Plant of the Year 2015

I think that it has been a difficult year, like every other year you might well say, but for us the particular difficulties have been caused first of all by the canicule in early July when the temperatures hovered around 35.C.  for at least ten days, added to which for the second half of the year there has been a serious lack of rain, only ending last night (20/21st Nov.) when we had 21 mm.Since the 16th July we have had 155 mm when on average we should have had around 290 mm, but what has been particularly hard is that since the 23rd September we have had only 21 mm. As readers of this blog will know I am not a 'believer' in global warming, and while I think about it I would like to express my anger of the sacking of Philippe Verdier from his post of chief meteo man with France 2 who was brave enough to raise awkward questions on the subject in his book, 'Climat Investigation'. In my defence I can point out that here at least 2013 was exceptionally wet, and last year the rainfall was above average.  But if in my view the end of the world is not yet with us, what I cannot deny is the fact that for the second half of this year we have been very, very dry.

It is too early to say that as a result we have lost plants. I have been trying to water anything planted in the last two years which in a biggish garden is quite a taxing exercise. Nevertheless somethings have looked very depressed, but only Spring will tell whether they have survived. Almost certainly all the roses have survived, but they have suffered, Amongst the worst sufferers has been Bardou Job chosen by me last year as 'the most beautiful rose in the world'. Sadly I can no longer justify this award, not that I have changed my mind about the beauty of the flower, but if the plant itself looks miserable its beauty does not really compensate. Of course there is this problem with so many roses, especially perhaps with the hybrid teas - beautiful flowers but an ugly bush, especially in winter when there are no leaves to hide the gawky stems. Those roses that have best survived the drought would include most of the old favourites. I have hybrid musks still in flower and looking reasonably well - Buff Beauty, Cornelia, Penelope (and what a doer she is), and Vanity. Some of the David Austins appear to flourish in heat. Here we have Crown Princess Margereta, Jude the Obscure and Pat Austin that have continued to flower well this autumn. On the other hand I am about to remove William Shakespeare 2000 - exquisite flowers but always looking a bit sick, though this in wet as well as dry years. My Chinas and Teas are all still a bit new to give a fair assessment but those that have survived the drought best would include Mrs B.R. Cant, General Schablikine, Le Vésuve and Archiduc Joseph. My favourite rose in 2015 has been Perle d'Or, which Beales call a China, but Becky and John Hook a Polyantha, so I guess that it is the latter. It is a very old favourite from my English gardening days but one which I have been slow to find in France. To quote Quest-Ritson 'its flowers open from small,elegant, vermilion buds and are deep apricot-pink at first, paling to mother-of-pearl from the outside'. Here despite the lack of rain it has flowered almost continuously and there has been plenty of new growth, all of which makes it a candidate for 'Plant of the Year', but it is not in fact the winner.

Neither is the winner a Euphorbia, though almost all seem to have flourished this summer, but then they seem to flourish in almost any weather conditions, except perhaps in a prolonged cold spell. I for instance have lost E.mellifera due to cold. This is sad since it is a very statuesque plant whose flowers do smell of honey, and I shall no doubt try again. I have also grown from seed E.stygiana another imposing plant much featured in the Oxford Botanical Gardens. Plants have survived last winter but then it was not a particularly cold one.  Many of you will grow E. wulfeni, or perhaps this should be E.characias subsp. wulfeni. of which there are many hybrids such as 'John Tomlinson' and 'Lambrook  Gold'. All in my view are good. One criticism might be that they tend to self-seed a little too freely. Another is that in high summer the flowering stems look ugly and need to be cut down. This does not seem to apply to my current favourite, E.Copton Ash. This is imposing in a rather different way to the above forming a large bush well over a meter in diameter, which seems to be almost permanently in flower, or if they have faded, they fade with a certain elegance, and there seems to be no need to cut anything down.

E. Copton Ash was very nearly this years winner, as indeed if the rules had permitted, was last years winner, Erigeron annuus. Two American ladies visited the garden this summer and were a little surprised to see what they consider to be a weed, under the common name of Eastern Daisy Fleabane. Despite this put down - and after all I gather that in Australia the agapanthus is considered to be a weed -  I still rate it very highly. It really does flower all summer, and just when you think it is beginning to look shabby and needs to be cut down it seems to perk up, so it really needs no looking after. True, it does seed itself around, but like the euphorbia mentioned above the new seedlings are very easy to remove, which merely confirms the general rule, that the dangerous 'weeds' are those that spread themselves by underground, or indeed overground roots, such as the dreaded bindweed and ground elder.

So in the end the prize goes to a plant that I used to call, but could never pronounce, Zauschneria, and on looking at various books and catalogues, I see that it can still sometimes be called that, so that I have suddenly become rather confused. I think that I grow two varieties. One is what I call the bog standard, which could be named Epilobium canum subsp. angustifolia, or perhaps just 'canum'. Its common name is Californian Fuchsia, which gives you some idea of the colour and form if you think F. magellanica, i.e. the small flowered hardy fuchsia. More simply it has orange to scarlet flowers on long stems during late summer. It is a perfectly good plant if you do not mind the orange, and its tendancy to droop, this because of its height which can be as much as 80cms. The variety I prefer, and which I am almost certain is E.canum Western Hills is in my view is slightly more scarlet than orange, not so tall so does not droop, has greyer and more attractive foliage, and flowers for a longer period. Mine, if it is indeed 'Western Hills', has been in flower from early July until now, that is to say mid-November. It has been the saviour of our otherwise rather worrying Gravel Garden, of which more another time, and it is because of this I am delighted to name it plant of the year 2015 - even if I have got the name wrong!