Hooray for Herbaceous Plants
It’s the time of year when our gardens are looking bright and colourful, with many herbaceous plants at their best. They are doing particularly well this year after enjoying a warm and sunny spring and the early summer rain.
At Woodside we have a great range of herbaceous plants – these are flowering plants that die down for the winter and then come back year after year. Some of my favourites are recommended below:
Hemeracollis – Day Lilies. These are some of the easiest plants to grow and have masses of showy lily like blooms. We have available Cathy’s Sunset (Orange), Parden Me (Crimson), Edge Ahead (Pink) and Stella d’Ora (Yellow). Plant in a sunny spot in any garden soil that doesn’t waterlog.
Hardy Geraniums – these are looking wonderful in my garden at home just now, and are a perfect trouble-free plant for all gardeners. The bigger varieties can be chopped back after flowering to produce a second burst of flower later in the year. Our selection of large varieties includes Orion (Blue), Red Admiral (Deep reddish pink) magnificum (Blue) and psilostemon (Magenta pink with dark eye). Shorter varieties suitable for smaller spaces and rockeries include Orkney Cherry (dark purple leaves with a small but pretty pink flowers) and sanguineum Max Frei (low growing with pink flowers). Hardy Geraniums are a personal favourite of mine.
Astrantia Gill Richardson – a robust plant that flowers for weeks on end. This particular variety has ruby red papery flowers, and is highly recommended and makes a change from the usual cream and pale pink varieties
Erigeron – Fleabane. Ignore the rather unappealing common name – these are attractive plants with masses of daisy-like flowers. We currently have the popular sprawling variety Erigeron karvinskianus “Profusion” in stock, as well as the upright growing “Adria” which has pink flowers.
Aster laterifolius “Lady In Black” – this one really caught my eye this week. This unusual type of Michaelmas Daisy (now sometimes called Symphyotrichum) has black stems and purple leaves and masses of tiny pinky-white flowers in summer. Really worth adding to the garden.
Ageratina altissima “Chocolate” – another purple leaved plant to give some foliage interest in the garden; this one has fluffy white flowers which contrast beautifully with the leaves
Cephalaria gigantea (Giant Scabious). This really is a giant, easily growing to 5 feet or more when in the right place, so a good back of border plant. Lemon coloured scabious type flowers are produced in summer. A real statement plant
These are just a few of my very favourite herbaceous plants – there are many more to choose from including a good selection of ferns, Hostas and grasses, and we also have fig plants in stock just now for the greenhouse or conservatory (or for a south facing wall in a sheltered spot if you’re lucky enough to have this).
Do come and visit Woodside to appreciate our full range of plants for sale, and for inspiration on how to fill any gaps you might have in the garden. Planting conditions are very good just now, with some welcome rain forecast.