Plant Catalogue: Herbaceous Perennials
*GALEGA x hartlandii alba. Handsome clumps of pale green pinnate foliage carry dense spikes of scented flowers for weeks. Unassailably tough. 180cm. From £4.30
*GAURA lindheimeri. Wand like stems airily display delicate white flowers from pink buds, seemingly borne by the thousand through summer/autumn. Entrancing here in a duet with Miscanthus ‘Kleine Fontane’. 120cm. £4.20
GERANIUM. The gardening public has seized upon the hardy ‘Cranesbills’ with manic verve over the last 20 years and small wonder when you consider their diversity and ease of culture. Blues, pinks, magentas and whites dominate.
Watch those with clumsy, sprawling foliage! – they are murderers of other plants in the garden. From £4.00
*G. ‘Blue Cloud’. Pleasing cut foliage and not too rampant growth, combined with pale silvery-blue flowers through most of the summer. A superb garden plant. 45cm.
G. ‘Brookside’. We find this a less vigorous plant than some of the blues, but it more than compensates with the size, colour and sheer quality of its flowers. 40cm.
G. ‘Joy’. Soft pink, crimson veined flowers, profusely born on stems radiating from tight leafy clumps. 30cm.
G. ‘Khan’. A G. sanguineum hybrid with huge, deep bright pink flowers. One of the very best. 30cm.
G. ‘Nimbus’. Produces masses of pale violet-blue flowers over handsome cut foliage for most of the season. 50cm.
G. ‘Orion’. A super hybrid from Holland with enormous violet-blue salvers. Has certainly got my adrenalin flowing again. 50cm
*G. ‘Patricia’. A G. psilostemon hybrid, possessing all the brilliant radiance of that plants magenta flowers. They are however larger. This together with its short stature make this a first rate plant. 60cm.
G. phaeum ‘Lily Lovell’. Always worth growing for the dusky pale mauve-purple colouring of its flowers. 120cm
G. p. ‘Lisa’. Sulphur yellow and white zonal leaf makings in early spring make for a distinctly eye catching plant. Flowers are typically violet-purple. It looked super here last year with Geum’Marmalade’. 60cm.
G. p. ‘Marchants Ghost’. Our own seedling with ghostly, pale grey-lavender flowers the texture of satin. Much admired. 75cm.
*G. pratense ‘Southease Celestial’. Wonderful huge cupped salvers of luminescent lavender-blue. A chance seedling from Adrian Orchard of Southease Plants – lucky devil! 60cm.
G. ‘Russell Pritchard’. A very old plant, still holding its own with shocking pink flowers summer long over a generous carpet of silver-green foliage
G. sanguineum album. The Bloody Cranesbill bled dry in its pristine white form. 30cm.
*G. sanguineum var. striatum. A not so Bloody Cranesbill, its large rounded pale pink flowers studding the low mound of cut foliage through summer. 10cm.
G. ‘Sirak’. One of the best hybrids to have appeared from the continent, producing masses of notched, large lilac-pink flowers over a dense clump of foliage. 45cm.
G. sylvaticum ‘Amy Doncaster’. Had the pleasure (long ago!) of acquiring and naming this plant after its’ collector. Not the largest flowers in this group but by far the best coloured – a rich violet blue. 75cm.
*G. wallichianum. From Edinburgh’s Botanic Garden, the pale luminous silvery-blue flowers of this form show us something of the variation we can expect of a species group. An enthusiastic scrambler to 60cm or more.
*G. w. ‘Syabru’. A Nepalese collection with mid-pink cupped flowers enhanced by conspicuous silver-white eyes. 40cm
GEUM ‘Borisii’. A reliable doer with pure orange flowers. 20cm. £4.20
G. ‘Herterton Primrose’. We have been immensely impressed by this newcomer. The pale lemon flowers are well displayed above neat foliage, and the plant has a refined look, a word not commonly used in association with Geums. 15cm £4.20
G. ‘Lisanne’. A strong new selection from the continent with cheering, large yellow flowers. 40 cm. £4.20
G. ‘Marmalade’. Pleasing copper-orange flowers, a colour gardeners often ignore. 30cm. £4.20
G. ‘Pink Frills’. A very pretty form with somewhat shaggy, nodding flowers of palest pink with contrasting crimson-pink calyxes through early summer. 20cms. £4.20
GLADIOLUS x papilio ‘Ruby’. The large, dusky red hooded flowers of this super new hardy hybrid from New Zealand gave us a paroxysm of delight at its first flowering. 90cm £4.30
G. tristis. Slender scented primrose yellow flowers. A far cry from cut flower trade hybrids. A few to spare. £4.50
Images at the top of the page are ©Gardens Illustrated / Sharon Pearson