Erica gracilis (and other Cape heaths)

Erica gracilis

For the past couple of weeks I've been enjoying a generously-sized pot of Erica gracilis, one of the South African Cape heaths, which I bought for the princely sum of £2.99 from our greengrocer in Cirencester. It's about 30 cm high and wide, and is absolutely smothered by thousands of small richly-coloured flowers. In the batch were white-flowered plants too, and I suspect this is a selected clone with particularly reddish-hued flowers as the species is usually a slightly duller purplish pink. As a wild plant Erica gracilis is found at lower elevations between Swellendam and Humansdorp on the Garden Route east of Cape Town, and is not particularly abundant, it seems.

As the authors of Ericas of Southern Africa (Schumann et al. 1992) remark, however, 'it is nowadays grown more prolifically under artificial conditions in Europe than it it occurs naturally in South Africa.' But the odd thing is that this heath is the only one of the almost 700 South African species to have become an item of mass cultivation in Europe - and it is an important item. I've always understood that the cultivation of Erica gracilis is a German speciality, and an internet search reveals that this does indeed sem to be the case. Several large German nurseries specialise in heathers, and each has a range of different Erica gracilis cultivars. Among them are Eurofleurs,  Gartenbau Holz, and Silber Gartenbau. The plant (actually there are several individuals in the pot) I bought was grown in a clay pot - a great rarity in itself these days - that looks as if it had been plunged in sand, and was potted in a very light compost of peat and silver sand. This all suggests that the cultivation of E. gracilis is a very specialist skill, which makes it all the more a pity that it is sold mostly as a short-lived throw-away plant. I suspect that most get planted in the garden, in fact, where they must have a very short life: the rest probably dry up quickly in a centrally-heated home.

Erica gracilis, as bought in a dirty clay pot.

I fear the same fate will befall my plant, but it doews make me think, why should this species be so successful in cultivation 9when conditions are right)? I don't know, but it seems that in the past Cape heaths were rather popular in cultivation and that we have lost the knack - or tradition - of growing them. It seems to me that here is a frontier to be rediscovered. Below are a few representatives of the diversity of Cape Erica, photographed at Kirstenbosch in September 2010.

Erica brachialis

Erica coryiifolia

Erica discolor subsp. speciosa

Erica baueri subsp. baueri

 

Erica 'Glengold' - a truly showy hybrid cultivar.



Botanical art by Christine Battle

Eucalyptus leucoxylon subsp. megalocarpa

© Christine Battle 2010

This evening saw the preview of an exhibition of botanical art by Christine Battle, held at The Backyard Gallery, in Tetbury, Gloucestershire. This is her first solo exhibition and is all the more remarkable for the fact that she only started painting plants in 2006. Her progress has been rapid!

I first met Christine when, while researching New Trees, I visited her remarkable young arboretum at Congrove in South Gloucestershire (see my post of 20 March 2011 for more on this). Shortly afterwards she asked me for advice on her portfolio for completing the Diploma in Botanical Illustration from the English Gardening School, and said she'd like to do a series of paintings of rare trees. In the end she chose a selection of unusual species from New Trees, and prepared plates of them as though they would appear in the book. This series won an RHS Gold Medal when exhibited at the Malvern Flower Show last year, and the plate of Eucalyptus leucoxylon subsp. megalocarpa (above) was awarded an Honourable Mention in the show of the American Society of Botanical Artists show that has just finished in New York.

Christine Battle (L) and Harriet Tupper, Chairman-Designate of the International Dendrology Society, with some of Christine's New Trees paintings.

The Backyard Gallery, home-base of Ken and Elisabeth Hancock, has done Christine's work proud in this exhibition, hanging her originals and prints very crisply against red walls, where they look stunning: if passing through Tetbury between now and 8 December it is well worth a visit. More images of Christine's art can be found on her website.

Preview at The Backyard Gallery, Tetbury, fortified by the remarkably good Jenkyn Place sparkling wine. 

 

Betula maximowiczianum leaf, painted on vellum
© Christine Battle 2010



Wild Turkeys for Thanksgiving

Wild Turkeys in Simon Thompson's bird-encouraging garden, Asheville, North Carolina, Sept. 2011

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends, followers and readers.

Frosty but kindly

Echinacea cv.

Dianthus barbatus 'Monksilver Black'

Papaver triniifolium

Rudbeckia triloba 'Prairie Glow'

Anemone fanninii

An unusual seed crop

Fruiting head of Nerine bowdenii 'Marnie Rogerson'

The remarkably mild autumn has had several unusual horticultural consequences - the prolonged blooming of many summer plants being one, and the early flowering of several winter ones being another, though less desirable. One of the positive results has been the development of abundant seed on Nerine bowdenii in the open garden, which usually doesn't happen as the flowers or incipient fruits are destroyed by frost. I've harvested seed from five distinct clones today and will sow it tomorrow in a light and gritty compost. The seedlings should emerge in spring and will then take several years to reach flowering size - at which point it will be possible to evaluate how they differ from their mothers.

The fleshy seeds of Nerine bowdenii vary in colour between clones.
These are on an unnamed clone derived from Stanley Smee.

New Plants: An American revolution



Tony Avent surveys a sumptuous new Colocasia in his trial ground at Plant Delights Nursery, North Carolina, September 2011.

 Opening my mailbox this morning I found a message from that indefatigable horticultural news-hound, Bobby Ward of Raleigh, North Carolina, alerting me to an article in today's Sunday Telegraph, available online. It's by Jenny Andrews, and is entitled New Plants: An American revolution. I think it's rather an important article, really emphasising how many important new garden selections are coming from the powerhouse that is modern American commercial horticulture, and it's well worth reading.

The majority of American home gardens may still be very dull and uninteresting, but over the past few years I have come to find American horticulture extremely exciting. Part of this is, no doubt, seeing a range of plants that we can't grow easily or well thriving in a different climate, but the activities of the best gardeners, whether it is with innovative landscaping and planting combinations, or in the nursery, is invigorating and inspiring. I've been fortunate enough to meet and get to know some of those involved in this revolution, notably Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery, where he is experimenting with a vast range of new material, both wild and highly bred, and is encouraging others to do the same. A visit there, such as I made in September, is mind-blowing.

Tom Ranney with his creation

×Gordlinia grandiflora, a hybrid between Franklinia alatamaha and Gordonia lasianthus.

Further west in North Carolina is another hotbed of activity - the North Carolina State University's Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center, near Asheville, where Dr Tom Ranney leads a team investigating new potential in a range of woody plant genera, in search of good garden plants. One of his team's notable successes was breeding the first pink-flowered Hydrangea arborescens, sold as Invincibelle Spirit, and a major breakthrough in this very important landscaping plant in North America. Now the race is on to develop further pink cultivars with better habit and richer colour: in September Tom showed me a whole field of seedlings under assessment, although all their flowers had been removed to prevent snooping eyes getting a preview at an open day for viewing other crops. As Jenny Andrews explains in her article, there is potentially considerable money in a successful cultivar finding widespread usage, so such precautions are sadly necessary.

Hydrangea arborescens Invincibelle Spirit, at NCSU Mountain Horticultural Crops Research Center.



Chopping and changing

Debris from the border.

The autumn clear-up of the cottage garden has started in earnest, with a good session this afternoon cutting down the standing growth of the perennials. It's a very satisfactory process, although it does reveal the multitude of weeds growing below them and some areas are quite mossy: a good mulch is needed. In the process I'm also removing plants that don't justify their space for whatever reason. In a small garden there's no space to keep passengers: everything must justify its existence in some way and any garden needs to be constantly refreshed with new plants and new ideas. Today's casualties were a very dull and unpleasantly sticky Salvia, a Stachys whose name I've also forgotten, being a very unmemorable plant (though I have a lurking suspicion that it's rather unusual), and Clematis heracleifolia 'Wyevale', a leafy brute that certainly doesn't warrant houseroom here. In my sights are a big bush of Sambucus 'Black Lace' - a lovely plant but in the wrong place, and a clump of Rodgersia pinnata that is not 'Superba', and there are a lot of things that need 'lessening' as I go. It's good to get it done at this time of year, as its's all too easy to forget in the rush of spring and then you're left with the same old things taking up even more room than before.

The ousted Stachys.