Breathe easy
Our polluted planet needs all the help it can get ... and these plants defy fumes. David Overend reports.
Diesel may be on its way to the depths of history, but air pollution is still a threat to the lives and health of millions, if not billions of people around the world. It also affects many plants – and they can’t petition Parliament to demand legislation to help them breathe more easily.
So, it’s up to the gardener to do the best he/she can, and that may mean planting shrubs that can tough it out – those which can tolerate all the unpleasant stuff the human race puts into the air.
Surprisingly, there are quite a number of such shrubs, more than enough to fill a garden in even the most unpleasant of environments.
Take buddleia, for example. The butterfly bush produces masses of richlyscented arching blooms, requires hardly any maintenance, and grows anywhere. There are numerous varieties of B davidii, ranging in colour from deep burgundy through to pristine white.
Equally at home among our airborne filth is the ever-popular lilac (Syringa vulgaris) a shrub/tree capable of scenting the early summer air with its fragrant flowers.
And it’s the same with another perfumed species – Philadelphus, the mock orange, whose numerous blooms are one of the delights of summer.
Many rhododendrons are also blessed with the ability to thrive in polluted air, as is the spring-flowering Forsythia. The yellow blooms may be short-lived but they are breathtakingly beautiful.
Mahonia and Skimmia are two more contenders, and the likes of Cotoneaster, Euonymus and laurel are equally tough and reliable.
Add to the list Viburnum, Weigela, and the common elder, Sambucus nigra, which not only flowers well but which also produces pendulous clumps of fruit.
And if the thought of planting the fastgrowing laurel is too much to comprehend, then consider the spotted-foliaged Aucuba japonica. It is more sedate and has the potential to also produce autumn berries.
The main problem with many of these hardy plants is their ability to grow perhaps a bit too strongly for the average garden and gardener. But the regular application of shears and secateurs should keep them within bounds.
Alternatively, if you have the room, let them grow to thumb their noses at the unpleasant world we have helped create.
My favourite? Viburnum tinus ‘Eve Price’ flowering since last November and still full of blooms. It laughs at pollution.