Great Plants this Month Archives

Serratula tinctoria var. seoanei

25 October 2019October 31, 2019the3growbags3 Comments

It is often said of plants: ‘should be more widely used’, or ‘not often seen in gardens’, and I am pretty sure I know why you could say that of my choice today. It is at its peak in October, and often into November, so it’s not going to make many sales in nurseries and even less in garden centres, because the plant buying public, if they do make a trip to either, are turning their thoughts to buying spring bulbs or (I daren’t even mention the ‘c’ word), to the forthcoming festive season! So, this late flowering, hardy member...

Calamagrostis brachytricha AGM – Korean feather reed grass

11 October 2019October 11, 2019the3growbagsLeave a comment

It’s time for another grass! This year, despite having had our first frost a couple of weeks ago, October is brimming with subtle colour; in the early morning the plants are lightly shrouded in dew, often covered in cobwebs, and the grasses stand effortlessly among them all, unifying the picture. Although they have been on the gardening scene for a long time now, grasses are still quite a daunting prospect when it comes to making the right choice and it’s well worth doing your homework. Some, once they get their toes stuck in, are quite a battle to remove...

Erigeron karvinskianus AGM – Mexican fleabane

27 September 2019September 27, 2019the3growbagsLeave a comment

Everyone loves a daisy, but for me, this is the sweetest of them all. This has been such a wet week for most of us, and a few of the taller daisies in our garden (leucanthemum, rudbeckia, asters etc) are looking a little bedraggled, whereas the Mexican fleabane always looks cheerful! Apologies to those who know it well, (however you will understand why I have chosen it) but I am constantly amazed by friends and visitors to our garden who have never come across this erigeron. I first saw it at Great Dixter many years ago, swiftly obtained our...

Succisa pratensis – Devil’s Bit Scabious

13 September 2019September 13, 2019the3growbagsLeave a comment

Wikipedia’s answer to the question ‘What is a wildflower?’, is as follows: ‘A wildflower is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted’. So, by that definition, mine are not wild as I grew some from seed and planted them in our garden. However, they are native to the British Isles, and are found more commonly in the damper regions of the UK, that is in the west and north. That said, our clay soil which can get very dry in the summer months seems to suit them well, and while they...