Kingdom: Plantae
(Unranked): Angiosperms
(Unranked): Eudicots
(Unranked): Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Plantaginaceae
Genus: Hebe
Species: H. Orphan Annie
Common Name: Hebe ‘Orphan Annie’
Hebe ‘Orphan Annie’ cultivar is a sport from Hebe ‘Mary Antoinette’. As a sport on the hebe Mary Antoinette, the name Orphan Annie is a play on the parent name which links the two together. In botany, a sport or bud sport or is a part of a plant (normally a woody plant, but sometimes in herbs as well) that shows morphological differences from the rest of the plant. Sports may differ by foliage shape or color, flowers, or branch structure. Sports with desirable characteristics are often propagated vegetatively to form new cultivars that retain the characteristics of the new morphology.
Hebe Orphan Annie is grown predominantly for it's distinctive year round foliage but has a smattering of flowers through Autumn. Flower buds are cerise fading to pale pink when opening during late summer and early Autumn.
It was the winner of a Silver Medal at the prestigious "Plantarium" show in Europe in 1999.
Hebe ‘Orphan Annie’ is an evergreen shrub with cream and green foliage with deep wine coloured growing tips. The variegated leaves are grey-green, edged with cream, about 3.5–4 cm long; the leaf bud and new leaves are tinged with purple. It will grow to a height of 40 cm.
The distinctive foloage of Hebe 'Orphan Annie'
