Add a spot of Hollywood glamour to your garden
THE latest blast of cold weather to sweep down from Russia arrived here at the same time as a delivery of plants.
The snow in South Ayrshire kept me indoors and so prevented me from doing anything with the large consignment of bare root perennials that all need to be in the ground before the growing season starts, which should be later this month.
Among the new arrivals were a number peonies.
These are all the same variety ‘Sarah Bernhardt’, which has enormous, rose-pink double blooms, with that delicious peony scent.
The heads are so heavy that they need to be staked, but what else do you expect from a flower named after a French actress and star of the early screen who was famous for her swooning performances?
All the peonies are earmarked for the border at the top of the front garden. This contains established azaleas and camellias which, like the peonies, are happy in a position where they don’t get full sun.
However, along with the peonies, I’m also planning to grow a large number of agapanthus, which are usually described as sun lovers.
The reason I’m breaking the rules is that I’ve seen agapanthus growing happily in exactly the same conditions as in my garden.
The key to success is to grow only Headbourne hybrids, which have proved themselves much hardier, and to mix large quantities of grit into the soil to ensure good drainage.
If they do well, these lovely flowers, which produce starry umbels of flowers in shades of blue from pale to dark, should seed themselves around and create a wave of gorgeous colour when the peonies and azaleas have bowed out.
Meanwhile, as the polar vortex approached, I moved all pots of the giant white agapanthus, which I’ve grown for many years, further under cover.
This is not a hardy plant and it needs to be kept dry and frost-free all winter, but move it into a shed, greenhouse or garage, then it will be quite content until spring.
Mine haven’t had the best protection this winter and at times they’ve looked very dejected, but so far I haven’t lost them and I’m determined this late blast of freezing weather isn’t going to get them.
Agapanthus grows best when its roots are congested, but once they get to a certain size you can split them up. You may miss out on flowers for the next couple of years until they settle again, but do this regularly and you’ll gradually build up a large collection.
I started off with one plant and now I have half a dozen, which, lined up on the patio in summer, produce great white heads that explode like shooting stars from rosettes of green, strappy leaves.
Like Peony ‘Sarah Bernhardt’, they provide a shot of pure glamour, so I’m happy to give them the star treatment if that’s what it takes to get results.