Six Seasonal Stars on Saturday

The garden is full of seasonal stars at the moment, so picking out just six was not easy – but let’s start with the most asked about plant on our garden open days, Clematis texensis ‘Princess Diana’ (above). Almost every plant in the garden is labelled, something I like to see when I visit a garden myself, but very few visitors seemed to take the trouble to look, preferring to ask the gardener or the dogsbody: fortunately, Princess Diana is one variety that the dogsbody/Golfer knows! Smothered in blooms, it deserved all the attention it got, and is possibly flowering better than ever before, despite the issues with several of my other clematis. This variety was the first clematis I actually sought out after seeing it performing so spectacularly in a garden more than 20 years ago; up till then, I had only bought whatever clematis were available at my local garden centre. The current plant, however, is a replacement for the original, which suffered when moved to the clematis colonnade.

There are some lovely combinations in the two bold borders, helping to create an overall degree of boldness of colour: Lychnis chalcedonica and Veronica ‘Marietta’ in one, and Veronica ‘First Love’ and Clematis ‘Arabella’ in the other. Veronicas and veronicastrum have become firm favourites of mine in the last year or two, appreciating them for their reliability and impact.

Also adding boldness to these borders are pots of Asiatic lilies in ‘hot’ colours. They may not have a fragrance, but these lilies, in at least their fifth year, continue to make a great display from early June and into July – this variety is ‘Yellow County’. After an initial onslaught from lily beetles at the tail end of the fritillary season, the lilies have remained largely beetle free, although admittedly I was pretty vigilant when they were in evidence. I bring the pots into the greenhouse over winter, more to protect the pots than the lilies, I suppose, and partially replenish or feed the compost before they go outside again in late spring. Note to self: order more bulbs for future seasons!

Not a plant that really stands out, but one that still makes a subtle impact, is the very underrated ornamental clover, Trifolium rubens. Tolerant of drought and poor soil, it is an easy perennial to grow from seed and flowers from June/July until September, especially if deadheaded. This one is ‘White Feathers’ but there is also a ‘red’ variety, which I also have, both grown from seed. As you can see from the centaurea in the picture, the flower heads are much bigger than wild clover.

Finally, a real star in its own right, and surprising me by seemingly appearing from nowhere, is ‘yellow star jasmine’ Trachelospermum asiaticum. Planted at the end of 2012, this has gradually clothed the wall that encloses part of the blue & white borders with attractive glossy evergreen leaves with an occasional hint of red over winter. Most summers there has been a sprinkling of blooms, but this year it took tendrils overhanging the other side of the wall to alert me to its current performance; even so, I was not prepared for what I found on the other side…

…almost the whole wall smothered in blooms, fragrant blooms at that…

I can’t follow that, so am off now to check out Garden Ruminations, the blog of our Six on Saturday host, Jim: why don’t you do the same?