One of the joys of gardening is the occasional unexpected
success after consistent failure. I felt very dashing when I bought two
pleiones, Pleione pricei and P. formosana. Most people put these near-hardy
orchids in a cool house, but I have no cool house, or any other greenhouse, and
I thought my climate was mild enough for a gamble so I planted them in the peat
garden. I cover them each winter with a pane of glass because I understand it
is winter wet, not cold, that they dislike. Each year they have thrown up
leaves and it seemed that they were increasing satisfactorily, but after one
very wet winter I could see no sign of the green pseudo-bulbs, which cluster
like a nest of eggs just above the ground. Gentle proddings brought no comfort
so I feared I had lost my gamble. Then one day I was strolling along the bank
opposite my little peat garden when I suddenly saw an exotic bloom poised
self-consciously among the heathers and azaleas as if it had slipped off the
ample bosom of a magnate's lady. Since then I have these delightful little
orchids in several other places, in greensand under a north wall, and on an
easterly ledge of a rock garden in ordinary soil, and I have added P.
limprichtii to the other two. I don't get as many flowers as my friends who
grow them in pans in the alpine houses, but I always get a few and they
increase steadily, and I could divide them if I had the nerve.
I suppose Arum creticum should not be put in the same
category as pleiones, but for some of us it has the same fascination; in fact I
like any arum. The one that grows on Crete has yellow flowers—not the bright
yellow of lysichiturn but a luminous, very deep cream. I was told to put this
plant in the hottest, driest place I had but I now discover this isn't
necessary. In one garden I know it blooms equally well in a hot, sunny position
and in the damp shade under trees.
It was in the same garden that I met the pretty pink and
white form of °tabus (or Lathyrus) vernus. It is called 0. v. albo-roseum and
makes a delightful foot-high dump for the spring rock garden. I have had the
other forms of orobus for some time. The ordinary one has vetch-like flowers in
violet-blue, 0. v. cyaneus has very bright blue flowers and there is also a
good white. With them I grow the dwarf silver plant, Dogcnium hirsutum, which
has silky leaves and tiny pink and white flowers all through the summer. This
likes a hot, dry place and the orobus will grow anywhere.
Another plant that makes a happy companion for the orobus is
the perennial Cheiranthus mutabilis, with flowers that can't decide whether
they are purple or rose madder. The bronze and primrose wallflower Miss Hopton
(or Wenlock Beauty) goes with almost anything and so does the very pale
Erysimum capita/a. I find Cheirantbus Moonlight the most difficult wallflower
to place as the flowers are deeper than the name suggests and they open from
glossy brown buds. Harpur Crewe doesn't need companionship; that neat, bushy
little plants should, I think, be planted by themselves in key positions where
something attractive is needed all through the spring. This provides scented
double blossoms in soft yellow from January to June, and off and on after that.
Even without any flowers it is a shapely little bush with good foliage.
The "Prophet Flower", Arnebia echioides
(macrotomia), is an unusual member of the borage family, with yellow flowers
with a deep purple spot on each petal when it first opens. I have never
succeeded with it and I wonder if it dislikes lime. I notice that nurseries
charge up for it so it can't be as easy as most herbaceous plants.
Another rather different plant that is scarce and expensive
is "Fair Maids of France" (or Kent), Ranunculus aconitifolius fi. I
find this easier than amebia but it doesn't increase very fast, and as it
disappears completely after flowering there is always the danger of it being
damaged or disturbed. It is a delightful plant, about r a" high with white
button flowers and dark, well-cut leaves.
Incarvilleas are other plants that go to ground and have
been known to be put out of action while hiding. Incarvilleas are like nerines,
so exotic-looking that one is always surprised to meet them in an ordinary
garden. The incarvillea most usually seen is L delavayi, with large orchid-pink
trumpets and delightful foliage. In L grandifiora the flowers are more deep
pink than orchid. These flowers having disappeared from the garden a good many
times, I now grow them in a raised bed with special snowdrops and fritillaries.
The dentarias have to be well labelled if one is not to
damage their "coral" roots, which do look exactly like coral.
Den/aria pinnata can have either white or pale mauve-pink flowers on 9"
stems. These plants need a cool woodland position and so does Gillenia
trifoliata, an 8" charmer with graceful foliage and butterfly flowers in
pink and white all through the summer.
I find the running oenothera, 0 speciosa, does best with a
little shade. It is unfortunately not completely hardy in a very hard winter,
but quite dependable in ordinary weather. The large white flowers, with their
prominent styles, do not shut during the day. They open pure white and fade to
pink.
Trilliums, the "wood lilies" of North America, are
not at all difficult to please if they have shade and a leafy soil. I grow mine
on a bank under the shade of willows in ordinary soil and they come up
faithfully every year, but! do not find they increase very quickly. They would
do quite well between shrubs if the soil is enriched by humus and not allowed
to dry out. The most beautiful is Trillium grandifiorum, with large,
three-petalled white flowers on 9" stems. The dark crimson T. sessile is
scented, and has mottled leaves, the white or pink flowers of T. cern:rum are
nodding, and they are also nodding in T. sOlosum, the Rose Trillium, which has
pink flowers. The painted trillium, T. undulatum, has white flowers with claret
markings. Trilliums take a little time to settle down but once they start they
flower regularly every year. Good cover is made by Mite/la breweri, which has
small flat leaves and tiny green flowers.
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