My Plant of the Centenary

We all have our 'plants of the moment', never mind the centenary! I'm loving this front garden combo 

It's time for everyone to tell all! Last week I told you about the plans for the Plant of the Centenary, to be revealed at Chelsea Flower Show in May. I thought it would be fun for us to come up with our nominations for the accolade today, or if that's too hard, you can blog about up to 10 plants. We can then come over for a good rootle around your blog and help you choose the final one.

Angie left a fine comment last week with a lovely story about her nomination:

I would choose herbaceous Paeonies - not everyone's favourite, considered by some fussy and by others as twee but a main stay of a proper English country garden, in my opinion! From the minute those fat red shoots emerge from the soil in February - the anticipation of those fattening flower buds - the prayers that a heavy rainfall will not spoil their show - have you offered enough support - it's all part of the enjoyment!

My earliest memories of my grandfather are him tending to his huge paeony bed which ran the whole length of the garden. Those big blousey blooms - have always been my favourite and I honour him by having a few planted in my own garden now - even one from his original garden which has moved with me from garden to garden.

His other obsession was Dahlias but I have never quite got into them the same - too much work!

My choice could never be described as exotic, tropical or rare but where would we be if we were all the same.

 Helen Gazeley wrote a great post about her favourite and how Rosa 'Peace' got its name. She also shows how important the right name can be for a plant to touch our hearts. Helen, I may not be a huge fan of roses, but I'm very happy to add this one to our bloggers' Plant of the Centenary list :)

As for my selection... ???

Threadspider knows me well, so it's no surprise she thought a Heuchera might feature... but then Karen bought Clematis 'Freckles' for her garden and associates me with the purchase... ah yes, there's also my no-longer-a-mystery-clematis C. 'Diamantina', seen in my garden long before its launch at Chelsea in 2010...

All are very fine choices and all are very me. But now I can confirm my favourite IS the plant I showed you last week. After a long, dull cold winter, its sultry dark leaves and hot yellow and red flowers are what I crave the most. Above all, I'm missing the buzz of the bees drowsling through the blooms. It's been here from the garden's first year (in 2001, though its AGM dates back to 1998) and was a new discovery for me then. Each year, I give it a duvet for the winter and heave a huge sigh of relief when its shoots reappear in May. Fingers crossed it happens again this year!

Therefore, my Plant of the Centenary is Dahlia 'Moonfire' :)

We have paeonies, a rose and a dahlia so far. Now it's over to you - what would you like to add to the list? Either leave a comment, or add the URL of your post in Mr Linky below.

Update 22nd April: The shortlist was announced today. It doesn't have my plant, but it does have 2 of my garden favourites. If I remember correctly Shirl deserves congratulations for her selection of Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve' :) Get voting people!

Comments

  1. Alison Levey6 March 2013 at 09:01

    I am biased - poppies are my flowers of the century, whether they are field poppies, oriental or the annual poppies they have a resilience and a beauty that is hard to match.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Helen/patientgardener6 March 2013 at 09:11

    My post will be up tomorrow - managed to whittle it down to one plant after much pondering and researching.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jo6 March 2013 at 10:38

    I can identify with your choice, Dahlia Moonfire is a beauty. It will be interesting to see what the official Plant of the Centenary is when they reveal it at Chelsea, I'm guessing a rose, though I hope not.

    ReplyDelete
  4. VP6 March 2013 at 12:20

    Papaver - the clue to your favourite's in your name! Thanks for joining in today :)

    Helen - I thought you might seeing it's a Wednesday. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with :)

    Jo - with Roy Lancaster at the helm of the expert panel, I'm sure it'll be an interesting selection!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Gardeningbren6 March 2013 at 14:39

    The plant I would chose, is the flower from a bulb, a tulip named Ballerina. Why...because it is the flower I long to see each spring, and when I do, it fills me with the greatest joy. There are others I do love, including sweetpeas, but, this one tulip, smelling of oranges, tall and brilliant, is my favourite.

    Great Idea VP..might have messed up with the link I am afraid...not the first time.Sorry.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Karen - Artists Garden6 March 2013 at 17:56

    VP - I am not surprised that your choice is D. Moonfire, it is the other plant that I associate with you :)
    I hope to get my post up tomorrow p.m. although I still keep deciding on one thing and then changing it for another! What a quandary!
    K
    xx

    ReplyDelete
  7. VP6 March 2013 at 19:06

    Bren - I'm always amazed that T. 'Ballerina' smells of oranges to match its colour. I wonder if there are any other scented tulips? A marvellous choice, thank you. No problem with your link - it's easy to put right :)

    Karen - I thought you might say that! Looking forward to seeing your final decision tomorrow :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Shirley6 March 2013 at 21:42

    Love the reason for your choice especially the winter duvet – I duvet my Gunnera every year so I understand the nervous reveal.

    I’m not a dahlia grower but this one really does look cheery and I love the dark foliage so I can understand why you long to see it and as it’s been there from the start of your garden too that adds something special. Sorry, I was so late with my post – stuff happens as you know and the best laid plans and all that ;-)

    Well done, great idea for involving other bloggers in a post - looking forward to seeing other choices come in :-D

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anna6 March 2013 at 22:22

    Why didn't your choice surprise me? :) What a cheery spring time cameo heading up your post VP - now where did that solitary yellow crocus come from? I hopefully will have a post up at some point tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Petunia6 March 2013 at 22:44

    I am a fan of Gardenias. One whiff of that delightful smell and it brings me back to my grandmother's house in Uruguay. Unfortunately, I haven't found one that will survive our winters. But whenever I see one in a store with open buds, I will linger around the display, close my eyes, take a nice long wiff and be transported to her little house on the corner, where her front yard was full of them.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Donna@Gardens Eye View6 March 2013 at 23:28

    Love your plants blooming together....I wish mine would bloom together like that.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Christina7 March 2013 at 11:18

    Reading the above and your post I rather think many of your readersdidn't understand what you proposed - a plant that was introduced in the last century, certainly peonies and poppies don't fit the brief. So far I'd have to agree with Helen, Helebores are a recent introduction, with many new hybrids that I think it would be hard for many to do without now. Christina

    ReplyDelete
  13. VP7 March 2013 at 11:30

    Shirley - and thank you for coming up for 2 great blogging ideas for February :) I love your choice - a 'good doer' and perfect for insects. Just the kind of plant for your garden :)

    Anna - I've been pondering that crocus too - I think it has to be moved where the yellow ones are ;)

    Petunia - what a lovely association and you're right, the scent of a plant can be so evocative. A perfect choice for you :)

    Donna - I wish I could take credit, but they were plonked together over 2-3 years without me realising!

    Christina - no, the brief didn't limit responders to the last century. That only applies to the list for Chelsea, so everyone is responding in the spirit of my brief outlined in my previous post, not the RHS's. To have placed that limitation on what's meant to be a bit of blogging fun, would have made it too hard for most people to respond. Besides, even peonies and poppies have cultivars which have been introduced in the last 100 years, so I'm happy for them to be included. Helen is to be commended for going the extra mile and thoroughly researching her response. She has always liked Hellebores so it's a great answer which also suits her. I also have an interesting new book to explore thanks to the link she provided :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Helen/patientgardener7 March 2013 at 12:34

    Oh like Christine I had read it that it was a plant that had been introduced in the last 100 years rather than a favourite plant which would be your desert island plant - never mind, I had fun thinking about it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP7 March 2013 at 13:10

      Hi Helen - no wonder your brain went pouff at the thought last time ;)

      What you've done is my ideal response, thank you. However, I thought that was too much of an imposition on people to restrict them to introductions from the past 100 years when it can be very hard to find out exactly when a plant was introduced. I have 3 different answers for my Dahlia, 1 for the 1990s and 2 suggesting 2000. However, I do know it achieved its AGM in 1998 and it was new round about then, so I'm happy my selection also meets the 100 years limitation :)

      It's interesting to note that bloggers I've known for ages are meeting the RHS's criteria and those I've got to know more recently are going more along the 'my favourite plant' lines. Lots of us took part in Shirl's Desert Island plants previously, so we may have already got quite a lot of the thought process done before my challenge was issued?

      Delete
  15. Shirley7 March 2013 at 22:59

    Hello again VP, thanks for clearing up any confusion :-)

    Christina had me thinking I had missed the plan when she left her comment on my blog saying my plant didn’t qualify as it was named after Bowles in 1854. Before that I had read Helen’s post which made me wonder too. I did research for an introduction date for my plant (for quite a while) but failed to find one so I was delighted when Christina gave it :-)

    Knowing that you wanted to have fun with this I guessed the rules would have been relaxed – so I was probably ok. I did have fun - Thank-you :-D

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anna8 March 2013 at 08:34

    Late in the day due to technical reasons but my post is now up VP :) Thanks for the fun.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous8 March 2013 at 12:58

    Thank you! I'm rather thrilled at the mention. Roses aren't all bad... This was a fun exercise and it's been great looking at everyone's choices. Thank you for running this.

    ReplyDelete
  18. VP10 March 2013 at 09:49

    Hi Shirley - it's been really hard to find sources which give dates of the introduction of many of our plants. Helen tells me she was going to write about Primulas but gave up because she couldn't find the information she wanted. I'm glad Christina had the knowledge to enlighten you on your choice. If you'd chosen 'Apricot Twist' you would have been safe as I believe that's a recent introduction ;)

    Anna - and your choice of geranium is a great choice, thanks for joining in :)

    Helen - it was great to have the reminder of the story of R. 'Peace' :) A number of us had been thinking it was about time to resurrect the fun one-off memes for the winter, so this has been a lot of fun to do. I have an idea already for next winter, so watch this space :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. flowerlady11 March 2013 at 13:39

    Mine would be Rosa Golden showers,we always buy a plant for anniversaries,I had yellow roses in my wedding boquet so when we moved to the house we are in now we planted one next to the front door,out of the last 18 years there is only once I have not had a single flower on my breakfast tray on our anniversary in May.It carries on flowering until October with frequent dead heading and was even still flowering in December the year before last

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP11 March 2013 at 15:13

      Hello! We had R. 'Golden Showers' in our last garden. Like you I found it flowered for months on end :) I grew mine as a climber, how about you?

      Delete
    2. flowerlady12 March 2013 at 13:19

      Yes it climbs up by the front door which is blue,which seems to attract a lot of bees.The fragrance is lovely as you come in and out of the house

      Delete
    3. VP13 March 2013 at 09:03

      Hi - blue and yellow - what a great combination :)

      I'm a big fan of scent around doorways - it really welcomes you.

      Delete
  20. Karen - Artists Garden11 March 2013 at 15:03

    Got there in the end!
    My post is now up
    :)
    K
    xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP11 March 2013 at 15:12

      Hurray - have been over already for a good long sniff of your choice :)

      Delete
  21. Shirley22 April 2013 at 22:22

    Thanks for the update and mention here - I'm delighted to see my plant was considered and also got to the shortlist. It really is a great plant as you know yourself :-)

    A couple of others caught my eye on the shortlist- firstly the Rhododendron yakushimanum - I do believe that one is also growing in my garden. I'm going to drop the specialist Kenneth Cox at the garden centre I got mine to see if he can confim the ID on my plant just for my own interest. I've bought a few yak hybrids from him over the years and have lost labels so perhaps I can get a job lot ID ;-)

    My hat trick plant is geranium Rozanne which was new to my garden last year and I already know its going to be a fav for years to come. This one would have been in the running for my back-up plant choice together with another newbie to my garden - Geum totally tangerine.

    Thanks again for doing this, VP, I had fun and no deliberation whatsoever with my choice but I bet there was some intense deliberation by the RHS panel :-)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love hearing from you and welcome thoughtful conversations :)

Comments aiming to link back and give credence to commercial websites will be composted!

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter,
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi
Read more