episode 95 | show notes & advice
episode description
This week, Sarah and Arthur talk about their favourite perennials for a beautiful, productive, and self-reliant garden. Very easy to care for, and a great way to introduce garden glamour, these perennials are total must-haves for anyone looking to breathe life and colour into their borders.
in this episode, discover
- The stylish perennials at the top of Sarah’s list
- Arthur’s shopping list for an exciting garden project
- Evocative perennials from Sarah’s parent’s garden
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advice sheet
Sarah’s memories of a self-seeding garden (1:23)
Sarah recalls her parent’s self-seeding garden, laden with short-lived perennials that reappear up to three or four metres away the following year.
- Honesty
- Sweet Rocket
- Wallflowers
- Foxgloves
- Linaria purpurea ‘Cannon Went’
Arthur shares some of his short-lived favourites (2:36)
- Aquilegia – great plants for self-sowing, comes in a watercolour hues.
- Perennial sweet pea – loads of colours to choose from. Arthur loves how pink perennial sweet peas can snake through grass like magenta ribbons.
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- Salvia x Jamensis – flowers much earlier than lavender.
- Lavender ‘Hidcote’ - great in a sunny garden with free draining soil.
Garden grasses (5:21)
- Stipa gigantea ‘Golden Oats’ cutting grass – great for impact. Fabulous, tall, and elegant.
- Chasmanthium latifolium – a modern favourite and can be grown from seed. Takes a while to germinate but is an excellent value for money perennial. Sarah loves the Ironed-flat corn sheathes and elegant diorama curved stems. Also, a cracker for Christmas wreathes and the Christmas table, with or without paint or spray, it dries beautifully.
- Briza media – not to be confused with Briza Maxima. It’s perennial, delicate, and every panicle looks like a teardrop hanging on a stem. In any breeze, you see the whole plant quaking
Self-reliant roses (7:44)
- Rosa x odorata 'Mutabilis' – Always in flower at Perch Hill. Almost as if it’s fashioned from silk, looks simply stunning even if it’s a bit raggedy.
- Rosa glauca – another excellent border perennial.
- Rosa ‘De Resht’ – An old China rose. Unbelievably healthy, flowers lightly. Very long performing and never has black spot or mildew.
- Rose ‘Calendar Girl’ – mix of reds and pinks. Very fairy tale.
- Rosa 'Champagne Moment' – new but with an antique look, a prolific flowerer.
Ground cover (11:37)
- Erigeron karvinskianus ‘Profusion’ – romps through the paths and the little crevices that nothing else wants to grow into.
- Ivy-leaved toadflax – one of Sarah’s favourites. Almost like a miniature snapdragon.
Plants to complement shrubs and trees (12:43)
- Cyclamen – whatever tree you plant them under, they seem to thrive. ‘hederifolium’ for the autumn and ‘coum’ for the spring. The leaves alternate with the flowers, so you never have a blank space.
Products mentioned in the podcast
Other great self-reliant plants
- Persicara – a lovely candy pink.
- Japanese anemone – thrives on neglect, good in shady places, and a great alternative to cosmos. Although, be careful, they do tend to take over.
- Oriental poppies – stake if you can, but don’t worry too much.
- Salvia greggii 'Amethyst Lips' – handsome in purple and white, and reliable.
