Heliotropes are full-sun plants that require at least six hours a day of direct sunlight. However, they prefer the morning sun, and in hot climates, intense afternoon rays may burn the delicate flowers. A location that receives bright morning sunlight and light shade in the afternoon is ideal.

Understanding the Context

Wasting away, she transformed into the heliotrope, whose flowers supposedly always face the Sun. One of the most famous ragtime piano melodies is "Heliotrope Bouquet", composed in 1907 by Louis Chauvin (the first two strains) and Scott Joplin (the last two strains). An old-fashioned plant that has seen a resurgence in popularity, heliotrope is often first found by scent rather than sight. Clusters of small purple or blue blooms top off dark green foliage.

Key Insights

Learn how to plant, grow, and care for heliotropes. The heliotropes we grow in our gardens are most often Heliotropium arborescens or hybrids thereof. Though considered a tender perennial shrub in their native South America, heliotropes are usually treated as an annual in Zones 1 to 8. Heliotropes are a favorite summer bloomer with lovely, fragrant flowers and dense, textured foliage. They are sometimes known as cherry pie plants because of their fragrance.

Final Thoughts

The flowers are said to smell like a sweet dessert with notes of vanilla and cherry with a nutty almond undertone. Small, shrub-like plants, heliotrope flowers grow from 1 to 4 feet high (0.5 to 1 m.). Their leaves are long ovals of dark green. They are long bloomers that begin flowering in summer and offer up their fragrant bounty through the first frost. “Heliotrope” means “to move with the sun,” in reference to the flowers that follow the light of the sun throughout the day. The most commonly grown garden species (Heliotropium arborescens) is a tender perennial shrub in its native South American habit, but is most often grown as an annual.

Heliotropes are flowering plants belonging to the borage family (Boraginaceae). Native to Peru, these ornamental plants have become popular worldwide for their distinctive clusters of small, fragrant flowers and their interesting growth habits.