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Tinantia pringlei (Spotted Widow's Tears) - A fast growing mound-forming perennial groundcover that grows to just under a foot tall and spreads 3+ feet wide with inch and a half long lance-shaped olive green leaves that are randomly purple-spotted on the upper surface, deep purple underneath and held on wiry dark purple stems. From summer late into fall are borne the small lavender colored three-petaled flowers.
Plant in part sun (tolerate full in coastal gardens) in a well-drained soil with regular irrigation. Hardy down to at least 0 ° F and thought to be hardy down to USDA Zone 6 and useful in all zones above this. Is evergreen in our coastal California gardens but knocked back to the ground by first frost in colder locations. It is known to tolerate coastal conditions, various soil types. Bees are attracted to the flowers and deer will generally not eat it until desperate. An interesting plant for use as a border or edging in the woodland garden. Will often self-seed in the garden but not to the point that it is a pest and is easy to remove where no wanted.
Tinantia pringlei is native to the mountains of northeastern Mexico. The genus was named to honor the Luxemburgian botanist François Auguste Tinant, (1803–1853) and the specific epithet the American botanist Cyrus Pringle (1838–1911) collector of an incredible number of botanical specimens for the Gray Herbarium at Harvard University. Other common names associated with this plant include Mexican Speck and Mexican Wandering Jew.
Our plants came to us in 2018 from potter and landscape designer Dustin Gimble who received it from Jonathan Wright, now the director of the Garden at Newfields, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Wright noted that he got when he was at Longwood Gardens from Tony Avent at Plant Delights and that it was a from a collection made in Mexico by Tom Peace of Texas Mountain Flora in Lockhart, Texas that was given the cultivar name 'Panther' but that the plant reseeded with such variability that plants in cultivation should only be referred to a being in the 'Panther' line.
The information about Tinantia pringlei displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant. |
