My Garden

The slabs in the courtyard have gaps between them and those gaps have become home to a variety of self sown plants. We have the usual tufts of grass coming up, but there are also chives, pansies, a mat-forming Sedum, which I believe is Sedum acre and, of course, dandelions.

I’d been thinking about the growth between those gaps and reckoned that it was probably time for a bit of selective weeding. I can’t bring myself to pull it all out because if there are flowers, then some species will be using them for food, so I pick and choose. Cut the grassy bits back, leave the pansies and chives to flower, cut back the dandelions before they go to seed and pull out that invasive Oxalis corniculata before it tries to take over the world.

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The trial of Cortaderia, pampas grass, has been both dramatic and intriguing. As it comes to a close, with some entries still looking good very late in the year, there was one that stood out above all the others - ‘Evita' (click the picture to enlarge). Except part of the point is that it didn't "stand out" at all - some varieties are huge, 3m/10ft tall, but ‘Evita' is altogether more manageable.

Reaching just 4-5ft/1.2-1.5m high, it combines vigour, dwarf habit, prolific flowering with plumes of good substance and also flowers as a young plant - a very valuable feature. Another notable feature is that ‘Evita' plants are female, but are not known to produce seed. I'm certain this will get an Award of Garden Merit.

One of the interesting things about cortaderias is that plants are either male or female so any seedlings produced will be hybrids. So when nurseries raise named varieties from seed the resulting plants will not come true - and there was some dramatic evidence of this in the trial; no awards for those entries.

But others that looked especially good included. ‘Highfield Pink' which was seen as the best pink-flowered form - and one assessor said it had an "Afghan Hound quality"! The variegated ‘Pink Phantom' also impressed.

Those with variegated foliage must obviously be propagated by division and two of these stood out. Silver Feather (‘Notcort') is a white variegated form of C. pumila and the overall impression of the rather discreetly marked leaves was of grey foliage. It flowered well, did not grow too high (in fact it was one of the smallest) and its foliage was excellent.

The other good variegated plant was ‘Gold Band'. More vigorous than other variegated types, the overall effect was a wonderful golden colouring and the flowers were excellent too.

These were the stars of the trial and as well as identifying some excellent plants small enough for most gardens and which will give colour from both flowers and foliage, it really highlighted the necessity for nurseries to propagate by division and not seed.

I'll bring you news of the final awards once they're confirmed. In the meantime, take a look at the full list of plants in the Cortaderia trial.

 
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We all know what wonderful shrubs mahonias are. They're statuesque, making imposing plants in the garden; their bold evergreen foliage is invaluable all year round; their long strings of dainty yellow flowers brighten any winter garden; and finally those flowers are followed by long strings of blue berries.

The only problem is that they only come in yellow. And they get quite tall if you don't prune them. And wouldn't it be good to extend the season a little? Not possible - until now.

The flowers of ‘Cabaret' are, actually, yellow (I have to say) but they emerge from furnace-red buds which for many weeks transform the colouring of the plant. And the foliage develops red tints as well. I'll let Peter Clay of Crocus, who are introducing this excellent shrub to Britain, tell you more:

"‘Cabaret' has fabulous colouring: with those glowing beads of molten steel on dark green holly-like leaves trimmed with red. But what we like most is that it flowers from August through to November. Most mahonias are winter flowering but this would be a valuable addition to a hot autumn border. It's nice and compact, so suitable for most people's gardens and would look great with rudbeckias or tall red (annual) salvias and grasses such as Anementhole leesonia (Stipa arundinacea as was) or dahlias like 'Ragged Robin'.

"In fact, it is a pretty good all rounder. During the spring and early summer it's architectural foliage provides a structural foil for more flamboyant neighbours. In late summer it starts it's valuable pyrotechnics and during winter it develops attractive bluish grey berry-like fruits that stand out well against the foliage."

You can order Mahonia ‘Cabaret' from Crocus.

 

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Strong winds this weekend will probably bring down the last of the leaves from the big lime trees at the back of the courtyard and distribute them in a thick layer over the plants. They will need to be carefully pulled out so the plants aren’t smothered.

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A week or two back I wrote about delphiniums which came back for a second burst of flowers long after their main flush in June. The last couple of times I was taking a look at the Wisley flower trials I also noticed some other perennials looking good late in the season.

The Kniphofia trial has been a difficult one to assess because these pokers flower over such a very long season - some are at their peak in late spring, some in mid autumn.

In September and October Kniphofia rooperi (above, click to enlarge) has been spectacular. You can see from the picture how vivid it is and how few other kniphofias there are flowering in the background.  This is a splendid plant for autumn colour and because this form in the trials, sent to the trial by the Hampshire nursery MacGregor's Plants for Shade, was so good it was decided that it needed its own cultivar name. As yet, we don't know what that will be. But this plant was certainly better than the variety ‘Torchlight' growing alongside.

The other poker at its peak late in the season was K. caulescens, and in particular the form loosely known as "from John May". This is very different from many pokers in that not only are its spikes at their best in the autumn, but its impressive foliage is a valuable feature for many months.

Its leaves are relatively broad and noticeably greyish in colour, sometimes they look rather like the leaves of leeks, and can be very dramatic. You can see them in the background in the picture. And it turns out that his plant is unusual in another way: in South Africa, where it grows wild, it's seen in large colonies in bogs - far wetter conditions than we normally associate with kniphofias.

Both these late flowering pokers look to be well on their way to gaining the Award of Garden Merit and will bring a little fiery style late in the season.

 
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The days are shortening so rapidly now, darkness seeping into the sky a little earlier each day. Only two weeks ago, the air still felt warm and it seemed that autumn could last for many weeks to come, but now, with the arrival of the short days, it truly feels that the first days of winter are with us.

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I first saw this gorgeous new fragrant verbena on The Sun's exhibit at this year's Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. I wrote it up in my Hampton Court coverage of new plants. It was tucked away in a corner, and I have to say, it didn't look too happy. But for colour and fragrance and sheer charm this is a special plant. And now it's available to order.

The way the flowers on this lovely bicolour are held creates a ring of dark colour around the centre of each flower head with skirt of paler colour below. It's a very pretty combination.

'Strawberry Kiss' is a trailing variety, raised from cuttings. It's not one of the stocky little verbenas which are more often raised from seed. The stems hang downwards but the flower heads themselves turn to face upwards. ‘Strawberry Kiss' is ideal for tubs and hanging baskets by the front door, on the patio or by gates where you can enjoy the bicoloured flowers and especially rich fragrance.

Just one thing: In my Hampton Court piece I mentioned the striking similarity of ‘Strawberry Kiss' to an older variety, ‘Pink Parfait'.  I still haven't managed to resolve this with any certainty - but if ‘Strawberry Kiss' should be sold out, try ‘Pink Parfait' instead.

You can order plants of Verbena ‘Strawberry Kiss' from Mr Fothergill and Unwins. It's also available in a Verbena collection from Thompson and Morgan.

You can order Verbena ‘Pink Parfait' from Thompson and Morgan.

 

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Tall Bearded Irises are amongst the most dramatic and colourful of perennials so the very best of them must be really impressive. And they are.

The RHS Iris Sub Committee - yes, there's a sub committee just for irises - has recently had its latest awards ratified and three Tall Bearded Irises performed so well in the trial at Wisley that they've been given the Award of Garden Merit.

They were planted in 2007 on the Portsmouth Field, usually known just as the trials field, and were assessed regularly during the flowering season. Using a points system, four specific qualities assessed: the overall quality of the plant, stem quality (robustness and branching), flower quality and the presentation of the flowers.

And out of 110 entries into the trial three gained an AGM, while one other had its AGM withheld until it becomes available to buy.

The lovely ‘Helen Dawn' (above, click to enlarge) is almost pure white. Reaching about 90cm/3ft, with six to eight buds on each stem, the standards (the three upper petals) are almost pure white while the falls (the three lower petals) are slightly creamier with an attractive network of pale veins. The white beard is yellow at the tip, deepening almost to orange in the throat, and the flowers have what iris-expert Claire Austin calls a "heavy sharp scent".

‘Helen Dawn' was raised by Australian breeder Graeme Grosvenor and registered back in 1998. It's a cross between ‘Skating Party' and ‘Scandia Delight'.

‘Diabolique' is almost the opposite in colour. The nearly-black buds open to heavily ruffled deep wine purple flowers, the falls slightly richer and more vinous than the standards. The blooms have good substance so are unusually weather resistant while the deep blue beard is short, but its colour stands out well. Reaching about 38in/97cm and with up to nine flowers on each stem, ‘Diabolique' makes quite an impact.

Raised by the prolific Schreiner's Gardens in Oregon, ‘Diabolique' has ‘Amethyst Flame' and ‘Melodrama', amongst others, in its background.

Also from Oregon is the last of the three Tall Bearded Irises to be given an AGM for 2009, ‘Paul Black'. This is taller, at 4ft/1.2m, with up to six buds per stem and is basically dark purple-blue with a fiery orange beard - like a flame in the night. Both the standards and the falls have a slightly inky look but fade to white in the throat. ‘Paul Black' was raised by Thomas Johnson and named for his partner at their iris nursery Mid-America Garden in Oregon

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Last time I looked at an old American hosta coming to Britain for the first time. Now two brand new hostas from Belgium, both raised by Danny van Eechaute.

‘Color Festival' (left, click to enlarge) is a very dramatic hosta in spite of its medium size. It features rich, deep green foliage, a little over 6in/15cm long and 3in/7.5cm wide, with a bold cream central splash tinted with green as each leaf unfolds and which matures into bright white with rich creamy yellow and greeny cream flashes at the edge. The contrast between the consistently deep green edge and the bright centre is very striking and made more stylish by those neat flashes and the slight variability of the central splash.

Maturing to a clump about 21in/53cm across by about 131/2in/34cm high, pale lavender tubular flowers are held above the foliage in mid summer.

‘Color Festival' is a sport of ‘Enterprise' registered in 2007.

‘Border Street' is a bold variegated hosta with a very attractive pattern of harmonising tones. The green rippled foliage, about 10-12in/25-30cm long and 8-10in/20-25cm wide at maturity, with a slight bluish tint and edged with a variable margin of cream, is bold without being too garish. It also has tubular pale lavender flowers. The plant itself matures into a clump about 40in/1m  across and 24-28in/60-70cm high .

‘Border Street' was raised from open-pollinated seed of a streaked seedling of ‘Lakeside Roy' and registered just last year.

You can order ‘Color Festival' from Bali Hai Nursery and also from Sue Proctor Plants. You can order ‘Border Street' from Bali Hai Nursery.

 
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Every year new hostas arrive on the scene. You'd think that with so many being grown already - there've been almost two thousand listed in the RHS PlantFinder over the years - that we wouldn't need any more.

Well, some perhaps we truly don't need. But as hosta enthusiasts bring together new combinations of size, leaf shape, colour and pattern - not to mention flowers - valuable new types are appearing.

Bali Hai Nursery in Northern Ireland make a point of bringing many new hostas to British gardeners. But they also bring over from the United States varieties which have somehow been ignored over here.

‘Big John' has been around in the States for some time (it was registered in 1986) but it's not been available here before. And it really is big. Mark Zilis, writing in his superb Hosta Handbook, says: "'Big John' is synonymous with "huge" in hostas. Not only does the mound of foliage become massive, but the individual leaves are the largest of any hosta, narrowly beating out ‘Sum and Substance' for that honor. The record breaking 21in x 163/8in (53.3x41.6cm) leaf was measured in 1988... Since then no leaf I have measured (probably more than 5,000) has exceeded those dimensions."

Setting aside what we'll charitably call the "dedication" of someone who measures over 5,000 leaves of just one variety of hosta - that really is an impressive plant.

‘Big John' reaches a massive 32in/81cm high by 6ft/1.8m wide! The leaves are bluish green at first, becoming dark green by early summer and have the puckered look of H. sieboldiana parentage; in fact ‘Big John' is a seedling of H. sieboldiana ‘Mira'. It also features bell-shaped white flowers striped in lavender which are held just about leaf level in summer.

If your garden is large enough to feature such an impressive plant, or you have a huge container, you can order Hosta ‘Big John' from Bali Hai Nursery.

Two more new hostas next time.

 
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