Plant of the Day
Wednesday 16 May 2018In full flower Fraxinus ornus (manna ash) is an amazing sight, covered in hay-scented, creamy-white flowers. This dome-shaped deciduous tree is a native of southern Europe and southwestern Asia that never repopulated Britain after the last ice age.
Jill Raggett
Plant of the Day
Monday 14 May 2018Sometimes a plant is more dramatic before the flowers emerge as I discovered on visiting my friend’s front garden where Papaver orientale ‘Fireball’ (oriental poppy) was producing a mass of silvery flower buds. This herbaceous perennial will grow in a range of soils and is summer dormant (dying back after flowering in early summer).
Jill Raggett
Plant of the Day
Wednesday 25 April 2018In the protection of the alpine house of Cambridge Botanic Garden, Cambridge, UK, the Paeonia cambessedesii (Majorcan peony) was flowering. This relatively low growing and compact herbaceous perennial has red stems bearing divided purple-tinged leaves and these bowl-shaped rich rose-pink flowers.
Jill Raggett
Plant of the Day
Tuesday 10 April 2018In this glasshouse Secale cereale (grazing rye, Hungarian grazing rye) has been growing for a couple of months over the winter as a green manure and then dug in (last week) to improve soil fertility and structure. Soon it will be planted with a range of exotic edibles for the World Garden at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Hyde Hall Garden, Essex, UK.
Jill Raggett
Plant of the Day
Wednesday 4 April 2018The tuberous perennial Anemone coronaria ‘Harmony Blue’ (Grecian windflower, poppy anemone) has evolved to emerge in early spring producing bright green, dissected foliage and flowers before the heat of summer arrives. Here it was grown in containers and you can see how the different backgrounds enhance the display.
Jill Raggett
Plant of the Day
Friday 30 March 2018Naturalised in this lawn Narcissus ‘February Gold’ (daffodil) is putting on a show! This bulbous perennial grows up to 30cm in height, with golden-yellow flowers which have slightly reflexed perianth segments.
Jill Raggett
Plant of the Day
Friday 23 March 2018Solaria atropurpurea is a winter-growing, summer-dormant, perennial bulbous plant from an
area near Santiago, Chile, where it grows in free-draining, poor soils on rocky slopes, and in dry forests. The star-shaped flowers are produced in winter and early spring, and when mature can have an unpleasantly smell.Jill Raggett
Plant of the Day
Sunday 18 March 2018Naturalised in this lawn are a range of purple Crocus cultivars including Crocus ‘Pickwick’. This has large purple-striped flowers on a greyish-white background.
Jill Raggett
Plant of the Day
Monday 12 March 2018The textural presence of Pinus montezumae ‘Sheffield Park’ (Montezuma pine) in the new tropical garden at RHS Wisley Garden, Surrey, is one of the few plants without a winter protection wrapping! This evergreen tree is a native to Central and South America and has needles in bundles of 5, these can grow up to 30cm long.
Jill Raggett
Plant of the Day
Thursday 8 March 2018At The Walled Nursery, Hawkhurst, they are restoring the Victorian glasshouses including a melon house, vinery, fernery and peach house. The range of plants for sale included the warm coloured Primula vulgaris ‘Ember Glow’ (primrose). This has a compact rosette of leaves and fragrant flowers in shades of orange and red.
Jill Raggett
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