Plant of the Year 2016

But first a correction. In the equivalent blog for 2015 I strongly recommended Euphorbia Copton Ash. Now I am pretty certain that I should have written E. ceratocarpa. E. Copton Ash has much greyer foliage than my plant and is not nearly so imposing - mine was was almost 1 m. high by 1m wide - and I say 'was' because this summer it rather let me down . Much of it became woody and had to be cut back, this only in its second year. A section of it, which seems to have been a layer, remains and is beginning to make an impact, but nothing like it was in its first year. Renée Boy Faget grows it in her garden - Le Jardin d'Entêoulet - not all that far from here (see an earlier blog), and for her it appears to self seed; not alas here. She also writes that her first plant was a cutting from a friend. I have never thought of making cuttings from euphorbias: E.characias wulfeni is so generous with its seedlings, and anyway I would have thought that the milky excretion would have made cuttings difficult, but I am certainly going to try with what is left of my plant.

In my view all euphorbias are good news but not quite good enough to win this prestigous prize! The same  might be said of the humble rue usually seen in the garden in its form Ruta graevolens 'Jackman's Blue'. I have grown this in previous gardens without being too excited by it, but it does have quite pretty smallish, almost clover like leaves which are persistent, making a small bush with smallish yellow flowers. When visiting two years ago the 'medieval garden' in Uzes I was very attracted by a largish shrub which I did not immediately recognize as a rue, but it turned out to be Ruta chalepensis, though it was on sale as Rue d'Alep. In English it is apparently called Fringed Rue. On close inspection it is not unlike 'Jackman's Blue - the leaf is more or less the same colour blue, and the smell is equally as strong which one may or may not appreciate - but to my eye at any rate it is a much prettier shrub, and one growing to about 80cms. Though I believe it is North African in origin my two plants appear to have survived our recent cold spell.

During 2016 I renewed my love of a fairly ordinary herbaceous plant, Achillea Moonshine. In size it is half way between the A fillpendulinas at around about a meter high, of which in my view A.fill. Parker's Variety is the most long lived, and the much shorter A. millefoliums, much hybridized in recent years with names such a A.m.Cerise Queen and Paprika, which are round about 50cms. These latter should be one of the glories of a Gascony garden, and no doubt in some gardens they are. Here, however, they appear to dislike our wettish Springs since I have failed with them completely in the so-called Gravel Garden. Achillea Moonshine is a slightly taller, or at any rate a slightly more solid plant than the millefoliums and the combination of a very luminous yellow and feathery silver leaves is very attractive. It is not in my experience very long lived but cuttings can be made quite easily and I strongly reommend it.

However my plant of the year is in fact a bulb. Tulbaghia violacea is a member of the Allium/onion family which any bruising of its leaves will quickly tell you. From a clumb of narrow grey green leaves, the pale lilac flowers grow to about 40cms, and one of the plants chief attractions is that the flowers appear throughout the summer. It has to be said that the plant lacks what might be called a Gosh factor, but over the years I have come to appreciate it more and more. It is said to self seed but so far not obviously with us. On the other hand the clumps can easily be separated to create more. There exists a variety with a silver edging to its foliage. It is said to be a little less resistant to frost, though it has survived here this winter, but I am not sure that the siver edge, and hence the name, T.Silver Lace', adds a great deal to the plant as to my eye it is not very noticeable. Smaller but very pretty is, I think, T.cominsii, which along with the others mentioned can be found at my favourite garden, La Corsiana