Corrections!

For some years now I have been in love with a winter/early spring flowering buddleya: strong purple panicles that droop - 'lax panicles' might be a more elegant way of putting it - in what I find is a very attractive way, this on a bush with grey foliage which looks good all the year round. The only problem is that I have been calling it B. officinalis Vicomte de Noailles, when I am now fairly certain it is in fact B. x Bel Argent, this after having seen some photos of the latter. It was certainly acquired from Le Jardin de Rochevielle where you will find both buddleyas. Moreover both shrubs have a special relationship to that nursery: 'Vicomte de Noailles' was discovered by the owners, Jean-François Giraud and Dominque Permingeat, in the famous garden of the Villa Noailles, while Bel Argent is their own creation, an offspring of B. farreri and B.davidii.  So I do not feel too bad about it. Nevertheless I do want to apoligize for misleading people, but on the other hand it does provide me with an opportunity to encourage people to buy the plant, for it really is a lovely addition to any garden.

My second correction, or rather apology concerns a rather slighting comment I recently wrote about a book by Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsbury entitled 'Planting; a New Perspective', the text of which I had found rather boring. I do not feel any need to change that judgment, but on the other hand what I would now like to recommend is another book, 'Dream Plants for the Natural Garden', one of whose authors is again Piet Oudolf, while there is an introduction by Noel Kingsbury, who has for a very long time been Oudolf's great advocate in England. . But as regards 'Dream Plants' there is a co-author, Henk Gerritsen, and may be it he who has made the difference, for the book is not at all boring. It consists mainly of a list of non-woody plants - the brief chapter on 'Tough Shrubs' is the least satisfactory, while bulbs are also included. There are three sections: 'Tough', 'Playful', and 'Troublesome'. If one then look at the subheadings of, for instance 'Part 3, Troublesome', one finds 'Invasive plants', 'Capricious plants', 'Staking', Demanding plants' and finally 'Failing the test', which I hope gives you the flavour of the book and the reason why I like it. It is personal and judgmental. This could annoy, especially when one disagrees, but given the knowledge and experience of the two authors this is neither here nor there: what they have to say has to be worth hearing.  Curiously, since they have almost opposed views about what makes a good garden, their approach rather reminds me of Christopher Lloyd's garden writing; none of them afraid of calling a spade a spade, or rather a bad plant a bad plant.

And I do disagree quite often, or sometimes I think that they are just wrong. For instance writing about Hydrangea quercifolia in the 'Tough shrubs' chapter they state that "it only grows well in moisture-retentive acid soil", when for us with no acid soil and summers that can dry out even the most retentive soil it is our most reliable hydrangea. In their last section 'Failing the test' there are thirteen entries of which one is for 'Gaura lindheimeri 'Whirling Butterflies', about which they write that it is "a wonderful gap filler, but you have to buy a new batch every year". Well, ours have so far lasted eight years and have increased mightily, but then perhaps I should have already mentioned: both the writers are Dutch and it seems to me that the book is chiefly directed to a North European audience, which does not stop it being enormous fun, and I for one will always consult it before buying herbaceaous plants.