Solanaceae, what a useful plant family: potatoes, aubergines, tomatoes, chillies and peppers of many kinds, but also one with many poisonous plants including mandrake Mandrogora, and tobacco Nicotiana. Ornamentally, not so useful? But think of Brugmansia or Cestrum. Surely though, the member of the family one sees most frequently is the climbing potato, Solanum crispum […]
Plant Portraits
Primula ‘Julius Caesar’
The words: ‘…and now it is probably extinct’ kindled a tiny fire of excitement when I read them twenty years ago. They referred to Primula ‘Julius Caesar’, in Charles Nelson’s encyclopaedia of Irish garden plants, A Heritage of Beauty. The Juliana primula, with wine flowers and bronze foliage, had been bred by Winifred Wynne sometime […]
Omphalodes ‘Starry Eyes’
The ability of some gardeners to spot an unusual trait in a plant is a known fact. Maybe the particular trait has to do with the plant’s stature, flower or leaf colour or its ability to fruit well. It is from here that we get our garden cultivars. In the case of Omphalodes cappadocica ‘Starry […]
Luma apiculata ‘Glanleam Gold’
Since Victorian times, the Chilean myrtle has seeded itself in millions at Glanleam, Co Kerry; in places their wonderful cinnamon trunks soar over 60 feet high. The rust-coloured bark, flaking to reveal creamy-white patches beneath, is one of the most charming features of this evergreen tree; the clouds of white blossoms are an added bonus […]
Galanthus ‘Straffan’
When I was a child, a programme of traditional Irish music and song wrapped up with ”If you feel like singing, do sing an Irish song” . I feel the words could be rehashed to “If you feel like growing a snowdrop, do grow an Irish snowdrop” and heartily recommend you give Galanthus ‘Straffan’ a […]
Rosa ‘Souvenir de St Anne’s’
I was fortunate to find this rose in the garden when we moved here 25 years ago but unfortunate in that it lost out to some building works a few years later. It had been acquired by the previous owner at an IGPS plant sale in the 1980s when such specialties occasionally became available and, […]
Epilobium canum ‘Dublin’
It is a plant name, both scientific and horticultural, that gives cause for confusion and consternation. When I first saw this plant in the 1980s it had the wonderful name of Zauschneria californica, and the clonal identifying name of Dublin. I learned more of its muddled history from accounts in An Irish Flower Garden, An […]
Crinum moorei
Dublin may have been the first home outside its native habitat of South Africa for the Natal lily. Initially grown from seed, plants grew but did not flourish indoors. They were eventually moved outdoors and planted in the bed that runs in front of the Curvilinear Range at the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin. Here they […]
Rosa ‘Irish Elegance’
Rosa ‘Irish Elegance’ is a well-named cultivar for its six petals lie almost flat save for the under-curl at their edge and the unfurling bud has a stately poise. It dates from 1905 and came to us from the Royal Irish Nurseries in Newtownards, Co Down owned by Alex Dickson and was then a well-recommended […]
Deutzia purpurascens ‘Alpine Magician’
Deutzia purpurascens ‘Alpine Magician’ is a tall, slender, multi-branched shrub that flowers in May, is completely hardy and will grow in most conditions. When Dr Charles Nelson was Taxonomist in the National Botanic Gardens in the l990s, he noticed this plant; it had a label and a number but he was not content that the […]
Penstemon ‘Evelyn’
Penstemon ‘Evelyn’ Penstemons are excellent garden plants; many of them are hardy, they flower for a long period starting in early summer and most varieties are trouble-free. Penstemon ‘Evelyn’ is a relatively small, bushy plant with narrow leaves and ever-so-pretty, pale pink, tubular flowers; while it may never be the out-and-out star of the show, […]
Daboecia cantabrica ‘Alba’
Daboecia cantabrica ‘Alba’ St Dabeoc’s heath is a native Irish plant which is also found in south western France, through northern Spain and into north western Portugal. The flowers usually come in various shades of pink and purple but often different varieties occur giving us flowers with distinct shades and form. Charles Nelson’s A Heritage […]
Geranium pratense ‘Mount Stewart’
This beautiful member of the cranesbill family was named by Nigel Marshall when he was Head Gardener at Mount Stewart in Co Down. Mr Marshall found the plant in a group of G. pratense ‘Mrs Kendal Clark’. At this time there was a considerable collection of the cranesbills, both cultivars and species, at Mount Stewart […]
Rosa ‘Rambling Rector’
In his book Climbing Roses Old and New, the late Graham Stuart Thomas described this rose as ‘quite overpowering in flower both from the quantity of blossom and the delicious multiflora fragrance’. Other growers describe Rosa ‘Rambling Rector’ as ‘a very old cultivar with large clusters of fragrant semi-double flowers, creamy to begin with, then […]
Primula ‘Dark Rosaleen’
Those who grow and those who see Primula ‘Dark Rosaleen’ are unfailingly cheered by the sight. The dark purple flowers with their yellow stripes match beautifully with the bronze foliage making it a delightful plant. It was raised by Joe Kennedy, the famed primula breeder in Ballycastle, Co Antrim, though he unfailingly points out that […]
Escallonia ‘Alice’
Botanic gardens, beacons of conservation now, at one time were also very keen to hybridise various plants in their care, aiming for better qualities. NBG Glasnevin was the first garden in Ireland to breed new Escallonia hybrids. This work, encouraged by Frederick Moore, was carried out by Charles Frederick Ball, who trained at Kew […]
Trillium grandiflorum forma roseum
This is the very beautiful pink-flowered form of Trillium and is the only member of the Melanthium family mentioned in Charles Nelson’s A Heritage of Beauty. Dr Nelson’s entry for this plant quotes Dr Keith Lamb who said “this variety originated long ago in Smith’s nursery at Daisy Hill”. We obtained our first T. grandiflorum […]
Iris unguicularis ‘Kilbroney Marble’
Iris unguicularis flowers intermittently from November to February and was first introduced into cultivation from Algeria by the British botanist, the Hon. William Herbert (1788 – 1847). The true species of I. unguicularis has deep violet petals with white and deep yellow at the base of each fall. The petals of ‘Kilbroney Marble’ have […]
Galanthus ‘Castlegar’
Galanthus ‘Castlegar’ Galanthus ‘Castlegar’ is an attractive snowdrop of simple elegance with the added value of flowering early in the snowdrop season, reliably in the first week of December. It will also be forever associated with the late Dr. J.G.D. (Keith) Lamb, one of our great Irish gardeners, generally credited with saving many varieties of […]
Ilex ‘Lady Valerie’
Ilex ‘Lady Valerie’ Ilex ‘Lady Valerie’ originated as a sport of Ilex × altaclerensis ‘Golden King’. It was noticed, propagated and named by a founding IGPS committee member, nursery owner and plantsman, Dr Neil Murray. Neil named the plant for Lady Valerie Goulding as it was in the Goulding’s garden at Dargle Cottage, Co Wicklow […]