My Garden

This lovely new hardy geranium has delightful flowers - and an interesting history.

Geranium phaeum ‘Lavender Pinwheel’ has the usual dark green mound of spring foliage, with maroon-purple blotches, but it’s the flowers which are special. Each flower is pale lavender, with violet veins radiating from a green eye, then the edge of each petal features a dark, picotee rim. The result is a delicate patterning of colour, with misty shadows where the petals overlap. The individual flowers are rumoured to be up to 5cm/2in across (I’ve not yet seen a live plant but this seems highly overoptimistic) but it’s their pretty colouring and patterning with marks them out.

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Today's new plant is, in fact, a not quite new way of growing a not quite new variety - it's the combination that's new this season. I'd better explain. Some years ago a smart potato grower came up with the idea of keeping seed potatoes in cold store then planting them in August to produce a crop of new potatoes for Christmas. Clever.

They're called second cropping potatoes, I tried the idea when they first came out and although the crop was not huge, it was a real treat to dig fresh-from-the ground new potatoes in winter.

The other innovation is the potato variety called ‘Vivaldi'. This has been available as a second early potato for spring planting for a year or two and it's known not only for its flavour, creamy texture and resistance to scab, but for the fact that it has 26% less carbohydrate and 33% fewer calories than other varieties. When the BBC reported its launch as a commercial variety it was dubbed "the slimmer's potato". It even has its own Wikipedia page.

Now, for the first time, you can grow ‘Vivaldi' as a second cropping potato for Christmas. Order now, plant them as soon as they arrive, and you could dig new potatoes in October. But it's better just to leave them in the ground, cover them plants with fleece if severe frost threatens and dig them for Christmas. You can also grow them in barrels or large pots.

You can order ‘Vivaldi' second cropping potatoes from Dobies now - but you'll need to be quick.

 

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Euphorbias with attractive coloured foliage seem to have been coming one after another recently; some are strong, attractive and stable while others seem weak, or poorly coloured, or revert to green. Of course, this being the New Plants blog, the plants here are by definition new and have not been tested for many years in the way that old favourites have been. But one of these euphorbias that looks especially promising is Euphorbia polychroma ‘Bonfire'.

The big thing about ‘Bonfire' is that it keeps its purple colouring all summer; I've just taken a look at the trial plant in my garden and although it's become a little overshadowed by neighbouring plants it still retains its reddish purple colouring -  and it's almost August.

In early in spring, it looks a little like E. polychroma ‘Candy' (‘Purpurea' as was) with rich purple foliage, sometimes shading to greenish yellow at the base of the leaf, surrounding bright yellow buds which stretch into brilliant yellow flower heads. But while ‘Candy' turns green in summer, ‘Bonfire' retains that rich purplish tone with golden tones in the shoot tips sometimes becoming pinkish before ageing to purple. Only the lower leaves down in the plant where they're much less prominent turn green.

Reaching about 30-45cm/12-18in as the plants mature, this is an easy going plant for any reasonable soil and colours best with plenty of sunshine.

Euphorbia polychroma ‘Bonfire' was found by Mary Ann Fria of Limerock Plant Farm in Lincoln, Rhode Island on the north east coast of the USA. It was found growing in a crack in the paving on the nursery in 2000. Mary also discovered the Coreopsis ‘Limerock Ruby' on her nursery.

At the moment you can order E. polychroma ‘Bonfire' from just one RHS Plant Finder nursery, Dove Cottage Nursery, but expect it to become more widely available soon.

 

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Here's the full list of new plants at the 2009 Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. The links go to the blog posts in whichthe plants are featured - except in one or two cases where I never quite tracked down the informagtion or (gulp) forgot to take a picture! And in the case of some of the agapanthus the rain washed my notes to a smudge! So the link goes to the raiser's website. There are just under a hundred in all. Again, sorry but life's too short to put in the all the italics for the botanical names.

Thanks to all the people who took time out from preparing their exhiibits to help me with info on their new plants and to Martin Mulchinock for shooting the rose pictures.
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OK, this really is the last new Hampton Court Palace Flower Show plant. The trail has gone cold on the new astrantia I spotted but one slipped through the net along the way: Harkness Roses finally introduced the last of their new roses for the year, Red Hat Lady (‘Harpeep').

This was held back from their pre-announced Chelsea Flower Show launch but launched instead at the Tudor Rose Festival with a presentation to members of the Red Hat Society, the international society dedicated to fun and fulfilment for women approaching fifty and beyond.

This is a neat Floribunda rose - and so many new Floribundas are compact in habit - reaching just 60cm/2ft in height and as much across. The rich dark green foliage makes an ideal background for the dome shaped clusters of slightly fluffy looking, rich and brilliant red, semi-double flowers. Red Hat Lady blooms not just on the top of the bush but almost down to the ground and each flower is sparked by an occasional white fleck.

With its long flowering season and compact growth this is a fine rose for containers and for low hedges although it has to be said that many others are more strongly scented - even the raiser gives it two out of ten. But it makes up for this in its profusion of flower.

The Red Hat Lady rose is available by mail order from the Harkness Roses website.

 

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Details of one of the last new plants I spotted at the recent Hampton Court Palace Flower Show have come in, it was nestling in a crevice, on a rock face, at the back of the Alpine Campanulas exhibit in the Plant Heritage Marquee and after recovering from the ardours of the show Sue Wooster, of Alpine Campanulas, has filled me in on the background. It was one of the prettiest new plants at the show.

Campanula poscharskyana 'Pinkins' is a clear pink form of this well known and widely grown Campanula species. It features a long flowering season and is also well behaved and not too vigorous.

Reaching no more than 15cm/6in in height, the trailing stems about 15-23cm/6-9in long are lined with deep pink stars each with a white eye. The only similar variety around at the moment is 'Lisduggan Variety' which is uncomfortably vigorous and whose flowers are a rather mauvish pink; ‘Pinkins' is a lovely pure colour.

It's a versatile plant, totally hardy and very drought tolerant, and although it's best in full sun it will also thrive in partial shade.

‘Pinkins' was discovered by the former National Collection holder, Peter Lewis, amongst a batch of seedlings of a number of Campanula species. It was selected out, grown on, and assessed, and when it was found that it retained its colour and habit about fifteen years ago Peter named it for his Sealyham terrier. He passed it on to Sue Wooster of Alpine Campanulas when her collection was granted National Collection status in 2005.

Campanula poscharskyana 'Pinkins' is available from Alpine Campanulas, though as only small stocks are carried at present it is not listed on the website.
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  Peter Beales Roses is a rose nursery best known for its invaluable collection of old roses and for following in the footsteps of Graham Stuart Thomas in bringing information on old roses to a wider public.

But Peter Beales Roses also breed and introduce new roses and after some fine new introductions at Chelsea two more were introduced at the recent Hampton Court Palace Flower Show which came to a close yesterday. Both are connected to Archbishop Desmond Tutu who visited the show on Saturday to launch them..

‘Desmond Tutu' (above, click to  enlarge) is a shrub rose of modest height (1.2m/4ft high by 90cm/3ft) with classic, slender, pointed Hybrid Tea style buds which open to magenta red flowers, with white streaks on the backs. It was noticeable how little the colour faded once the flowers opened. The flowers, carried in generous clusters, mature into a rather rounded ball-like shape but, unfortunately, I detected very little scent. The Peter Beales catalogue describes it as "discreet"!

Personally, I liked ‘Leah Tutu' (named for Desmond Tutu's wife) a lot better. Pale golden buds set against bright green foliage open to flat, multi-petaled flowers in pale gold shading to old brassy gold within when the flowers are at their peak. Again, the fragrance is less than stupendous but in this case the flowers are exquisite so perhaps the lack of fragrance can be overlooked.

For three years, 10% of the combined value of sales of both these varieties will be donated to the Tutu Foundation UK which works to foster tolerance and understanding between people of different backgrounds.

Plants of both varieties will soon be available by mail order from Peter Beales Roses.
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Finally, the last of the many new heucheras (and Heuchera relations) introduced by Plantagogo at the recent Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. They had eleven new varieties on sale at the Show, all originating at Terra Nova Nurseries in Oregon (no retail sales), and this is the final trio.

Heuchera ‘Electra' is reckoned to be an improvement on the much discussed ‘Tiramisu' which first saw the light of day at Hampton Court last year. The foliage starts off bright yellow early in the season, then transforms to chartreuse in the summer and autumn and then to tawny shades in the autumn - always with bright red veins. Compared to ‘Tiramisu' it's said to be more vigorous and to hold its red veining right through the year - and it thrives in both heat and cold.

It's the long flowering season which sets Heuchera ‘Milan' apart. And the pink flowers are not only very prolific but are held on unusually short stems - so instead of the flowers being wildly separated from the foliage, they're set much closer and this makes the plant more of a complete picture. The leaves are small and silvered, with a maroon caste in cooler conditions.

Finally... Heuchera ‘Berry Smoothie'.  Bringing together a background of the cold hardy H. americana and the heat tolerant H. villosa, ‘Berry Smoothie' is really vivid. Rosy pink as the leaves open in spring, evolving into pink toned silver foliage with crimson veins for the rest of the season, the veins tend to scarlet towards the base. Dramatic and powerful, this looks to be a great new addition.

These three new heucheras were on sale at the Show last week, check the Plantagogo website for online mail order availability.

 
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Following the award to the National Dahlia Collection of the award for the best floral display at the Chelsea Flower Show, I headed for their exhibit in the Plant Heritage Marquee at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show last week to check out their new plants.

And there I found another new dahlia, raised by Jon Wheatley who also helped put together the Growing Tastes Allotment Garden which won the award for the Best Show Garden. A man of many talents...

This is a single-flowered variety reaching about 1.5m/4.5ft in height with lovely dark bronze foliage. The flowers open white, with an appealingly ragged look owing to their pointed petals with their wavy edges, then violet magenta streaks develop in the flower. This streaking becomes increasingly colourful as the flowers mature. The result is delightful.

But what's this new dahlia called? Well, as the opening of the Show approached, and passed, Jon Wheatley was still wondering what to call it. It's a cross between ‘Magenta Star' and D. tenuicaulis  and he wanted something that continued the "Star" theme - something astronomical, perhaps. ‘Galaxy' was considered, then I suggested ‘Shooting Star'. After a little thought Jon decided he liked the idea. So it was decided.

Then when I got back to the Press Tent and checked - I found there's already a dahlia called ‘Shooting Star'. So it's back to square one. As soon as a name is finally decided, I'll add a postscript here.

The new dahlia will be available from the National Dahlia Collection as soon as stocks are built up - and it has a name. 

POSTSCRIPT (17 July): This gorgeous new dahlia is now called - 'Meteor'!

 
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As well as the delightful new petunias shown by The Sun at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, they also showed verbenas.

The Sun's Steve Bradley told me that all the verbenas on show were unusually hardy, as hardy as the very tough ‘Homestead Purple' and also ‘Seabrook Lavender' which was on show here this week but launched last year. They also showed ‘Claret' and ‘Strawberry Kiss' (above, click to enlarge) - and this is where things become less simple.

Wine-coloured Verbena ‘Claret' is certainly not a new variety - Steve didn't pretend that it was - but having had its long-standing virus infection removed, the increased vigour and much improved hardiness (it survived last winter in the open garden) means that's almost the same as having a new variety.

But then there's ‘Strawberry Kiss'. This exquisite bicoloured variety (see picture, click to enlarge) is not only lovely in its combination of colours but also features the strongest scent I've ever sniffed in a verbena but a rather floppy habit of growth. Exactly like ‘Pink Parfait'. And that's the problem.

‘Pink Parfait' was introduced here by Hopleys Plants many years ago. They no longer sell it - it's become rather weak and susceptible to mildew, probably because of virus infection. ‘Pink Parfait' is a sport of an old American variety (whose name, I confess, I forget) - but I remember seeing both at the Siskiyou Rare Plant Nursery in Oregon many years ago. Like Hopleys, they no longer sell it.

So it looks to me as if ‘Strawberry Kiss' is nothing more than ‘Pink Parfait' with the virus infections removed in the laboratory - and that makes a tremendous difference. I'm delighted to see the gorgeous ‘Pink Parfait' cleaned up so that it grows more vigorously and very pleased to see it made more widely available. But why change the name? Comments anyone? If Verbena ‘Strawberry Kiss' really is different - then please tell me.

Anyway, look out for Verbena ‘Strawberry Kiss' in your local garden centre - and for Verbena ‘Pink Parfait' at these RHS Plant Finder nurseries.

 

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The 2009 Hampton Court Palace Flower Show finally finished yesterday and today the weary exhibitors, some of whom worked late into the night dismantling their exhibits, prepare to head home. And your weary correspondent sets out on his last day of reports on the new plants seen at the Show.

In the Floral Marquee, every Trachycarpus species that exists was on display from The Palm Centre and they also showed a new hybrid palm not seen before. To be honest, everyone is still a little uncertain quite what Trachycarpus ‘Naggy' is going to look like as it matures - all the plants that exist are too young to be anything like mature.

The new hybrid has T. nanus from China as the seed-bearing parent with T. wagnerianus from Japan the pollen parent. Barry Shobbrook, the Nursery Manager at The Palm Centre, told me: "We just wanted to see what would happen. The first seeds came three years ago but of course it will be many years before we how the plants will finally turn out."

Early signs are that the plants have taken on the short stature of the smallest of all these palms, T. nanus, with the short leaves of T. wagnerianus - sounds like a splendid container plant to me.

Plants of this new hybrid palm were on sale at the Show, and can also be ordered online from The Palm Centre website.

 

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Plantagogo are Heuchera specialists and are introducing eleven new varieties of Heuchera and related plants at this year's Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. Next up are two more that originate from Terra Nova Nurseries over in Oregon (no retail sales).

The leaf colour of Heuchera ‘Sugar Plum' is simply gorgeous. Brilliant silver, delightfully lobed leaves are boldly veined in charcoal grey, each vein with a pale stripe in the centre towards the base. Where the stem meets the leaf, where all the veins also come together, is a bright scarlet spot whose colouring sometimes seeps along the pale streak in the main veins.

On top of that, the young leaves have a pink caste as they open and then in summer there are silver pink flowers on stems over 60cm/2ft tall.

‘Fire Chief' is a brilliant colour, just look at that picture (click on the image to enlarge it).The young leaves are almost scarlet with a pattern of silvering between the veins and in the autumn they become a deeper wine red which, with a few slightly browner overtones, persists colourfully through the winter. The bicoloured pink and white flowers start coming in spring and keep on right till autumn.

Both these new heucheras have been on sale at the Show, check the Plantagogo website for online availability. And check out my earlier reports on their Tiarella, Heuchera and x Heucherella. Tomorrow I'll report on Plantagogo's last three new heucheras.

 
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As the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show draws to a close, many of the rarest and most interesting plants are to be found in the Plant Heritage Marquee as holders of National Collections of plants as varied as cannas and camellias show off their treasures. Barrie Clarke, whose "day job" is as propagator at the Sir Harold Hillier Arboretum in Hampshire, holds the National Rubus Collection. This year he showed the fruits of his plant hunting in China - and, in particular, two species not seen before.

Rubus pseudoacer (above, click to enlarge) looks to have the potential to be a really valuable foliage plant. As you can see from the picture, the bright green veins make an attractive pattern across the olive green leaf while the backs of the leaves are a lovely contrasting shining reddish brown. The leaves are long and pointed.

Barrie found this species in a very dark shaded gulley in Guangxi in Southern Yunnan province, and also features small white flowers followed by colourful bright orange fruits. He reports that in the garden this species prefers acid, shady and well-drained conditions but that it may not be hardy here in Britain.

The other new species Barrie has on show, never seen in Britain before, is R. reflexus var. lanceolobus has foliage reminiscent of a Rodgersia, opening with a striking bronze tint and evolving into a bright green divided leaf, the tips of each division tending to droop. The flowers are relative unobtrusive, reddish and tubular but followed by bright orange fruits. This species, from near Guilim City in China, might well be hardy.

Neither of these species is yet available to gardeners, but you can check out the National Rubus Collection website for details of the whole collection.

 
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There are lots of interesting plants, new and old, in the Growing Tastes marquee at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show including garlic and grafted vegetables. And on the Marshalls stand there was a new strawberry and new variety of rocket.

The strawberry is still grown under its reference number of ‘EM 1119' and has some great qualities. It's an extra early variety which holds its foliage more upright that in other varieties and holds its flowers above it foliage - this makes it much easier to get the straw mulch in place than is the case with other varieties. It's good on flavour and will often produce a second, rather smaller crop, later in the season.

‘EM 1119' was raised by David Simpson, who raised popular ‘Marshmello', at East Malling Research in Kent. It will replace the variety ‘May'. There's a competition running in Kitchen Garden magazine in which a reader will give this variety its name

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In the Plant Heritage Marquee at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, Water Meadow Nursery in Hampshire created an exhibit to publicise their Super Poppies and launched a new variety in the series, ‘Gentle Rosalind'.

Super Poppies look like ordinary Oriental Poppies but flower for far longer, often giving a second or even third flush of flowers, the individual flowers last for longer and the their also unusually sturdy.

Sandy Worth of Water Meadow Nursery, who also holds the National Collection of Oriental Poppies, says that these poppies originated in California thirty years ago. The botanist James DeWelt. He wanted to created poppies that would cope with the California climate so, Sandy explained that he crossed a number of different species including P. atlanticum, P. orientale, P. rupifragum and the annual species P. californicum and P. somniferum.

The result is a series of poppies which are more vigorous, longer flowering and more prolific, hardy and standing intense summer sun as well as cold winter temperatures.

Sandy is launching a new addition to the series at Hampton Court, ‘Gentle Rosalind'. "It is being named for a very special mother by her grateful children Beth Philip & Ruth for her 50th birthday," she told me.

Plants are on sale at the Show and by mail order from Water Meadow Nursery.

 
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