Hebe Magicolors® Black Magic - Shrubby veronica

Hebe Magicolors® Black Magic is a small shrubby veronica with variegated evergreen foliage that turns pink and purple in autumn. This variety from the Magicolors® series forms a small, dense bush, perfect for a flowerbed, border, or a large pot. Delicate spikes of violet flowers enhance its charm in late spring. Easy to grow in mild climates, it offers an architectural and colourful presence throughout the year.

Hebe Magicolors® Black Magic is a cultivar of shrubby veronica belonging to the Plantaginaceae family. It is a horticultural hybrid associated with the Veronica × andersonii group, resulting from a cross between Veronica salicifolia and V. speciosa, two shrubs native to New Zealand. It is a small, somewhat tender shrub that retains its leaves in winter.
The Magicolors® series, created by the Dutch breeder H. van Niekerk, brings together several compact hebes whose foliage changes hue with the season; 'Black Magic' is the darkest form, displaying very pronounced winter colours. Its habit is naturally compact, dense and distinctly bushy, forming a rounded cushion. It reaches about 60 cm in height and spread in the ground, slightly less in a pot. Growth is fairly rapid in fertile, well-drained soil, with the plant reaching its final size in four to five years. Young stems are tinged purple to reddish-brown, then become woody and turn grey-brown with age. The leaves are 2 to 4 cm long and 0.5 to 1 cm wide; they are lanceolate, somewhat thick, and glossy. In spring and summer, the leaf is green, finely edged with cream; as soon as the nights cool, the young shoots turn bright pink and then purplish. So much so that the clump takes on dark red to almost black hues in winter in a sunny position. This variety flowers from May to July, depending on the climate. Short, upright, 3 to 5 cm long spikes develop at the tips of the twigs bearing a multitude of small violet to lilac flowers. It can withstand –7 to –10 °C at the lowest in well-drained soil and a sheltered location.

Hebe Magicolors® Black Magic is best placed near a pathway, in a sunny flowerbed, or in a large pot on the terrace, where you can enjoy its colourful foliage all winter. Plant it in humus-bearing, well-drained soil that remains moist in summer. It pairs very well with green or golden foliage. Combine it, for example, with Weigela ‘Lime Monster’, the small Heuchera 'Blondie in Lime’, a Carex oshimensis Everillo or Hebe ‘Turkish Delight’. In regions with harsh winters, it should be grown in a container to be overwintered frost-free in a conservatory or cold greenhouse.

Like all shrubby veronicas, 'Black Magic' takes its name from the genus Hebe, dedicated to the Greek goddess of youth; one of its parents, Veronica salicifolia, known in New Zealand as koromiko, was used in Māori pharmacopoeia.