GARDEN NOTES

Everything you need to know to get the most from your plot

I THINK EVERY GARDEN SHOULD HAVE A MONSTER. Not in the sense of a frightening imaginary creature, but rather a plant of extraordinary size that becomes a source of wonder. In our garden, cardoons (Cynara cardunculus) reach for the sky every summer, topping a showy fountain of deeply cut, silvery blue-green leaves with purple thistle flowers that last for months. No wonder this plant holds an Award of Garden Merit from the RHS: bees love it and, apart from an annual attack of black fly that can be rubbed off by hand under

Everything you need to know to get the most from your plot in April

running water from a hose, it is virtually trouble-free and stands well through the winter, too. Plant a potted one now and it will be shooting up before you know it.

In poor soil, the aptly named Olympian mullein (Verbascum olympicum) fulfills much the same role, with yellow flowers opening up and down stems that can reach three metres in a season (see above). These look good in a cottage garden and also hold up in winter. Another Mediterranean Goliath is giant fennel (Ferula communis). Its bright green feathery foliage rises in an attractive mound and the stems that follow can reach five metres, topped by enormous eye-catching yellow umbellifer flowers. You can see why Fergus Garrett, head gardener at Great Dixter, describes it as “a most exciting plant”.