Melilotus officinalis

Rather a long gap between blogs, but the Silly Season is upon us, and I have been doing rather more cooking than gardening. Meanwhile the rain has continued to my great relief but to the despair of those who are staying here. Still currently I am quite pleased with the garden, which makes a change. All the dahlias and cannas are doing their stuff à la Christopher Lloyd's exotic garden. There are also gauras and grasses, the latter just beginning to make an impression. Readers of this blog will know that I am a late convert to the grass, and still do not think that they are the answer to everything, one of the problems being that for the first half of the year they do not contribute very much.

But what about Melilotus officinalis, otherwise called the Ribbed Melilot, and any help on the pronounciation of Melilot gratefully received. Slightly to my surprise it does appear in my plantfinder, now it has to be said seven years out of date, to my surprise because for most people it will be considered a weed. Here it has appeared spontaneously, which I hope is the correct term, but if not what I am saying is that it has appeared without any aid for me. On the other hand increasingly I have not been pulling it out, and I am now quite clear that it is a very useful garden plant. It is classified 'leguminosae' which means that it is related in some degree to the sweet pea family. I would not want to put it in the same class, and it is not a climber. Instead what you get is an annual with pea/clover/vetch like leaves with long,arching, stems covered in early summer in yellow flowers. It reminds me a little of Linaria dalmatica, a toadflax that I have grown in most of the gardens I have been associated with. The latter is more upright in growth, which is not necessarily in it favour, nor does it in my experience resist the secheresse as well, but both in my mind are useful plants. As regards the Melilot the difficulty is in recognizing it at an early stage, and I fear I have no easy answer. It is just a question of experience. This year for the first time a white flowering Melilot (M.albus) has appeared, in my view not as effective, but certainly I have not pulled it out.

Finally do not forget, in my mind the most attractive garden in the Gers, La Coursiana at La Romieu. I last visted it a fortnight ago, and even in what one might call 'between seasons', with the first flush of roses well over and the autumn flowers not yet in evidence, it was looking splendid, one feature being the marvellous display of hollyhocks, which made me think that I must plant many more here.