15. THE WONDROUS FAN FLOWER—GREAT IN PLANTERS

What is that flower? Many people ask about the unusual semi-tropical Australian fan flower, whose botanical name is Scaevola (skay-VO-lah) aemula. It spreads out happily from a container and is unlike any other flower in that it displays its petals in a 1-inch-wide, fanlike arrangement on one side of the stem. The fan of petals resembles a left hand with five fingers, giving it the Latin name, Scaevola, which means left hand. In Hawaii, the related native plant, Scaevola taccada, is called naupaka. According to legend, a Hawaiian princess tore the flower in half after being banned from marrying her commoner lover. The flowers mourned to see the young lovers’ hearts broken. As a memorial to their love, when the naupaka flower blooms, it only blooms in halves.

Fan flower is a tender perennial in USDA hardiness zones 10–11 but is best grown as an annual flower in hanging baskets and containers. It makes a great spiller due to its cascading branches that are festooned with a nonstop show of blue, pink, or white flowers. This heat- and humidity-tolerant flower grows 8 to 12 inches tall and its trailing form flows over a container’s edge. Plant in full to part sun in well-drained soil and water regularly. Fan flower is drought tolerant and produces a constant bloom throughout the heat of summer to first frost. It is an easy-care flower, and deadheading is not necessary. It is deer and rabbit resistant.

There are several cultivars of fan flower available, including the popular ‘Blue Wonder.’ New cultivars include smaller, more compact plants or different colors of flowers. These include ‘Whirlwind Blue’ fan flower, which has violet-blue flowers and grows 10 inches tall with twice as much spread; and Scampi Pink fan flower, which grows just 6 inches tall and is 24 inches wide.