THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Now we get to the heart of Dan Pearson’s plant recommendations… and he offers far more perennials than another designer we have written of…
(Do also check out this review of his excellent book ‘Spirit’.)
Perennials
Acanthus mollis latifolius group ‘Rue Ledan’
Actaea cordifolia
Anemone x Hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’
Angelica edulis
Aralia cordata
Baptisia Alba var. Macrophylla
Brunnera macrophylla ‘Betty Bowring’
Bupleurum longifolium ‘Bronze Beauty’
Cephalaria dipsacoides
Ceratostigma plumbaginoides
Dierama pulcherrimum ‘Blackbird’
Digitalis ferruginea
Disporum longistylum ‘Night Heron’
Epimedium wushanense ‘caramel’
Erigeron karvinskianus
Eryngium agavifolium
Eryngium ebracteatum
Ferula tingitana ‘Cedric Morris’
Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureum’
Gaura lindheimeri
Geranium ‘Tiny Monster’
Gillenia trifoliata
Glycyrrhiza yunnanensis
Helleborus x Hybridus Ashwood Hybrids
Hemerocallis ‘Stafford’
Inula magnifica ‘Sonnenstrahl’
Iris lazica
Lathyrus vernus ‘Gracilis’
Molopospermum peloponnesiacum
Paeonia lactiflora ‘White Wings’
Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Alba’
Persicaria virginiana var. filiformis
Rudbeckia laciniata ‘Herbstsonne’
Salvia nemerosa ‘Caradonna’
Salvia uliginosa ‘Ballon Azul’
Sanguisorba ‘Cangshan Cranberry’
Sedum ‘Jose Aubergine’
Selinum wallichianum
Thalictrum ‘Elin’
Verbena macdougalii ‘Lavender Spires’ (this plant is difficult to find, at least at the time of writing. But very popular, so we are trying to source it for our shop. We also wrote here about Verbena bonariensis…)
Recommended Reading:
Home Ground: Sanctuary in the City
The Well-tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques
Brought By Bike – Topiary Making
Brought By Bike is an excellent website I found last month, where businesses offer their services by (of course) bicycle. Modern Mint and my topiary work is now live on the site offering my topiary services, via bike, to the following two postcodes – CM1 CM2 Now I can imagine I will need to borrow a ladder should anyone have a larger shrub, but most town gardens in the Chelmsford area have a need not just for privacy but to let light into the house… so a balance must be struck when shaping hedges and shrubs to cover both needs. …
Transforming Topiary
Transforming Topiary – a video made for the European Boxwood And Topiary Society by Charlotte Molesworth and I, in her garden. We take a dog topiary and work out how to update it, turning it into a bird. Worth a watch I think, and hopefully useful to you! You can see more of my clipping on the topiary page. Or read my Spring 2021 Topiary Provocation here.
Phillyrea From 1682
Phillyrea is one of my favourite plants for topiary. I have been using it for quite a few years as a specimen shrub, mostly due to the fact it clips well and has a tough habit – all good characteristics for a topiary plant. It also has a reputation for being an excellent nectar source for bees… Read more about Phillyrea here. Mentioning this to Malcolm Thicke, a market garden historian and writer, he sent me a some photos of topiary and phillyrea mentioned by John Worlidge in Systema Horticulturae from 1682…. incredible! He also mentioned to me that in …