca', pure white 'Senorita Luna', and a pastel pink cultivar known as 'Senorita Carolina'.
Perennial Cleome Senorita LunaThe plants can be trimmed back when they become leggy and they will reshoot; however, I have found that after about two years, the plants seem to exhaust themselves with all that flowering, and need to be replaced by a cutting - which fortunately strike quite easily!
I am not sure of the correct species name for this plant but I have seen Cleome spinosa on plant labels for these cultivars.
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