Red Birds in a Tree

Bill wanted me to blip this as he brought it home for me today from the nursery where he is working. He was quite pleased with himself! This is a plant which is from New Mexico and originally grew in remote areas in the state. Since this is more suited to the Rocky Mountains and the plains states, I don't know how well it will fare here in our climate. We will give it a go anyway.

If you use a bit of your imagination you can see why they call this plant by the common name of "Red Birds in a Tree". Somebody wanted to use a more fun name than Figwort, which is what it was called. More properly it is scrophularia macrantha.

I messed around making cookies again. That was kind of a project, although mostly in the gathering of ingredients. The recipe is one that is supposed to replicate the "Lofthouse" cookies that are sold in store bakeries everywhere. There are a lot of recipes on line if you want to try it. This one uses a cake mix and the frosting called for Dream Whip. The only place I found that carried Dream Whip was at Walmart. So, I had a fun trip to the Walmart baking aisle. A young man and I were looking at these fun cake mixes by Duff who had/has a show on HGTV about his cake decorating business. What fun cake mixes!

Anyway, that's all the excitement from my little corner of the world. Take care everyone.


Red Birds in a Tree is a hummingbird's delight. The hovering birds are attracted to the luscious cherry-red tubular flowers that sit atop dark green, ovate, toothed leaves. Just look at the flower and you will see how it earned its descriptive name.

A relative of the Penstemon, Scrophularia macrantha flowers continuously from spring through fall. The plant does not need much TLC and will re-bloom without deadheading. Vibrant color will illuminate your garden all summer long. Once established, it requires little water and is suitable for xeriscaping. The plant originates from the mountain slopes of New Mexico and adapts quite well to anywhere in your landscape that offers full sun to part shade. Red Birds in a Tree likes to entwine with other plants for support and will grow best in the back of a border.