Other Names:  Hesperozygis x satureja

Description:

A compact, rounded plant featuring attractive, tubular pink flowers from spring to fall, and delicate, mint scented leaves that are great for seasoning and cooking; ideal for patio pots, rockeries and herb gardens; drought tolerant; attracts pollinators

Edible Qualities

Sunrise Mojito Hesperozygis is a perennial herb that is typically grown for its edible qualities, although it does have ornamental merits as well. The small fragrant round dark green leaves can be harvested at any time in the season. The leaves have a minty taste.

The leaves are most often used in the following ways:

• Cooking
• Seasoning

Features & Attributes

Sunrise Mojito Hesperozygis features showy clusters of fragrant pink tubular flowers at the ends of the stems from mid spring to mid fall, which emerge from distinctive orange flower buds. Its small fragrant round leaves remain dark green in color throughout the year. The brick red stems can be quite attractive.

This is an herbaceous evergreen perennial herb with a more or less rounded form. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition. This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting bees, butterflies and hummingbirds to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Aside from its primary use as an edible, Sunrise Mojito Hesperozygis is sutiable for the following landscape applications;

• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• General Garden Use
• Herb Gardens
• Container Planting
• Hanging Baskets

Planting & Growing

Sunrise Mojito Hesperozygis will grow to be about 14 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 14 inches. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years. As an evegreen perennial, this plant will typically keep its form and foliage year-round.

This plant is quite ornamental as well as edible, and is as much at home in a landscape or flower garden as it is in a designated herb garden. It does best in full sun to partial shade. It is very adaptable to both dry and moist growing conditions, but will not tolerate any standing water. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for a low-water garden or xeriscape application. This plant should not require much in the way of fertilizing once established, although it may appreciate a shot of general-purpose fertilizer from time to time early in the growing season. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.

Sunrise Mojito Hesperozygis is a good choice for the edible garden, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor containers and hanging baskets. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing a mass of flowers against which the thriller plants stand out. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.