Garden view
Common geraniums and buddleia deserve a place in every garden, says Helen Billiald
Helen Billiald lauds the dependable plant heroes that deliver flowers by the bucketload
Eavesdropping is one of the best parts of garden visiting. Only yesterday, immersed in a summer prairie planting scheme, I overheard voices across the flowerbeds. “Ugh! Geraniums. They’re always in flower!” exclaimed one. “I know, just like salvias,” came the reply. I couldn’t see the ladies’ faces but their disparaging tone said it all. It left me pondering two questions. First, what infrequent flowerer might deserve their praise in a world where geraniums are considered a bit too enthusiastic? Second, since when was flowering with gusto something bad? I wouldn’t be without geraniums in my garden. Planting ‘Ann Folkard’ has become a tradition whenever I move house. There’ll always be room for the perennially popular ‘Rozanne’, too. I’m not going to worry about a plant being predictable when it carries a galaxy of neon-blue flowers for half the year. Crucially, neither of these plants makes a fuss about growing conditions; there’s no watering with an elixir of unicorn tears on the third Sunday of every month. Such rumbustious living is always a positive as far as I’m concerned, although others don’t always see it that way. Think of valerian (Centranthus ruber) in May, hovering on walls or shouldering out of pavement cracks. Its shades of pink suggest the palette of summer colours that’s just about to shine. But, again, there are the naysayers: “It’s a muddy colour; it’s too invasive.” Strange that Erigeron karvinskianus never receives such slander – but then it’s white, and white flowers seem to get away with everything. Picking up the valerian’s easy-growing crown are the buddleias. Robust enough to colonise roadsides and sometimes seen as coarse-leaved, there comes a time in late summer when you see them in full insect-bejewelled floral finery and realise just how empty our gardens would be without their fountains of flowers. Shrubs also contain a treasure trove of uncelebrated colour, in particular those with rich foliage. If Choisya ternata ‘Sundance’ is placed with care, it can embellish slate-greys and purples to great effect. Think, too, of purple smoke tree (cotinus) and elder (sambucus) – or any of the flamboyant foliage shrubs, such as berberis, pittosporum, hebes, pieris – offering colour for as long as they’re in leaf. Yet there always comes a time when a favourite, loudly hailed for its beauty and performance, becomes a victim of its own success. After a few years in the spotlight it is deemed (by certain taste-setters) too predictable, too dull, too easy, however good the show. Garden fashion is a fickle beast. Verbena bonariensis has sadly slipped down this ladder of late. I wonder if helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’ will reach the same point? Is its brilliance already becoming a bit boring? Dahlias have managed to clamber back over the past decade, so hopefully there’s room for manoeuvre. There should be an algorithm to calculate the most maligned yet bestperforming garden plant. Perhaps you could base it on length of season and ease of cultivation, and throw in a few bonus points if it has yellow flowers. Time for a revival of goldenrod (solidago), anyone?
“Since when was flowering with gusto something bad?”
Helen Billiald is a garden writer with a PhD in Ecology and MSc in Pest Management. She’s currently planting some nice yellow solidago.