Kurapia®

Lippia nodiflora 'Campagna Verde'

Kurapia in June 2014 in full bloom, pruned to 1 m wide circle; 20% of ET0. Photo: SK Reid.

Summary

The first thing to note about Kurapia is its vigor.  Each plant quickly outgrew the space allotted to it for the length of the trial and had to be cut back twice in two years (the second time in July, 2014) to prevent it encroaching on nearby plants. Each time it was cut to a 1 m diameter circle. In the first year the plants grew from an average of 16” across (42 cm) to 4’ 4” (130 cm) between April and November; in the second year it grew from a 3’ 4” wide (1 m)  circle in mid-June to a width of 11’ 7” (351 cm) by October with a height of just 5” (13 cm). This is an average of about 7 in/week (18 cm/week)! During deficit irrigation the second year, there were no significant differences in growth between treatments, and none of the quality ratings was significantly affected by irrigation level. Although the flowers are not showy, they are attractive when the plant is in full bloom, and some bloom is on the plant from April through November. The overall appearance of the plant declines somewhat when spent brown flowers outnumber the white ones, but should this plant be used in applications where it would be viewed at close range, these could be removed with a string trimmer or a mower. The blooms were heavily visited by pollinators throughout the long blooming period. Plants were unaffected by disease during this trial, and only very minor leaf-chewing by insects was observed.  The extremely vigorous nature of the plant along with its vivid green color made this minor damage unnoticeable except upon the closest scrutiny. The only major criticism of this plant is that its appearance was severely affected by frost beginning in late December.  It generally died down from the edges, the centers went somewhat bare, and the long, stiff stems were unattractively exposed through March.  It began to recover in late March, and by April all plants had grown back over the bare spots and had an acceptable appearance, rating 4.0 and above on all treatments from May until the end of the trial.

Kurapia flowers in May 2014; sterile flowers still visited heavily by pollinators. Photo: SK Reid.

Growth and Quality Data

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Kurapia in August 2014 on 80% ET0 outgrowing allotted space. Photo: SK Reid.

Kurapia on 20% ET0 in September 2014 growing into surrounding areas. Photo: SK Reid.