Señorita Rosalita spider flower

Cleome or spider flower (Cleome hassleriana) is the 5-6 foot flowering annual that your grandmother grew in her garden. Long stamens extending from the flowers look like spider legs, hence the common name. The old fashioned varieties produced lots of seed pods which meant lots of weed seed in next year’s garden. As summer temperatures rose, flower power declined and lower leaves dried up.

Señorita Rosalita is a vastly improved cultivar, displaying medium green leaves on a 3 to 4 feet tall upright branched plant, topped by brightly colored flowers. It flowers continuously through the heat of summer up to autumn frost. Flowers are spidery clusters of 4-petaled lavender-pink flowers 3 to 5 inches across. The gorgeous blooms should catch anyone’s attention in flower borders and in large planters.

Señorita Rosalita flowers are sterile, which means no seeds. It exhibits tremendous heat and drought tolerance which means no leafless stems in late summer. Señorita Rosalita has no sticky stems or thorns. Flowers are produced all over the compact plant. Plants exhibit an upright growth habit, maturing from 24 to 48 inches tall, depending on soil moisture and nutrition over the growing year.

This South American native grows best in full sun. Space transplants 18-24 inches apart in well-drained soil. Add 1-2 lbs of 10-10-10 or equivalent fertilizer per 100 sq. ft. of garden bed at planting time. Supplement with a water soluble fertilizer (Miracle-Gro®, Schultz®, or Hollytone®) at the start of summer and 6 weeks later. Señorita Rosalita is self-cleaning, and requires no special deadheading. Irrigate regularly for the first 3-4 weeks until established so that cleome can handle summer’s heat and humidity. The foliage and flowers stay mostly disease and pest free all summer long.