Another week, another storm. This time it was Ciaran’s turn to rip through the garden on Thursday, drenching the already saturated soil and knocking the patio furniture about. Fortunately, once again, no permanent damage was done, just a few pots to make upright and one or two leggy plants to prop up with my homemade rusty steel girdles. Not that the storm bothered my tall hardy Fuchsia ‘Whiteknights Pearl’ one little bit. Standing proudly erect and still flowering its pretty little head off.
I know I mentioned this last week and received a few comments, but I just wanted to show how quickly the autumn sown Sweet Peas grow. These are now ready for the growing tips to be pinched out to encourage side shoots to grow. In another couple of weeks I will select the best ones and pot them up separately. They don’t blink at having their roots disturbed at this stage.
As well as ‘Bretforton Road’ featured last week, my other favourite hardy Chrysanthemum at this time of year is ‘Royal Command’. This one has been with me for many years and is a real survivor. Tough and resilient, I just love its dark red quilled petals and bright yellow centre on tall stems. Not sold by many nurseries these days as there just so many more popular ones on offer, but sometimes the old ones are the best!
This diminutive Pieris ‘Little Heath’ was bought as a 9cm pot for my winter hanging basket last November and has grown into a handsome little shrub. About to flower too! Currently in a clay pot where it has been happy all summer, I think it is time to find a place in the garden where it can get its feet down and mature alongside its bigger cousins.
And so to this week’s ‘What am I?’ quiz round. If you can identify this without resorting to a plant app or other external source you are truly a very clever plant person indeed. It took me quite a while to realise what it was, and then only by accident. Give up? It is Guizotia abyssinica, more commonly called Niger or Nyjer, the source of the tiny black seeds adored by Goldfinches. It took quite a while to realise that these unusual plants which were popping up all around the Nyjer seed feeder were, in fact, Nyjer plants! I kept pulling them up thinking they were a weed which, as I didn’t plant them, they were. But one escaped my notice and sneakily grew within the cover of a Pittosporum and has now popped it’s head out of the top and is about to flower!.As they originate in Ethiopia, I doubt if they will take any frost but we will see. I hope to post a photo of the flower very soon!
The Hesperantha coccinea are adding a touch of glamour to the front border at the moment with their tall stems of crimson flowers. I took advice from the National Collection Holder who told me to never walk past them in the summer without chucking some water over them! Apparently, the reason they often flower reluctantly is a lack of water in the dry summer months. In their native South Africa they grow in moist soil along the banks of rivers and streams or in low lying areas which retain water most of the year. They hate being dry at the roots.
Finally, just to say the Salvia uliginosa is STILL flowering and attracting bumble bees on dry days. It just never stops! What a success, my outstanding Plant of the Year!
Have a great weekend. I am off to learn all there is to know about Hardy Geraniums from an expert at our Gardening Group.
David
Davids Garden Diary 
I didn’t guess the nyjer correctly at all, but I’ll be very interested to see what it looks like when it flowers. The hesperantha is beautiful, I’m thinking it might do well in the boggy area around my pond:-)
I think the Hesperantha might do well in a boggy area, as would Salvia uliginosa whose common name is Bog Sage!
That fuschia is a winner!
Thanks as ever David. My Royal Command which came from you is just coming into flowers. Very pleased with it
Hi Jane. Good to see you yesterday and glad your Royal Command is doing well. If you would like some Bretforton Road as well just let me know and I will pot up an ‘Irishman’s Cutting’ for you.
That would be lovely David if not too much trouble. I really enjoyed Saturday and learnt some useful information. G.renardii will be on short rations from now on to persuade it to flower more! ________________________________
Thanks for the sweet pea update, I have some started now after your good advice.
I love that dark flowered chrysanthemum. Your niger had me baffled, I’ve never seen it before. I have lost so many hesperantha to drought that this year I am trying one on a ledge in the pond. So far it looks very good.
Not sure about the Hesperantha being a pond margin plant but hey, whatever works! It was a revelation when the NCH explained that they must never dry out at the roots and that we must mimic their natural conditions, it made so much sense.
Isn’t it great to have a plant do especially well and bring joy! That is how I flt about my purple prairie clover this year. I can’t wait to see how it does next year!
Oh wow, the color on that Hesperantha! Cool to see what a nyjer looks like, who would have guessed? I suspect that there are plenty of “weeds” in my garden that are bird feeder escapees too. We most certainly got a surprise crop of sunflowers which ended being very welcome. Hope this plant has nice flowers too!
Hi David,
I’m growing Whiteknight’s Pearl too and yes, it’s still flowering away!
It’s in it’s 2nd year with me and is lovely and bushy with arching stems. I would like it to grow upwards and tall(er) like yours is – how should I prune it to achieve this? Or as it gets older will it automatically happen? I have pruned it back hard in the previous years, as recommended.
Thankyou,
Linda
Hi Linda. My ‘Whiteknights Pearl’ is in a border along with other tall shrubs like Myrtle, Neelia, Sambucus nigra, Photinia, and Choisya so I don’t prune it hard like the books suggest. Instead, I just prune back the previous year’s flowered stems by about half so it is never shorter than 3′ tall. The new growth then rises from side shoots and is able to be seen and appreciated at eye level. The arching habit means the flowers dangle beautifully and drape over the adjacent shrubs. I do give it a top dressing of blood, fish and bone each spring and mulch it with compost. Hope that helps.
Thanks for that and I’ll be trying what you suggest next year. It really is gorgeous so the more I see of it, the better!