Euphorbia: A Chameleon in the Garden

11 Apr

This winter most of my perennials died back, conserving resources in order to make a reappearance in warmer weather.  One notable exception was Euphorbia “Ascot Rainbow,” a stoic plant that carried on through frosts, snow, and months of reduced sunlight. It did so by undergoing a transformation of sorts — turning from a mostly yellow and green plant in the summer, to being a much pinker plant in the winter. The colder it got, the darker the Euphorbia became–especially in the cold depths of March when it was a very dusky, reddish rose. And then, after just a few days of glorious sun and high temperatures (after we jumped straight from winter to summer with no spring in between), it rapidly became quite yellow again. These photos are all from the same plant during the past four months.

      
December                                                                    January

 
February                                                                 April

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