Sarcococca hookeriana digyna 'Purple Stem'

Christmas Box. Four things generally recommend themselves about these shrubs, they are evergreen, generally shade tolerant, bear scented flowers in spring and are 'dwarf'. Sarcococca hookeriana digyna has dark green slender pointed leaves and off white flower tufts which sometimes set as black berries. The scent from the fairly insignificant flowers is sweet and strong, on a sunny January day it can fill the air. Flowering: January - March

I have had this specimen for over eight years and it is about 1m high with some cutting back every year as it can get a bit lax and sprawly.

Others to try include S.humilis which is hardy to @ -15°C, growing to about 1.5m and S.ruscifolia slightly taller growing, less hardy and later flowering, both will tolerate dry shade which makes them useful.

Beloved of 'easy maintenance' plantings in tubs and window boxes, especially the reddish S. rubella. I love them for early scent, and in colder years they are one of the first nectar rich sunny flowers for bees. One enduring memory was seeing [and smelling ] a group of 'Kew Green' in May at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London, awash with bees. Also grown for their berries if you have the right female to male combination.

Evergreen, and as you can see from these pictures different leaf, flower colours and growth patterns between S confusa 'Kew Green' and S. japonica 'Kew White'. 'Kew Green' has closed greenish bells with yellow/orange stamens. 'Kew White' has whiter flowers and white berries. The scents are subtley distinct. Both are shown flowering in late March but can be a bit later
depending on the clemency of the weather. S.laureola appears similar to S.confusa but has thinner leaves. These are grown in containers in John Innes 3 compost, and will remain fairly low growing in height and spread. More ideas for container plants.

Flowering: March/April Evergreen

Skimmia japonica 'Kew White' >>

Solanum sisymbrifolium / Morelle de Balbis - is an interesting member of the potato, tomato, aubergine family originating from South America. Grown from seed sown in gentle heat in April this annual starts to flower in later summer and into the autumn.The flowers are large, white, tinged purple, with the typical 'beak' in the middle. The plants are very spiny, both stems and leaves are definitely ouch!. On the allotment my plants grew to about 3 feet, I have read recently they will make up to 6 feet. Some sources say it is frost tolerant, this year I have a small plant that has taken a couple of light frosts.This would also be a good plant for an 'exotic' border as it is showy.

The small fruit tastes and looks like a sweetish dry tomato, apparently can be juiced or cooked and used in pies.
Solanum linearifolium - is slightly hardier [relatively speaking] than the better known S laciniatum. The specimen shown was overwintered outside with protection in SW England however we did have a very mild winter in 2006. The Mountain Kangaroo Apple comes from Australia [New South Wales and Victoria]. The fruits are supposed to be edible when fully ripe [otherwise treat as poisonous - you have been warned]. It is easy from seed sown in gentle heat in spring. The specimen shown is now struggling as snails ring-barked it one night!

Solanum sisymbrifolium	Solanum linearifolium

Tellima grandiflora
'Fringe Cups'

A US native, very useful for it's mounds of overwintering leaves when things are a bit bare. In April it throws up many juicy stems of pale green bells with fringed edges. I find it gets floppy and battered by windy weather so is cut back quite quickly where it then reverts to its mound of leaves all summer.

In the picture the darker leaf shows it's winter colour which has tinges of bronzy red. Prefers moist soil in shade although I have seen it used in an open sunny border. Flowering: April

Beth Chatto mentions an 'Odorata' form which smells of old fashioned pinks. The 'Rubra Group' shows more distinctive purpling in the winter.

Nasturtiums [or Indian Rock Cress] came to us from South America, the first doubles are said to have been recorded in the 18th Century. Being tender they are treated as annuals.

'Hermine Grashoff' a trailing nasturtium dating back to the Victorian period. In good forms she displays very doubled zingy orange-scarlet flowers. Has to be brought in over winter to keep it going [cool and light conditions] so best grown in a pot. Grow from cuttings [which I haven't tried], as she doesn't set seed. Caterpillars and flea beetles can be a nusiance and prolonged dry and hot spells seem to hold back growth and flowering. Margaret Long is a pale apricot double and Darjeeling Gold a rich yellow with fatter petals and more strongly scented, apparently re-discovered in India by Crûg Farm Plants.

Empress of India, a non trailing type is slightly variable from seed [the one pictured is a little end of seasony]. In the good forms the foliage has a dark tint and the flowers are a rich velvety crimson.

I am lucky enough to have been given a few bulbs of the Old English Tulips and I grow them in large pots and lift and store them after the foliage has died down rather than grow them in open ground. I replant the bulbs in late October/November at a depth of about 3 times the bulb height in peat free compost [the the wood based one's are open enough not to let the bulbs get too soggy over the winter]. Do not use peat based multipurpose compost they really don't like it.

For more on Old English Florist Tulips including pictures and links

Bleu Aimable

'
Queen of Night

'Bleu Aimable'
Introduced by Krelage in 1916. An unusual violet-lilac combination. The bluishness is most noticeable flushing up from the outer base of the petals.

'Demeter'
A Darwin Tulip and late into flower. Disappeared from the catalogues for a few years. Deep violety-black and scented. 'Queen of the Night' has probably usurped its place colourwise. Another dark one is 'Phillipe de Comines' [1891] slightly later into flower than Qof N.

'Generaal De Wet'
Roy Genders says that this orange tulip with darker orange stippling can be forced for Christmas flowering, not something I have tried. Sir Daniel Hall talks of Generaal De Wet as a 'broken' tulip even though not broken in the same way as the Old English Tulip. Another orange early into flower but less subtle is 'Orange Emperor'.

Tulipa sylvestris
Interestingly shaped buds, the outer petals curl back slightly at the tips. Deep yellow and lightly scented. The foliage is finer than other tulips. Native to Italy, Sicily and Sardinia but apparently widely naturalised in N Europe including the UK. Well drained soil in sun or part shade, Late March - May.

Tulipa sylvestris

One of the many sites offering in-depth cultural instructions for tulips, http://www.bulb.com/springguide98/tulip/index.asp

Astrantia
Pimpinella major 'Rosea' Sweet Cicely [Myrrhis odorata]

see a - c
see m - r
see m - r

Cow Parsley, Lady's Lace, Devil's Meat, is a common shortlived perennial. It forms a delicate waist high white froth of flower in late Spring. 'Ravenswing' is a fairly new cultivar, the leaves and stems being either a purpley or brownish black, and when happy growing to 2ft. Mine was unhappy, flowered at about 6 inches high and then with the help of the local slugs and snails disappeared never to be seen again. It is said to come reasonably true from seed. Flowering March - May

The herb, Chervil, Anthriscus cerefolium is a relative but is annual. It is often used in French cooking and mixed herb salads where it lends a light aniseed flavouring.

Wild Carrot, Birds Nest, Kex, is biennial which means it grows from seed one year and in the second year flowers and dies like a number of other umbellifers. The tap root is apparently white and insignificant in food terms in comparison to the cultivated carrot ssp. sativus which originated in the mediterranean [carrots come in a number of colours ranging from white to purple, apparently it was the Dutch that bred and spread the orange carrot that today predominates]. Daucus carota is a flower of high summer, it's white umbels more distinctive and larger than the earlier flowering Cow Parsley. The seed heads curl inwards as they mature. The leaves are feathery and finely cut. Flowering: June - Sept

NB: Some umbellifers are highly poisonous it is not advisable to try eating any parts of these plants in the wild or from people's gardens unless you are very sure of the identification.

Weigela
maximowiczii

A very quiet unassuming shrub from Japan. Pale greeney yellow bells appear amongst soft green foliage. I think it is more refined than W. middendorffiana. It is not growing in perfect conditions and has so far proved to be fairly slow growing, references say it will eventually make a small tree. I would plant this again if I wanted a more 'natural' style muted woodland shrub to use as a background for other plants and smaller shrubs. Flowering April - May

I can see the attraction of W. middendorffiana which has fatter very sulphur yellow bells and an open tawny speckled throat which makes it showier as a shrub [if a little dumpy?].