Saturday 21 October 2017

Unsung Heroes

I am not sure that the Gaura is entirely 'unsung', since it has become quite a popular plant, but what I have in mind is the fact that one gaura on its own is not going to make much of an impact, in fact you might not even see it - it is rather spindly plant with smallish white, pink and now even red flowers. However en masse or as a background to other more glamorous plants it is attractive. Moreover it seems to like our climate, enjoying our hot, often dry summers, and perhaps more surprisingly our wet springs. You can now buy them in all sorts of shapes and sizes with such names as Cherry Brandy, Siskiyou Pink and Whirling Butterflies,but actually I prefer the bog standard G. lindheimeri: I am not against the pink or red but what I am not so keen on is what I think the catalogues call 'compact', not to say squat, since for me the whole point of the plant is its airiness.

One disadvantage of the gaura is that, like say the cistus, by the end of its day it loses its petals, so what in the morning was a haze of white or pink, is no longer. This is not the case with the plant I have, as mentioned in these blogs, fallen in love with, Erigeron annuus, or Eastern daisy fleabane. Like the gaura, this is not a 'gosh factor' plant,indeed in the USA where it hails from,it is often considered a weed, but it performs the same role as the gaura in providing a lovely in its case, only white background to other plants, but with the great advantage that it does not lose its petals on a daily basis. After a long dry spell it can look a little tatty, but a bit of deadheading will soon get them going again, so that one has flowers really from June to November, which cannot be bad news.

Both the above plants perform the same role as the now more famous Verbena bonariensis in providing an attractive background to other plants over a long season. My only problem is that I cannot grow it, or rather it will not stay the course with me. In fact it is never a long lived plant, but when happy will self-seed in some quantity, which is what one wants. I guess the reason for my failure is our wet Springs and lack of drainage, but where you can grow it it is a very useful plant, and famously much enjoyed by butterflies and other insects.

A modest plant family that I used to rather look down on is Amsonia. There are various varieties on the market all I think hailing from North America. They are of medium height with some might say rather wishy-washy light blue flowers, but for me there are three good reasons for having them in one's garden. They do not require staking. Their foliage remains attractive after flowering. In the Autumn this foliage goes a very attractive yellow. Incidentally Rhazya orientalis is very similar and  I see that Piet Oudulf calls it Amsonia orientalis, as indeed does my now very out-of-date RHS Plant Finder, though I should perhaps add that it does not hail from across the Atlantic..

Finally the Sedums which I believe are in the process of having a name change, since some of them should now be called hylotelephium. Here I will stick to sedum and will not consider the low growing varieties, of which there are very many. These could certainly be called 'unsung heroes' but the reason I am leaving them out is that to my shame I have had very little success with them, even with an old favourite, S.sieboldi, yet again the problem, or perhaps the excuse, being winter wet and poor drainage. The taller varieties - 40-60cms - flourish, with the exception of S.Mr.Goodbud . This is a  recent variety that I bought from Le Jardin de Taurignan which incidentally has a very good selection, and allowed it to die, on this occasion the fault being entirely mine. I will certainly try it again for it has all the qualities that I admire in this family. It comes into its own in the second half the year when other plants may begin to look tired, and puts up well with our secheresse. It does not need staking, and en principe looks after itself. Bees and butterflies enjoy it. Above all it has a certain presence which shows up well amongst the grasses and rather frothy perennials such as asters which also come into the own in the Autumn. Some of you may have already got S. Matrona, which it is similar to,  though the flower heads are more impressive, one catalogue suggesting that they resemble a cauliflower, which may or may not warm them to you.

When I started gardening in England, now many years ago, the common varieties were S.Autumn Joy/Herbsfreude and S. spectabile Brilliant and both are still readily available and worth having. In recent years there has been a spate of varieties with purple leaves and flowers with names such as S. Chocolate Drop and S. Purple Emperor, but in this range the one that I like most is S. Jose Aubergine, whose name says it all both as regards its colour and the slightly shiny, almost florescent, appearance of its foliage. This  I bought from my favourite nurseryman, Bernard Lacrouts, though it seems sadly that he no longer supplies it. But all these sedums are worth considering. They may not get into one's 'Top Ten' but they provide a lot of pleasure over a long period.