MEADOW GARDEN STALWARTS

GRASSES

• Compact and tufted variegated feather reed grass ( Calamagrostis x acutiflora

‘Overdam’) forms a clump of narrow, elegantly arched leaves, with erect sprays of flowers that fade to pale brown in winter.

• Blue oat grass ( Helictotrichon sempervirens) has spiky steel-blue leaves that form a porcupine-like 60cm round clump.

• Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’ forms a thick clump (about 1.5m high and 1m wide) of narrow, arching emerald green leaves edged with white, and tall pinktinged flower spikes in late summer.

• Showy Miscanthus sinensis ‘Gracillimus’, has foliage that turn bronze in autumn when the tassel-like flowers turn silver. It grows to about 1.8m high.

• Stipa gigantea is also known as golden oats for its seedheads, which splay apart in late summer creating a fountain effect which can obscure the rest of the plant. Unlike many other stipas, it is sterile.

PERENNIALS

• Sedum ’Matrona’ has strong dark red stems and pale pink flowers.

• Treasured for its long flowering season,

Gaura lindheimeri ‘The Bride’ has long spikes of pink buds which open to white. • The tall, sparse and fine stems of Verbena

bonariensis are topped with clouds of small, deep purple flowers, which appear to float.

• Russian sage ( Perovskia ‘Blue Spires’) has a haze of small violet flowers borne on thin white stems and blooms for weeks from midsummer.

• Prominent cones and droopy petals are the trademarks of Echinacea purpurea’s multiple large, daisy-like purple flowers.

• Fast growing, the dwarf orange kniphofia has show-stopping bright orange flowers.

• Knautia ‘Red Cherries’ has eye-catching flowers similar to scabiosa’s and come in a deep red-purple, blooming all summer long.

• More sophisticated and understated than most gladioli, Gladiolus papilio ‘Ruby’ has numerous slender maroon blooms on arching bronze stems.

• The magnificent plume poppy ( Macleaya

cordata) grows up to 1.5-2.5m with panicles of buff flowers and large scalloped leaves.

ANNUALS

• Ornamental carrot flower Daucus carota

‘Purple Kisses’ has charming smoky-purple umbelliferous flowers.