Clematis ‘Alba Luxurians’ | Davids Garden Diary

There are some plants in the garden that I rarely look at, much less talk about. They are just there, lurking in the background, unexciting, marking time. Then, one day, they do something which gets my attention and I take notice. This Echinops ritro is such a plant. Ugly and untidy, just spiky leaves for most of the year before a sudden explosion of colourful azure blue flower balls appear accompanied by the almost constant buzzing of honeybees.

Allium ‘Millenium’, a bargain from the forecourt at Lidl a few weeks ago, is now showing what makes her one of the best late summer flowering ornamental onions for the front of a sunny border. Another great bee favourite, and will multiply over time to make a decent clump.

As some of you will know, I am a ‘Plant Guardian’ for a number of rare or unusual plants which have either lost favour with gardeners and nurseries or were literally lost to cultivation due to war, disease or such other catastrophe. This Dahlia ‘Winston Churchill’ came to me in this year’s Plant Heritage Plant Exchange as one such plant, or tuber to be precise! It is such a pretty flower and strong grower, I am surprised it isn’t grown more. However, with thousands of alternatives on offer, it is a crowded market!

Another plant I often walk past without noticing is this pineapple lily, Eucomis bicolor, which has been in the same big pot for thirteen years and enjoys the partial shade of the corner by the side gate. I donk a bit of water and feed on it when I think about it but then feel guilty when the beautiful flower spikes appear in July and August. A record 21 this year! It does get shoved under the greenhouse staging for the winter where it stays completely dry for several months before being put out again in May when the new fat red shoots appear.

The Rudbeckia laciniata was divided and replanted earlier in the year which may explain why it is not quite so tall this summer, although it may have been the very dry June, it did flop quite a bit! Normally around 7 feet tall, it is barely 5 feet this year. Still one of my favourites though and seeds itself around a lot so I always have loads of young plantlets to share.

I have finally got a colony of Purple Honesty, Lunaria annua, to grow in my garden after years of trying to coax it in from the adjacent hedgerow. It is such a fickle plant, only growing where it likes, and it has chosen a shady spot under the Photina hedge facing north, which is just fine by me.

Finally, this is my apple tree! Now fully clothed in Clematis ‘Alba Luxurians’, the one with the rather odd white flowers splashed with green tips. In truth, it is an old and decrepit apple tree which produces tasteless fruit and is only useful to hang the bird feeders on so this was a good decision. The clematis needs a bit of a hand to get going so the trunk is wrapped in green square mesh for the petioles (leaf stems) to twist around, although the rough bark of the tree trunk and branches do offer some support. It will get chopped back to 18″ in December and I will then no doubt spend hours unpicking the dead bits out of the wire mesh! Hey ho!

Have a great weekend

David

Three guesses……no, it’s Lovage! So many herbs and vegetables have wonderful flowers, it’s a wonder more gardeners don’t grow them as ornamentals.

This is the business end, the leaves that are used to flavour soups and stews, but a bit dull compared to the flowers!

A rather odd view of Buddleia ‘Pink Delight’ reaching up to the sky to attract passing bees and butterflies. One of the better buddleias with big, fat flowers full of nectar.

Francoa sonchifolia or Bridal Wreath as it is commonly known. This one is the deeper pink of ‘Rogerson’s Form’ acquired from a Plant Heritage plant sale many years ago and, as you can see, loved by bees at this time of year. Not grown as much as it should be, it is a bombproof perennial, totally hardy and well behaved.

Despite it’s weird appearance and bizarre colour scheme, this is apparently a ‘choice’ form of clematis called ‘Alba Luxurians’ which is white with green tips or splashes. I discovered it growing up an old apple tree in the garden when we moved here 14 years ago and each year I tear it out of the tree and hack it back to the ground. It is obviously a Viticella type but I don’t see it grown in the many gardens I visit, which is either because it is unusual and hard to come by or, probably, because people don’t like it! I can’t make up my mind. I don’t think I would go out and buy it but, as it was here before we were, it deserves its place.

If there was ever a plant which divides opinion, this is it. Lysimachia cilliata ‘Firecracker’, part of the broad family of Lysimachias which cover every size, shape and colour of flower and leaf. This one, however, is probably the most ‘Marmite’ of them all due to its tendency to spread into unwanted spaces and for its unexpected bright yellow flowers aboard coppery leaves. It just doesn’t look right! The small patch I now tolerate sits beneath tall flowering daisies and sunflowers and helps to fill a gap in the border before they come into flower.

If you don’t already have it, I urge you to acquire some Ivy Leaved Toadflax, Cymbalaria muralis, which can literally be grown anywhere. I have a friend who grows it in an old watering can! It’s edible too apparently tasting like watercress, although I can’t confirm that having never tried it, nor intending to! A little joy in a pot, a gift from a friend, a cheery smile as I walk past, undemanding, unpretentious and reliable which is more than can be said for a lot of plants in my garden, and some of my friends!

Have a great weekend

David