I often say I will not buy any more plants, and at the time, I do mean it. However, recently I had the occasion to be a volunteer helper at a local wildlife rescue Centre when they held their annual open day. I had already donated several plants so was looking forward to seeing what other plants were on offer – just to look , not that I would ever intend buying more of course.
Isn’t it strange that some plants seem to have the ability to call your name, and resistance is futile, and so it was with the bamboo (Fargesia Scabrifa, Asian Wonder). Content in the knowledge, that not only is it reckoned to be one of the most co!ourful varieties, with rusty looking culms which will eventually reveal almost purple stems, maturing to a deep green, but that it is also the favourite of the giant panda. This justified my purchase in line with my volunteering, which was after all, in aid of wildlife rescue. I selected one of the smaller pots, then I spotted a Rodgersia, a large chestnut-leaved plant, happy to be cold and damp.
I already have a bronze variety of Rodgersia and it is in a pot, nestling between the bronze heuchera and the pink cranesbill geranium.
The other side of the tiny border surrounding the pond, which is my sole planting area of a garden, has more purple tones. A Johnson Blue cranesbill geranium, some stray purple foxgloves, the tip of a purple orach, just making it’s appearance bottom, centre of the top left photograph. A deep maroon and white aquilegia, also known as columbine, which in Latin means ‘dove’, due to the flower resembling a group of five doves.
Like many of my plants, aquilegia is edible although apparently a bit tasteless. This could be arguable since the common name for this plant, is granny’s bonnet, and there is nothing common or tasteless with granny’s bonnet, when it comes to adorning a salad, summer dish or drink.
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