Acanthus
Posted By Judith on 7th May 2018
Acanthus. A genus of about 50 species of herbaceous perennials one of the most popular being Acanthus Mollis. Affectionately known as ‘bear’s breeches’, (no idea why) it is a grown for it’s attractive foliage and architecturally bold flower spikes.
We had one in our garden at ‘Ravendale House’ and a fine plant it was too.
So in April last year I sowed 5 seeds. When fully grown a single plant can easily be 3ft in all directions so you don’t need too many of them to make a statement in a border. I thought, allowing for casualties, 5 was just about right.
I was delighted when they all germinated and by July I had 5 healthy plants with robust root systems. I was very pleased.
At the beginning of Winter I checked them over, everything seemed OK and as they seemed happy I resisted the urge to pot them on and decided to just leave them be, outside, in a sheltered position.
In March this year I came out of hibernation and went to check on them. The foliage was a bit ragged, hardly surprising after such a long winter but the root systems were healthy as ever.
In mid-March, thinking the worst of the weather was behind us, I planted 3 of them in the garden. As we now know I was wrong, the weather took a nose dive and we had another long, cold, wet and windy period.
When I emerged from hibernation for the second time and checked on my 5 plants they were all DEAD. I was shocked. The once fat, white, fleshy roots looked for all the world like dead earthworms. In short the pots were filled with a brown mush. As far as I could tell the 3 planted outdoors had suffered the same fate.
The consensus seems to be they were too wet for too long and yet I’d managed to get them all the way through Winter to March un-scaithed, what’s that about? Still, what do I know, I’m only supposed to be a gardener!
If all had gone according to plan I had been hoping for a display like this in a few years time.
Other things I can’t grow are Hollyhocks (the only one we have was grown by Gladys and is still going strong) Delphiniums (the slugs just devour them overnight) and Cauliflowers, though I am having another go at those this year.
In other news.
On Thursday I began one of the jobs I love best in my gardening year, planting out the peas and broad beans that I’ve grown from seed.
Here are the peas, such pretty little plants when they’re young, but like all things a little less so when they’re older.
You can probably see that the canes are in ready for the broad beans and I’ve started digging over the adjacent bed ready for the sweetcorn in a few weeks time.
Elsewhere the flowers in the drive are lovely as ever.
