Saturday, 7 July 2012
Beauty bush
Kolkwitzia amabilis, introduced to Britain by 'Chinese' Wilson 1901. Distantly related to the honeysuckle. It was named after Richard Kolkwitz, a professor of botany in Berlin. We missed the full flowering when in Scotland.
Friday, 6 July 2012
Thursday, 5 July 2012
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
Fuzzy Deutzia.
Deutzia scabra 'Flora Plena'. This specimen started life as a cutting from a friend's garden. It is over 13 foot (4 metres) high and covered with white flower panicles (middle picture) for about 3 weeks. It is nicknamed 'Fuzzy Deutzia' as flowers are like fluffy balls. What's in a name? J van der Deutz was the money man who financed planthunting and employed Thunberg (who had other flowers named after him). 'Scabra' means rough, after the bark (bottom picture) which cracks and peels. Flora plena means 'full flowered', that is double flowers rather than dingle petals. The first one was imported in 1822 by Robert Fortune from China. This specimen pictured is about 25 years old.
Monday, 2 July 2012
Three interesting penstemons
Three old fashioned penstemons with a curious story.
Top, Mother of Pearl. Because nurseries abbreviated this to MoP, it sometimes appeared as Mrs Mop.
Second, Stapleford Gem, an iridescent blue, deeper than Mother of Pearl. Nurseries would abbreviate this to SG.
Third, Sour Grapes (below), also abbreviated as SG. And guess what, the two became confused. Two thirds of penstemons bought as Sour Grapes even today turn out to be Stapleford Gem. The proper genealogies of the two plants was sorted out by the Royal Horticultural Society in the 1990s.
Sunday, 1 July 2012
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