I must be honest and say that the petticoats are not velvet, but two pots of hooped petticoat narcissi in the Coop, Narcissus bulbocodium ‘Arctic Bells’ and ‘Casual Elegance’ (above); what is velvet, however, is a plant recommended for a cool greenhouse by well-known UK nurseryman Bob Brown. I was trying to find suitable contenders for the Coop and bit my tongue as I tried to ignore that it has yellow flowers – I am glad I did as the foliage is not only delightful but tactile too, and as a plant it has sailed through two winters with negligible attention and without batting an eyelid, looking every bit as smart as it did when I first bought it. Let me introduce you to Oxalis spiralis ‘Sunset Velvet’ (below):
Its non-batting eyelids are unadorned by any cosmetics, but I always stop on my rambles to admire the hellebore below, with its neat and delicately applied blackberry purple eyeliner. This hellebore has a highly unimaginative name, something like ‘White with dark nectaries’, with no reference made to its appealing beauty regime – such a shame.
Helleborus ‘Penny’s Pink’, however, is one of several newish hellebores from Rodney Davey, all with marbled leaves and large, outward-facing flowers, which must have been challenging the breeder as they all seem to feature a female name with an accompanying descriptor, in this case ‘pink’. I have had ‘Penny’s Pink’ and ‘Anna’s Red’ for a few years, acquiring ‘Glenda’s Gloss’, ‘Pippa’s Purple’, ‘Cheryl’s Shine’, ‘Dorothy’s Dawn’ and ‘Mollie’s White’ more recently. This year, I have noticed that stems of the now well-established Penny are standing as tall as 18″ (45cms), an attribute I hope will be copied in my other girls.
Most of us gardeners will be well accustomed to looking out
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