At first I thought these were a dwarf variety of chamisa (depressus means "low"), only about a foot tall, compared to the giant rangy rabbitbrush shrubs that grow wild all over. But the foliage is not gray, it's light green, and I think these might be snakeweed.
There were three in a semicircle in front, along with a cholla cactus, all looking a bit stranded in the gravel. At first I thought they were random weeds, but it appears these are landscape plants. They were deliberately planted there.
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| Dwarf chamisas? Snakeweed? blooming in September after we first moved in. I put a pot in the center, later changed it for a dark container with a Cuphea in it. |
I think I should have cut them back over winter. They accumulate lots of leaf debris that I can't get out, and one is flopping over too much. The emerging foliage and the dried seedheads from last year don't look great.
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| They do add structure in winter; the pot would be stranded by itself, but I should at least cut them back in early spring. |
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| June 27, 2018 -- three in an arc around the pot. They look ragged as the new leaves grow out. |
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| July 30, 2018 |
I did cut them back in spring 2019 to clean up the raggedy look and they just did not come back very well. One is gone completely, and the other two looked awful and were taken out.
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| late May 2019 |