Notes for May part 1

There are some new things on this list which I am sure you have not heard of and I will save you the effort of googling them.

Anometheca laxa is a perennial with iris-like leaves. Growing to 15cm and carries carmine star-shaped flowers on thin wiry stems. Long-lived and hardy in a sheltered spot.

Eryngium serra seems similar in description to E. pandanifolium and looks very similar at the young stage. Massed heads of spikey greeny-white flowers on stems to 2m, foliage is saw-toothed and grows in an upright rosette. Hardy.

Salvia azurea grows flower spikes to 2m and the flowers are (unsurprisingly) azure blue.the flower stems arise forma basal rosette and respond well to being cut back in early summer (the Chelsea snip). Very hardy – and naturally grows in barren ground so it is presumably drought-tolerant.

Euphorbia Excalibur is not new, but has seldom appeared on the availability list. It is an excellent foliage plant – similar to E. schillingii in habit, with long narrow leaves on stems to about 1m. Its striking feature is the red margin to the leaf and reddish stems. The colour subsides in summer but then there are long-lasting yellow flowers.

Eupatorium sordidum is a true oddity, and its habit is unlike any other of its genus that I know (if indeed it belongs in this genus). It is a very vigorous shrub with thick tomentose stems, large hairy leaves and terminal clusters of violet, slightly fragrant flowers. It hails form Mexico and is probably only just frost-tolerant so it another one for pot culture.

Somebody please buy the 40 Abeliophyllum distichum Roseum that are listed – I am fed up with them being the first item on the list. In truth it is not a robust plant – but it does have very pretty flowers in the depth of winter. Its common name of White Forsythia is not good – it is not a thug but a blushing violet. Best grown on a cane as the stems are not strong.