Anthemis tinctoria ‘E.C.Buxton’
Anthemis maritima
Further information:
How to grow Anthemis- Telegraph article
Anthemis marschalliana– silver foliage
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Crocus ‘Jeanne d’Arc’
Crocus (plural: crocuses, croci) is part of the Iris family and consists of around 90 species. They are perennials, growing from corms. Cultivated mainly for their flowers which appear in autumn, winter, or spring, Crocuses are also cultivated and harvested for Saffron– the spice obtained from the flower’s anthers. This practice was first documented in the Mediterranean, notably on the island of Crete. Saffron’s bitter taste and hay-like fragrance is complimented by its rich golden-yellow hue, used to colour food and textiles.It has been traded and used for over four thousand years. Iran now accounts for approximately 90 percent of the world production of Saffron. Because each flower’s anthers need to be collected by hand and there are only a few per flower, Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world.
The name Crocus is derived from the Greek (krokos), which in turn is probably derived from a Semitic or Sanskrit word, which mean saffron or saffron yellow. Over the years the classification of Crocus species has been revised several times, the division of the many species challenging botanists because of the range of characteristics that are available for scrutiny. Some of the species are:
C. aureus = golden
C. biflorus = two – flowered – the ‘Scotch Crocus’
C. chrysanthus = golden – flowered
C. minimus = smallest
C. nudiflorus = naked flowered
C. ochroleucus = yellowish – white
C. sativus = The Saffron Crocus
C. sieberi = after Sieber, a botanist
C. susianus = from Susa, Persia
C. vernus = spring flowering- the Dutch or Spring Crocuses are derived from this species
C. versicolour = changing or varied colour
The first crocus seen in the Netherlands, where crocus species are not native, were from corms brought back in the 1560s from Constantinople by the Holy Roman Emperor’s ambassador who sent a few corms to the botanical garden in Leiden. By 1620, new garden varieties had been developed. Some species, known as “autumn crocus”, flower in late summer and autumn, often before their leaves appear. They should not be confused with Colchicum, a different genus of autumn – flowering plants.
At the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, in 1987, Reader’s Digest sponsored the planting of 1.6 million corms of cultivated Dutch crocus for their 50th anniversary. A further 750,000 corms of C. vernus ‘Jeanne d’Arc’ and C. vernus ‘Purpureus grandiflorus’ have been planted since – a visit to Kew to see this ‘Crocus Carpet’ is a must.Sources and further information:
The Alpine House – information
National Crocus collection – Wisley
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Cyclamen is a genus of plants containing around 20 species, part of the Primrose family.They originate from areas surrounding the mediterranean, have tuberous roots and aren’t an obvious relation of the primrose. Growing in Beech woodland, scrub and rocky areas, and even alpine meadows, they’ll flower in snow meltwater. Although there are relatively few species in the genus there is at least one that will be in flower at all times of the year. In the UK, there are some species which can withstand frost, others which are more tender and some which are not at all frost hardy. Some cultivars of C. persicum are indoor or florists’ plants, flower in the winter or spring and come in a wide range of colours.
The medieval gardens of Constantinople featured Cyclamen as they looked so different from wild flowers in the surrounding fields.
The name Cyclamen is Latin in origin (cyclamīnos) which in turn comes from the Ancient Greek (kyklos) meaning “circle” . This seems to refer either to the round tubers that sit just below ground level or to the way, after flowering, the slender flower-stalk twists into a spiral curl, and, bending over, ripens the seed vessel on the surface of the ground.
Cyclamen cilicicum leaves
Some of the species names are:
C. cilicicum = cicilian
C. coum = of cous or cos, an island off Turkey
C. europaeum = European
C. hederifolium = Ivy – leaved
C. ibericum = of Iberia
C. latifiolium = broad-leaved
C. neapolitanum = of Naples
C. persicum = of Persia
C. repandum = scalloped- refering to the leaf margins
C. hederifolium, which is hardy in the UK, retains it’s attractive marbled leaves for at least nine months of the year, and has a graceful display of pale – to deep-pink, delicate blooms on slender stalks through autumn. This is one of the most popular woodland shade plants and is swift to colonise areas beneath trees. The Royal Horticultural Society has given it the Award of Garden Merit (AGM).
Cyclamen in a woodland setting
Further information:
‘Pretty in Pink’ – article by Sarah Raven
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The ‘Queen of Annuals’ is being billed as the ‘cottage garden favourite for 2013′. It’s botanical name- Lathyrus odoratus- comes from an ancient greek word (Lathyrus) meaning pea or vetchling and odoratus meaning ‘fragrant’. The genus Lathyrus contains about 160 species and of the many cultivars of the Sweet Pea, some 52 varieties have been awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit. The many varieties of Sweet pea available today come in a wide range of colours, but not yellow!
“The Sweet Pea has a keel that was meant to seek all shores; it has wings that were meant to fly across all continents; it has a standard which is friendly to all nations; and it has a fragrance like the universal gospel, yea, a sweet prophecy of welcome everywhere that has been abundantly fulfilled” – Rev. W. T. Hutchins 1900
Sweet pea cultivation is thought to have begun in the 17th century. The originator of the modern plant naming system, the swedish botanist Linnaeus, carried on using the genus name Lathyrus, which was in common use in the 18th century, but gave the Sweet pea it’s species name odoratus to codify the various names used for it at the time.
Victorian times saw a craze for the plant and a host of new cultivars were created as a result, many beginning their lives as mutations or ‘sports’ of known varieties. The original dwarf sweet pea was found growing in a row of a popular grandiflora variety in California in the late 19th century. It had similar flowers to its parent but was much shorter and with a spreading habit. Given the name ‘Cupid’, this later became the general name used for dwarf sweet peas. Later crossings of these and other grandifloras produced a wide range of ‘cupids’ and later still these were crossed with the newer ‘Spencer’ sweet peas which resulted in a range of ‘cupids’ with larger flowers.
The large-flowered Spencer sweet pea appears to have arisen in two or three places at around the same time, but perhaps the most famous source was the home of the Spencer family (of Lady Diana fame) in Northamptonshire. The head gardener of Althorp House – Silas Cole – named this ‘Countess Spencer’, though he seems at the time to have claimed it arose from deliberate cross breeding rather than as an accident of nature!
Sweet peas can be grown in different ways, but perhaps the most common technique is the cordon, introduced in 1911 by Tom Jones of Ruabon. This is used to produce flowers of the highest quality and in effect is a form of pruning and training which channels the plant’s energies into a smaller number of larger blooms. This process involves:
Several plants can be grown in this way along a row to produce a sweet pea screen.
Nigel Boldero aka 'Old School Gardener'
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