#summerdormant

Plant of the Day

Friday 9 December 2022

This white cultivar of the South African bulb Nerine bowdenii 'Alba' (Bowden lily) was recently flowering in my friend’s garden on Orkney. The plant is a summer-dormant perennial that is autumn-flowering followed by the growth of long, strappy foliage in autumn once the temperature drops.

Plant of the Day

Sunday 5 June 2022

The delicate pink flowers of Papaver (Oriental Group) 'Prinzessin Victoria Louise' (oriental poppy) have contrasting black spots within the petal. Here they are placed at the front of this border at the entrance to a rose garden. This is a robust herbaceous perennial that forms a low clump of coarse, hairy leaves, and usually becomes dormant, disappearing completely by late summer.

Plant of the Day

Monday 12 September 2022

The flowers of Nerine bowdenii (Bowden lily) seem to be the introduction to autumn. Here in a planting outside my local sports centre they were intermingled with ornamental grasses which also look their best at the end of the season. These are summer-dormant, perennial bulbs which produce flowers on erect stems and later the strap-shaped leaves appear.

Plant of the Day

Sunday 27 March 2022.

Growing in full or partial shade in moist soil Cardamine pentaphylla (showy toothwort) will produce delicate pink flowers in the early spring. This is a spreading perennial which becomes summer dormant.

Plant of the Day

Thursday 17 February 2022

A woodland plant from China, Japan and Korea Adonis amurensis (Amur adonis, pheasant's eye) flowers in the shelter of the cool glasshouse. The yellow flowers last for several weeks and the leaves emerge towards the end of flowering. By early summer, the plant will have died back and gone dormant.

Plant of the Day

Wednesday 24 November 2021

On the Alpine House bench a container of Oxalis palmifrons (palm-leaf false shamrock) displays its wonderful foliage that resembles miniature palm trees. This slow growing South African plant is dormant during the summer and comes to life during the cooler months. It requires a free-draining soil mix to avoid the plant being waterlogged.

Plant of the Day

Wednesday 21 April 2021

These flowering Ipheion 'Alberto Castillo' (starflower) line the edge of the path. This cultivar has white flowers with each petal having a faint green central stripe, the species has blue flowers. The plant is summer deciduous plant, which means it dies back during the summer. Ipheion can be considered invasive in some regions.

Plant of the Day

Tuesday 15 September 2020

Flowering between the foliage of Pulmonaria saccharata Argentea Group (Bethlehem sage) is Colchicum autumnale 'Album' (autumn crocus) with goblet-shaped blooms. The large leaves will appear in the spring and be retained until mid-summer, the plant is then summer dormant. These autumn-flowering bulbs need sun or dappled shade with a free draining moisture-retentive soil.