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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2006 13:50:17 GMT
Hi all,
looking around the garden just now, I realised that it's often the unspectacular plants that really earn their keep. Alchemilla mollis, with lovely foliage and months of flowers. Wild pansies which simply arrived, and happily flower under a fatsia where nothing else will. Alyssum which self-seeded from last year, and has popped up in cracks along the patio (incidentally concealing a wonky paving job), flowering for ages. What plants really earn their keep in your garden? ... cheers ...
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Post by 4pygmies on Sept 6, 2006 13:56:22 GMT
That's a good question, and like you say, it's often the ones you don't especially notice or which self seed. Verbena bonariensis always look lovely and lasts for ages, hardy geraniums ditto, OxEye Daisies are beautiful and will flower twice in the same season, and I do love my Cow Parsley. It's so lovely when in full bloom. And in the veggie garden I've really enjoyed growing climbing French beans this year - lovely foliage, glorious deep purple pods and edible. You can't ask for much more from a plant.
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Post by Plocket on Sept 6, 2006 16:15:11 GMT
Funny you should mention Verbena bonariensis 4P because I love it too, and hardy geraniums. I've recently got hold of a tiny purple Cow Parsley which I hope will survive the slugs and winter for next year. Another of my faves would be Thalictrum Delavayi - it just pops up each year and produces a cloud of minute purple flowers. I think though that my top plant in this category would be hellebores. Their subtle flowers are so lovely in winter/spring and their leaves are always there as interesting foliage when many other things are in flower or dormant. They get my vote!
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Post by toonia on Sept 6, 2006 16:37:29 GMT
Anything which self seeds! I add another vote for verbena bonariensis, mine was slow starting this year but is now in full flower.
I also agree with alchemilla mollis, especialy early in the season. My grasses, the only plant still there in winter, lovely flowers and seedheads and usually gorgeous autumn colour too.
Nigella, cornflowers, toonias, of course, godetia, antirrhinums..it's strange that a lot of them are the real old fashioned cottage garden favourites!
Oh, and lavender!
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Post by 4pygmies on Sept 6, 2006 17:53:31 GMT
I have a very badly laid patio (I laid it!) and Verbena bonariensis has seeded all over it this year. It's completely useless as a seating area but it looks real purty at the moment with all the Verbena in flower.
I covet that purple Cow Parsley you have, Plocket, but I have the vulgar stuff everywhere and I wonder if it would cross pollinate (I'm not a botanist!). It's a real beauty, isn't it?
And they are all quite old fashioned plants aren't they? What goes round, comes round. I forgot to put a word in earlier for my favourite - bronze Fennel. So lovely in Spring in the sunshine...
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Post by Plocket on Sept 6, 2006 18:08:01 GMT
Hia 4P! And VB is very easy to propagate by taking cuttings - about this time of year! As for the cow parsley - don't covet it yet - there's only two leaves!!! I have been warned that it will cross pollinate and revert to bog standard cow parsley though. Contact me in a year or so to see if mine has settled in, and I'll let you have a seedling or some seeds!!!  Funny but I've got bronze fennel too - growing with my VB in one spot - they look so lovely togther. But boy does it self seed!!!!! |
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Post by jlottie on Sept 6, 2006 18:18:46 GMT
My vote goes to honeysuckle, cover for a shed, beautiful flowers and evening scent, the insects love it and berries for the birds in autumn.
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Post by sweetleaf on Sept 6, 2006 18:43:33 GMT
Sedums, which grow in the most inhospitable soil and provide food for insects at a time of the year when everything else seems to have given up the ghost, and the variegated yellow box hedge that lights up the garden on dull winter days, then there are primulas which return year on year and allysum, which is very good at hiding failures and the bare patches they leave.
;D
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Post by Plocket on Sept 6, 2006 20:15:34 GMT
Funny but I've never been a fan of sedums, until I was really really bad and pinched a small tip from a plant at a garden I visited last year. I nurtured this purple baby and it's now doing really well in my garden and I love it. I do also love primulas (and I'm glad they love my garden too).
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2006 20:42:29 GMT
Hi
I had a donker of a small, pink dicentra that I've never seen before, given to me by a friend and it's flowered and flowered all summer. Pretty foliage too.
I'll never be without an amelanchier as they have interest from March to October. Also, my tiarella have been brill over a very long period this year.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2006 2:46:37 GMT
Verbena Bonariensis, definitely. This is only my second year with it and it's wonderful. I don't care where it self seeds, it seems to fit in everywhere. Bizzie Lizzies never seem to leave the garden, either. I have lots of little seedlings from last year's plants that are up and doing all over the place. The French lavender is also doing well - it was never a favourite of mine, but having got one I have to admire it's tenacity and ability to keep on flowering. The bees like it, too. And, now I think of it, the Echinacea, which has kept it's flower heads for so long I'm almost wondering whether it is actually made of plastic...
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Post by Jonah on Sept 7, 2006 23:21:28 GMT
Love it or loathe it I have to give my vote to my Buddleia Davidii Harlequin. Lightly variagated foliage all year, height in the middle of a curved border, long going flower display,puts up with anything the weather throws at it, and rewards me with beautiful commas, red admirals, peacocks and tortoiseshells flitting about the garden and alive with red and yellow ladybirds sunbathing on its stems. I love it  |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2006 16:17:33 GMT
Shrubs: Viburnum carlessii - glorious scent in the early spring and amazing colour in the autumn.
Myrtus communis - Smothered in flowers from August to November.
Perennials: Rudbeckia Goldsturm and Echinacea (can't remember which one though - it was a new one last year) They both just flower for months on end.
Bulbs: Some of the species tulips they flower for weeks on end, no matter what the weather.
Gladiolus tristis - the most amazing scent amd proving to be pretty hardy too.
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Post by Chuckles on Dec 8, 2006 22:01:29 GMT
For me this year it has to be Clems and Roses they really have given a lovely show this year.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2006 6:18:59 GMT
It just goes to show that you should read the dates on these messages before you start. (Or pay more attention, possibly). I was working my way down the thread thinking such things as I was obviously in a frost pocket as my Verbena Bonariensis had died off long ago when it suddenly all started to sound familiar. Then I found a message I'd put on it and realised that BusyBee had resurrected the subject from way back in September!
I could also say that the Osteospermum plants I put in to fill the odd gaps in Spring have more than earned their keep. They are still flowering and are far too big and sprawling, but I shall leave them till next spring before sorting them out.
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Post by andy on Dec 9, 2006 7:25:34 GMT
I have a particular favourite climber.....Trachelospermum jasminoides which is reletively slow growing, evergreen and bears clusters of exquisitely scented flowers almost all summer. I actually had to cut mine back by about 10" this summer for the first time in 10 years.
I'd also like to sing the praises of the humble night scented stock. Those balmay warm summer evenings seem a million miles away at the moment but sitting outside, by the koi pond with a few mates and a few beers with the smell of the stocks is simply gorgeous.
Roll on summer
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Post by Weeterrier on Mar 23, 2008 14:02:32 GMT
As a lover of most things perennial, and with a garden which is very nearly devoted entirely to them, I thought I'd start a little section making suggestions for those who perhaps haven't tried many of them before. Looking out at the not-just-so-bare earth this morning from the kitchen, I could see the bright green leaves of Galega officinalis emerging. Common name, Goat's Rue. A wild flower, it is described in Chiltern's catalogue thus:- Introduced from Southern Europe and found by roadsides and waste ground mainly in the South of England. A vigorous plant forming bright green leafy clumps of pinnate foliage and bearing in Summer and early Autumn long-stalked clusters of numerous pale lilac pea-like flowers. 2-5 feet. A white form is available. I don't think this would make me buy it, but I bought a plant years ago at at the Great Eastern Showground, as a herb in a small pot, so I was surprised and delighted at what it grew into. Then I came across it growing in Marjory Fish's garden, grown through obelisks at regular intervals. It does need support, because mine always grows to at least 4 feet, and sometimes more. It is easily grown from seed, lasts a good few years before it becomes woody, and it is one of my favourites I see in this year's catalogue, that the white form has an RHS Award of Garden Merit I mustn't have taken a photo of the lilac one last year, but here is a flowerhead of the white form.  If you like the look of Wisteria, and don't have the space, or the patience, you could get a similar effect with this lovely plant. I have grown it in heavy clay and in lighter soils, so I reckon it could be grown just about anywhere. |
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Post by Jonah on Mar 23, 2008 14:34:46 GMT
That white one looks gorgeous WT. I grew the lilac one from seed last year, and it has kept a few leaves all winter. I fear it may be rather vigourous in my sheltered garden in the SE, but I think it's lovely too. Here's mine:  Looks a bit pink in the pic, but is definitely lilac. Off to have a think about some other favourites now. |
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Post by Weeterrier on Mar 23, 2008 14:59:06 GMT
If it were pink and lilac like that, it would be even lovelier. You could register it as Galega 'Jonahii' ;D Your photo shows its habit better than mine does.
Glad you like it too.
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Post by Rosefriend on Mar 23, 2008 15:31:41 GMT
I think that they are both gorgeous - it is a new one for me and I normally only have perennials in the gardens , except for the tubs. I have just goggled the German side and I have never heard of the names here either.
Where can you buy the seeds from - or are they from specialist places?
RF
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Post by Jonah on Mar 23, 2008 16:04:42 GMT
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Post by Plocket on Mar 23, 2008 16:30:00 GMT
They are very pretty WeeT but I'm wary of them taking over my little garden.
I think one of the best perennials you can have is a hardy geranium - they are so useful, pretty and easy to grow! I also think hellebores are good too because they provide winter flowers which many gardens lack.
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Post by Amo on Mar 23, 2008 16:32:20 GMT
Goats Rue is on my list to get for the new white bed around OH's bench. It looks gorgeous and I'm glad it has the Wee stamp of approval!! I will hunt it out now  |
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Post by Weeterrier on Mar 23, 2008 17:06:57 GMT
Available from Chiltern seeds About £1.70 They can be ordered online. Plocket, although tall, they are quite narrow, especially if grown through an obelisk. And I have never had them self-seed. And I agree, Geraniums cannot be beaten. |
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Post by Plocket on Mar 23, 2008 17:11:26 GMT
Mmmm - all my obelisks are for clematis! ;D
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Post by Weeterrier on Mar 23, 2008 21:19:23 GMT
Really Plocket, now, why would that be.  Actually, so are mine. ;D How many Clems do you have? |
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Post by Plocket on Mar 23, 2008 22:06:37 GMT
Erm... I'm not exactly sure but off the top of my head I've got about 60 |
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Post by Barbara on Mar 24, 2008 14:02:32 GMT
i love my japanese anemonies, they are so reliable, and pretty, i love the look of your white goats rue, i might have a go at that one. |
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Post by Weeterrier on Mar 24, 2008 15:30:48 GMT
I have no success with Japanese anemones. They grow, but quite pathetically. However, one of the gardens that I tend, grows them like weeds. She has heavier soil than I have. They are so pretty  The white one is my favourite. |
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Post by Plocket on Mar 24, 2008 15:49:16 GMT
I dug my Japanese Anemone out a couple of years ago, and it took me a while to get all the rampant little bits out that were trying to re-grow. Hopefully I'm rid of it this year. Don't get me wrong they are really pretty plants, but far too rampant for my tiny garden. Besides I needed the space for a couple of clematis ;D
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Actually, so are mine. ;D
The white one is my favourite.