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I have been developing some new herbaceous plantings in the garden in the last couple of years
and it has given me the chance to re-visit some genera that I haven't grown for decades.
Rather like a child in a sweetshop I want one of everything, and I know that it will result in
an awful speckled appearance but I have justified it by saying that I am "trialling" plants under new conditions! Hopefully there will be a good mix of successes and failures so that the variety is thinned out a bit in the coming years. This Achillea went in to represent the whole genus (it was cheap). I think it is a seed mix rather than a cultivar so the colour can't be relied on. I have been very pleased, it is vigorous and impressive in its season. The only drawback is that it has been grazed to the ground by rabits on a couple of occasions but I think I can arrange unobtrusive protection. (I have considered hiring a Polar Bear to stalk the gardens at night but have settled for a few twigs and some netting. It isn't as interesting but it is a lot more practical. A Polar Bear might wander off anyway.) The 'Summer Pastels' are a seed raised strain, usually in pale shades. This one is quite a bold colour. Ashridge Nurseries say: "Summer Pastels is not a fixed variety in the way a vegetatively propagated cultivar is — it is a seed-raised selection bred for soft, muted colours, and the individual plants in a batch will differ from one another. Some will be pale pink, others cream or lilac, a few a warm salmon. This is not inconsistency; it is the point. Planted as a group of three or five, Summer Pastels gives you the kind of naturally varied, softly harmonious colour that takes skill to achieve with single-colour varieties, without any effort at all on your part. The flat corymbs appear from June and run into August, and are outstanding for pollinators. Cut back after the first flush for a second, smaller wave in September." Jelitto seeds say: " F2-Hybrids, mixture of pastel colors, blooms just four months after sowing. Easy to grow. Drought tolerant/ for xeriscaping/ waterwise design. For natural landscaping. Attractive for butterflies and other pollinators. Deer resistant." |
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| 18th July 2010 | ||