FLORAL FIREWORKS
Light up your plot with red-hot shrubs that will stir the soul ...
BONFIRE Night is such fun. Despite the passing years, I still get a rush of childlike excitement when rockets tear up the evening sky. My mother always said fireworks were a waste of money — gone in a flash. But brevity is the whole point. You’d soon be bored if those colourful explosions were freeze-framed.
The same is true for certain plants — let’s call them floral fireworks. Imagine a drop-dead gorgeous Japanese cherry such as the great white Tai Haku or pink Beni Yutaka. For most of the year. They are unremarkable, but for ten spring days they’re a knockout.
Flamboyant specimens like these are the opposites of slowburners such as fuchsias, which flower all summer but barely get a second glance come September. Don’t write them off — slow-burn plants have huge value.
You need a smattering of flashin-the-pan varieties in a wellplanted garden. Most come in spring or autumn. But there are fireworks for other seasons, too.
We’re in the middle of the planting season. So if you want to add a few show-stoppers to your plot, this is the moment.
SIZZLING COLOUR
THE shrub with the hottest leaf colour is the winged spindle, Euonymus alatus. The dark green leaves turn dazzling scarlet before falling. It reaches 2m high, but for small spaces, there’s a dwarf form, Compactus. Teamed with blue and mauve asters, it makes a hot contrast. As does lilac-pink Colchicumspeciosum, planted at the shrub’s base.
Fiery tints also come from Japanese maples, especially Acer japonicum Aconitifolium and magnificent A. palmatum Osakazuki. The trees thrive in most soils, but hate wind and prefer a moist climate.
For spring fireworks, there’s a startling little sycamore, Acer pseudoplatanus Brilliantissimum. New spring leaves resemble luminescent prawns. But that frightening pink turns cream as they unfurl. They’re susceptible to sunburn so plant in shade.
Spring blossom makes for wonderful colours. Those cherries I mentioned can slow traffic as people pause to admire.
My star tree — if I had space — would be Paulownia tomentosa. Each May, proud spikes of soft mauve blossoms stand above the large emerging leaves like candles on a Christmas tree.
Away from spring, the large white blossoms of Eucryphia nymansensis Nymansay give a fabulous show in late August. Plant this tree to view from across a lawn or to reflect in a pond.
SUPER STARBURSTS
AMONg herbaceous plants, floral fireworks can be revealed by their names. Lysimachia ciliata Firecracker erupts with masses of small, yellow flowers among dark khaki foliage. It does best in dampish soil but beware, it can be rather invasive.
Rocket, the salad ingredient, is a corruption of the Latin name Eruca. Sweet rocket or dame’s violet, Hesperis matronalis, creates a fragrant burst of lilac, mauve or white flowers in early summer.
Honesty, or Lunaria, is a louder purple than sweet rocket, but a cheerful shout is just what we want as a herald of summer. Bees and butterflies love it, too.
Honesty and sweet rocket selfsow liberally — a lazy gardener’s dream. So do red field poppies and their softer-hued relatives, Shirley poppies. If allowed to seed, they’ll provide the hottest of summer shows year after year.
Certain chrysanthemum are even shaped like fireworks. So-called Fantasy varieties have long, narrow rays curled at their tips. They need a greenhouse, but are great for cutting. For more information, try hallsofheddon.com.
My favourite outdoor chrysanthemum, Emperor of China, has irregular silvery pink blooms just like firework starbursts. What’s more, they contrast with the November foliage which turns smouldering beetroot red. How’s that for floral pyrotechnics?