#wucplants

Plant of the Day

Friday 28 April 2017

Tulip Week - Large double flowered tulips make an excellent spring display in containers. Here Tulipa 'La Belle Époque' catches the attention with a stunning blend of apricot-pink and coffee petals fading to the edges. Tulipa 'Mount Tacoma' has flowers held aloft by sturdy stems with buds beginning as pink and green, but opening to creamy white flowers.

Plant of the Day

Friday 3 March 2017

Carpeting the soil under this Quercus robur (oak) tree are the long-lived tuberous perennial Cyclamen coum (eastern cyclamen) with Galanthus nivalis (snowdrop). The shocking pink flowered Cyclamen have gradually self-sown and naturalised, providing a winter and early spring display. The rounded leaves sometimes have silver markings on the upper surface which provide another display value for the winter garden. 

Plant of the Day

Monday 13 March 2017

The seed heads of herbaceous perennial Ferula tingitana 'Cedric Morris' (ornamental fennel) have survived the winter winds but will soon be cleared away to allow for the new foliage and flower heads to emerge. This form was collected by the artist Cedric Morris and makes a mound of glossy-green, leaves topped with large umbels of yellowy-green flowers.

Plant of the Day

Sunday 5 March 2017

 The cool white, elegant flowers of Camellia × williamsii 'Francis Hanger' have striking central cluster of golden stamens. This slow growing evergreen shrub is described as having a tendency to spread, eventually forming a compact, rounded form. So it could be a good choice for a container or for the small garden providing glossy green foliage as a background and structure in a border. 

Plant of the Day Saturday 18 February 2017 In the Winter Garden of Cambridge Botanic Garden, UK, the evergreen leaves of Bergenia ‘Bressingham Ruby’ (elephant’s ears) have turned a burnished maroon forming an excellent contrast to the Galanthus (snowdrop) flowers. In spring the Bergenia will have clusters of rosy-red flowers on sturdy stems that will rise above the glossy green foliage.

Plant of the Day

Tuesday 31 January 2017

Flowering with these fern fronds in a woodland garden was Galanthus nivalis ‘Anglesey Abbey’ (snowdrop). This bulbous perennial has narrow, green leaves and solitary, nodding, fragrant, white flowers. The inner segments have variable green markings which may be absent altogether in this cultivar discovered at the garden of Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire. 

Plant of the Day

Wednesday 1 February 2017

The evergreen Carex testacea (orange New Zealand sedge) provides winter interest as the arching olive-green leaves become a coppery-orange in the cold. A useful plant for edging a border of coloured stems.

Plant of the Day

Sunday 22 January 2017

It is Hamamelis Week! For me witch-hazels and snowdrops tell you that spring is just around the corner… 

Flowering in this woodland garden was a large specimen of Hamamelis × intermedia ‘Orange Peel’ (witch-hazel). This deciduous vase-shaped shrub flowers in the winter filling the air with scent from this dramatic display of bronze-orange blooms. In addition the foliage provides good autumn colour.