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I don’t know why it comes as a bit of a shock each year, but by late July I suddenly go into a bit of a panic about collecting seed for the Hardy Plant Society seed distribution scheme. Each year I think I’ve run out of time and each year I have to remind myself of the date by which I need to send the seed to the designated collection person.
I suspect that most shady gardeners have been tempted to buy Pteridophyllum racemosum when it’s been offered as a flowering specimen at a plant fair or HPS event. I first saw this beautiful Japanese woodland endemic at the HPS annual general meeting in 2015. ...
It was decided that it is time to say goodbye to a few plants that have featured on the list for a number of years because they are shrubs, plants with a woody structure and conservation of this type of plant does not fulfil our constitutional objective to preserve the older and less well known hardy perennials.
After weeks and weeks of no rain, grass turning brown, soil looking like dust, and endless lugging of watering cans, the rains have now returned. And they have returned with a vengeance. There is hardly a day without rain now ...
This is undoubtedly my favourite tulip. It is fully hardy, seeds itself around, does well in shade and is not dug up and eaten by the stripy faced weasels that think they own our garden and consume all other tulips with relish. ...
Over the months that elapsed from moving the plants in the original hospital bed to create the courtyard until we created the gravel garden, a new idea emerged.
Other good butterfly flowers for late summer are Echinacea, Eryngium and Dianthus. Especially Brimstone butterflies seem to like Dianthus carthusianorum which has a very long flowering season, with peak flowering in June and continuing on a low level right into autumn. ...
In the 80’s I assisted an ecology/botany graduate friend of mine to lead a botanical/walking holiday in the Plakias area of Crete in the spring to see and identify the spring flowers. We were not at or on beach level, but walking through the foothills above the beaches (where all the original villages were), and enjoying the beautiful Maquis environment.
Cardamine heptaphylla 'Big White' is neither a disappointment nor a thug. It is large for a cardamine, growing to about 40 cms tall and as much across. The leaves are large with, as the name suggests, seven toothed leaflets. In spring it produces good heads of pure white flowers. ...
A few days ago I spotted a hornet hoverfly which is quite an impressive insect. The hoverfly mimics hornets (but is completely harmless) and likes to visit nectar-rich flowers for nectar. The larvae live in hornet nests. I once watched a female hornet hoverfly walk into a large hornet nest with the hornets completely ignoring her ...
Plants in the Conservation Scheme should be completely hardy and perform well in the garden, but we don't grow plants in isolation and I've been looking out for some interesting planting combinations.
I’ve now got lots of salvias, with most of them given to me by great salvia lovers and collectors themselves.. I will try and do my best to look after most of them just to see whether I can make them flourish once again as they used to at former Rodbaston College.
Erythronium dens-canis is a typical spring ephemeral. The flowers don’t last long and even the attractive, marbled leaves are gone by the end of spring. In spite of this it is a lovely plant and a welcome addition to early spring ...
The new garden area needed to provide some interest all year, but be a follow on from the Rose garden nearer the house which peaked in June, so that sitting on the courtyard in high summer you had a beautiful view up the garden.
The recent rain and warmer temperatures have really boosted growth on the allotment. There are so many flowers opening everywhere, nearly on a daily basis, just being away for a few days and coming back brings new surprises around every corner. ...
A real red-letter day - my HPS July Newsletter delivered in a fully compostable wrapper! Thank you to Lynne Hackett, Newsletter editor, and the print management team at HMCA.
HPS members have a wealth of experience of growing hardy perennial plants and are asked to propose plants they think are worthy of conservation, particularly some of the older cultivars that are hard to find in nurseries or garden centres.
Robin gave it the name 'Penny's Smile' which I suggested to him in honour of my dear friend Penny, who was a beautiful girl and left this world far too young. She really loved the salvias of which I planted several in her late gardens. And she particularly loved this colour; so a more apt tribute couldn’t be found! To my surprise it has survived many cold winters here in the Midlands.
The weather has been challenging in many ways, and all of these photos have been taken between heavy showers.Thank goodness for the whorls! The flowers not only provide valuable nectar for our pollinators, they also offer shelter by acting like mini-umbrellas for bees.
The first six photos of hellebores are of Ashwood hybrids that we bought in 2008 and planted together in a small raised bed under a large cherry tree in our front garden. The other 12 are some of their children. The original plants seeded themselves freely ...
Most holidays to various Greek Islands in the 90s in particular were during September and October, and we always encountered Fig trees clinging to cliff tops or beside the roads smothered in ripe and juicy figs which were a delight to pick and eat sun-warmed from the tree. We determined we were going to have one ourselves.
With the increasingly dry weather we seem to be getting here now it becomes apparent which plants cope well with dry soil and which plants are suffering. Most Rudbeckia species for example don`t seem to be well adapted to drought. The only Rudbeckia which actually looks alright on my allotment at the moment is Rudbeckia triloba. ...
Chrysanthemum 'Romantica' was suggested for inclusion by HPS Hampshire Group in 2018 whose members have grown it since 2012. The name spelt with a 'c' as here is the RHS accepted name although a plant listed by Plant Heritage is C. 'Romantika', with a 'k', and may well be the same plant.
In the first chapter about the salvias I told the story how I became hooked to them and this time I would like to introduce you to all of ‘my’ Rodbaston ones, of which I am extremely proud! There are 6 'survivors' of the original 7 which is much better than I had hoped a few months ago.
A couple of years ago, I was invited to join the HPC as a Corresponding Member. This was readily accepted as a way of strengthening links between the HPS and the RHS. I have now been appointed a full member of the Committee which gives me a vote on the awarding of AGMs.
Epimedium (a love affair!)
The attractions for me are many. There is a delicacy and daintiness to their flowers held pendulous on their incredibly thin stems, hence their common names of ‘Fairy Wings’ and ‘Bishop’s Hat’ (their other common name of ‘Barrenwort’ and ‘Horny Goat Weed’ alludes to their centuries long use in Chinese medicine ...
What does the term Mediterranean Courtyard evoke in your minds’ eye? Is it something like one from Portmerion Village in Wales?
Or perhaps one or two ideas from within the Temperate Biome at the Eden Project?
The warm weather we had over Easter has brought out the flowers, but we need rain desperately now. The soil is like concrete in many places already and cracks are appearing. I only water newly planted perennials, shrubs and trees and also the vegetables, everything else has to fight for itself. Despite the dry conditions all the plants are still growing well ...
Phlox paniculata 'Lady Clare' is the fourth of the plants introduced to the Conservation Scheme last year. The Hampshire Group thought it worthy of inclusion because the large pale pink flowers with a deeper soft pink eye have a wonderful fragrance.
The most easy, versatile ones for use in sunny borders or pots are which I call the ‘Shrubby, small leaved Salvias’. These are hardy to at least – 10 degr. C. and much more than this in my experience.