Rock Rose / Helianthemum

Helianthemum nummularium 'Ben Ledi' (but thought I got 'Ben Fhada')
From Plants of the Southwest in summer 2018

Added two 'Ben Ledi' from High Country gardens spring 2020

 * * * All are gone now. Never found the right spot.

Rock rose, also called sun rose, wants no fertilizer, lots of sun and gritty soil. 

I had three of these planted along the back walkway, with a miniature little step down from the raised walk in between. It's hard to capture what this will look like; in 2020 it was just tiny blobs and a couple flat stones!

May 13, 2020, all blooming, even the little new ones planted at the end of April.

I have all three of these little shrublets planted along the back walkway next to a little step down into the gravel. It gets full sun and the soil is pretty gritty and sandy below the gravel.

I originally put the first one at the front of the little triangle by the front walk to spread out over the metal edging and rocks there. It was supposed to have a bright yellow flower.

In 2019 it started to fill out a bit, staying low and mat-like. The foliage is fresh looking.

And in May 2019 it started to bloom with the cutest little shy flower --- but it is soft pink with a yellow eye, not the yellow 'Ben Fhada' that I thought I got and that the plant was marked as!

May 12, 2019

This is 'Ben Fhada' -- there is a whole series of rock roses named for Scottish bens, or hills. And 'Ben Fhada' is sunny yellow with an orange eye:

So I think what I have instead is 'Ben Ledi', which looks like this:

It's a lovely rock rose and the plant is doing well, but it's not the bright pop of yellow I wanted here with the oranges and reds of the other plants and against the dark red stone mulch.

May 26, 2019 -- pink / coral blooms just don't show up against dark red volcanic rock mulch.
But it's a pretty plant.

So it got moved to the edge of the back walkway in 2019 and I added two more in 2020 to surround a small step down into the gravel. All are gone now.

It was the second mis-marked plant I got from Plants of the Southwest (also got a totally different clematis when I bought a native blue flowered Rocky Mountain clematis and it turned out to be a yellow flowered Chinese vine instead. Arrrgh.