Flowers

Mar 14 2009

Sweet Violets

From late February to May in shade at the edges of woodland or in hedgerows we can find clumps of sweet violet (viola odorata).

Viola Odorata Alba on the edge of North Cumbrian Woodland

This is our native British plant, usually appearing with flowers of deep to pale lilac to the more rare white.

Leaves are heart shaped and bright green, forming a carpet of ground cover with delicate flowers nodding on short, hairy, pale green stems. The flower has a beautiful and unmistakable perfume, once prized by the Victorians and was the flower of Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love.

Historically, the Sweet Violet has a long tradition of uses, including many medicinal applications. Crushed sweet violets were often strewn on cottage and church floors to mask odours.

The Native Sweet Violet can easily be grown in our gardens, as long as it is given a shaded or semi shaded area with good soil, it can thrive and self seed quite happily.

Seed and plants can be obtained from specialist nurseries such as the Devon Violet Nursery. and Grove Nurseries in West Dorset, where the National collection of Sweet Violets can be found.

Mar 11 2009

The Foxglove

The Foxgolve ( Digitalis pupurea) is a native plant of Europe and used to be found growing in many British hedgerows.

Plate Drawing of Digitalis Purpurea by Koehler

Its botanical name means “finger-like” and refers to the easy ability to place an open flower over your finger, just like a thimble.

Tubular flowers are produced along a tall stem and depending of the species, vary from purple to pink, white, and yellow. Of course the best known species in the UK is the Common Foxglove or Digitalis purpurea.

Wild foxgloves are biennial, This means that they take two years to develop from seed to flower. The first year of growth produces a rosette of long basal leaves.

In the second year, the tall stem appears, thrusting the flower buds sometimes as high as 1.5 metres tall. The delicate pale pink buds open to reveal darker pink to purple flowers with speckled throats. These flowers surround the top third of the stem.

Foxgloves are loved by Bees and used to grow wild in hedgerows and waste ground in the UK. They are still to be found but not in such profusion.

The entire plant is very poisonous from the roots to the seeds and should never be picked or handled without the correct gloves and knowledge.

A long history of medicinal use surrounds the Foxglove and they are still used to this day to produce a heart medication called “Digitalin”.

Cottage garden designs invariably include foxgloves but instead of the native biennial foxglove which self seed so easily they can become a real weed, there is now a wide range of hybrid varieties including a perennial version which flowers every year.

The Digitalis Camelot trio from Thompson & Morgan is the first ever F1 Hybrid Foxglove.

Grows reliably in our UK gardens and becuase it’s and F1 hybrid, it does not self seed and take over the garden.

Worth remembering though, is the fact that Honey and Bumble bees require the native variety for its pollen and nectar. So if you have room and want to grow foxgloves, make sure you plant some of our native Digitalis Purpurea.

Nov 22 2008

Looking for Dianthus

English Heritage are asking all gardeners to look out for original carnations (Dianthus), commonly known as “Pinks”

Original species have a feathered edge to the petals and have a distinctive “clove like” perfume. The flowers are usually single or double but do not form the large pom pom type heads we associate with commercial grown carnations.

Their striking petal colours, vary from palest pink to dark burgundy, some with intricate bold markings.

Dianthus introduced into the UK during the 16th century could be hiding in gardens all over the country and are required for the restoration of the Elizabethan gardens at Kenilworth Castle which is to feature in a four part BBC series to be shown in 2009 on BBC2.

If you think you may have a heritage dianthus, contact English Heritage on 0870 333 1181 or e.mail customers@english-heritage.org.uk.

The British National Carnation Society are also creating a database of all carnation varieties.

Again, to ascertain if any “long lost” varieties are hiding in our gardens and to create an overall picture of Dianthus growing in the UK.

The RHS is the International Registration Authority for Dianthus, including all types of carnations and pinks. A list of cultivar names was published in The International Dianthus Register, and it is kept up-to-date with regular supplements. As well as names, these publications include wherever possible a brief description, parentage, date of raising and classification for each cultivar. These publications are available from the mail order department of RHS Enterprises at Wisley.

Nov 06 2008

Suppliers of old varieties

Here you will find a few commercial suppliers of old varieties of fruit, vegetables and flowers.

Edwin Tucker & Sons Ltd, Devon (seeds and seed potatoes) Tel: 01364 652233

Chiltern Seeds – Fresh seeds of around 4,500 species and varieties, many rare and unusual, and including almost 200 brand new items and more than 150 reintroductions for 2010. Tel: +44 (0) 1229 581137

Organic Gardening Catalogue, Surrey (organically grown, sundries, discount for Garden Organic and RHS members)

Thomas Etty, Somerset (heritage seedsman and bulb merchant) Tel: 01460 298249

Walcot Organic Nursery – Growers of well priced, sustainably produced traditional and modern fruit tree varieties.

If you would like to be listed then please let us know via the form below.

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Jul 12 2008

The Sweet Pea

This is the time of year that many gardener’s are daily gathering bunches of these delightfully fragrant flowers.

An old favourite and mainstay of british gardens for generations, this flower now comes in a huge array of varieties with large colourful blooms and glorious perfume but where did it originate?

Earliest documentation suggests that the plant originates from Sicily in southern Italy and was sent to England in 1699 by a Sicilian Monk, Fransicus Cupani to a Dr. Robert Uvedale, a schoolmaster in Enfield.

Throughout the 18th Century, the original purple/maroon bicolour sported several mutations with even a pink/white being documented around 1730.

At this time, the flowers were produced two to a stem, with the stems being shorter and the flowers smaller than the hybrids we see today.

The 19th century saw the first grandiflora strain, bred by Henry Eckford in Shropshire.

These grew in a much wider variety of colours and with much larger flowers but still retaining the unmistakable perfume of the original.

The work of Henry Eckford gave rise to the whole range of ‘Spencer’ sweet peas, so named from an original sport grown on the Earl Spencer’s estate at Althorp in 1899, the ‘Countess Spencer’.

(The Andrew Cavendish Spencer Variety sweet pea, courtesy of Roger Parsons Sweet Peas)

From this date on, much work has gone into the breeding of sweet peas to create long stems for cutting with clusters of large blooms from the purest white through to the darkest velvety purple, bearing the names of well known people such as Norman Wisdom, Monty Don and Terry Wogan.

My grandmother grew sweet peas religiously every year for as long as I can remember and I always try to grow plenty to provide a constant supply for the house.

This year I obtained some seed from the ‘Cupani’ variety and it has not disappointed.

As expected it is smaller in flower size bearing only two blooms to each stem, with stem length being only about 15 – 20cm it is suitable for smaller arrangements.

The colour is an exquisite maroon/purple bicolour and packs a perfume punch far in excess of its stature.

For any sweet pea grower, the original ‘Cupani’ is a must, every single seed germinated without scarification or pre-soaking and the plants themselves grew vigorously without problem.

If you want to find out more about the sweet pea, a great site to visit is Roger Parsons Sweet Peas, where a more detailed history exists courtesy of the extensive research of Roger Parsons, well known among sweet pea growers as a Trustee and Membership Secretary of the National Sweet Pea Society.

He is a former Chairman of the NSPS/Royal Horticultural Society Joint Trials Committee. Roger’s particular interests include the history and development of the sweet pea, other Lathyrus species and the raising of new varieties.

He is available outside the growing season to give illustrated talks to all levels of interest.

Picture above from Roger’s web site proudly displaying some of his beauties.