July 2021
Your healthy beautiful plants arrived safely, as always well packed and in very good condition. Always impressed.
Your healthy beautiful plants arrived safely, as always well packed and in very good condition. Always impressed.
Just to let you know that the plants arrived safely in North Yorkshire this morning. I found the three boxes on my front doorstep at about 10.30 a.m. so the driver must have come early. I have unpacked two of the three boxes, and all the plants in those boxes were well wrapped and in good condition. I have given them a good watering after unpacking. I shall unpack the third box this afternoon, and look forward to planting them in the next few days. We had a shower of rain this morning, but not enough to soak the soil.
Just received 3x Chaerophyllum hirsutum roseum delighted with them, good sized, healthy plants, arrived in excellent condition. Thank you very much, I will definitely order from you again.
My latest plant order has arrived today and as always the plants are in excellent condition. Thank you for your excellent service. I have bought plants from you this year and last year in several orders. I have restocked my garden in retirement although my first orders from you was many years ago. You are always my first port of call for herbaceous plants.
Hello…..my plant arrived today. It was so well packaged and the plant itself was fantastic…..large, very healthy looking and even with buds! I’ve been ordering plants by mail order for years, this is by far the best one I’ve ever received, thank you so much!
As always – beautiful plants, beautifully grown and beautifully packaged. Don’t know why I bother with other mail-order plants companies. Your plants are far superior.
“A belated thank you for the excellent plants safely delivered for our order. In these unusual times it is a joy to read the newsletters and see pictures of the changing seasons in the gardens, which we have had the joy of visiting for over forty years.”
“I just wanted to say I received my mail order delivery today and it had brightened my week. The plants seem in such beautiful condition and I cannot wait to start building up my home garden a little more.”
“Thank you. The order was received in a good time and very pleased with the plants. I’m sure I’ll be back looking at your site again soon. Keep up the good work and stay safe.”
“Just a quick note to say that my plants arrived on Friday in very good order. I planted them Friday afternoon and they are now settling in nicely. Thank you so much and for great service in these difficult times. It is so good to have our gardens to give us hope. Stay safe all of you and thanks again.”
“Plants have arrived in perfect condition – excellent packing – thanks!”
“Thank you for my beautiful plants which arrived safely today thanks to your careful packing. They look super healthy – you give excellent service.”
\”I am very impressed with the speed of delivery and the excellent quality of plants supplied. Thank you so much. I am especially happy with your use of mostly recyclable packaging too.\”
\”Just a short note to say how delighted I was with the quality, size and condition of the plants you sent me in Edinburgh last week. They are by far the best plants I have ever received by post.They are all safely planted in our garden…\”
\”Stunning… I am absolutely thrilled with the plants. I have ordered from numerous nurseries online but these stand out for their quality. Incredibly carefully packaged. Marvellous in every way.\”
\”I was greatly pleased by the quality and size of the plants. Thank you\”
Image: Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ planted with Kniphofia ‘Tawny King’
We will be discussing new plants much more on our website, but the adage that ‘new is not necessarily better’ is certainly borne out by one of Adrian Bloom’s Best selections, Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’; discovered in the 1700s, yet only now becoming known and appreciated for the great garden plant it is.
Stephen Anderton, garden writer who has been to Bressingham Gardens many times, wrote an article in the Times on the 12th August –
‘Hydrangeas are this season’s must have…’
‘…and your garden needs an Annabelle’.
Thanks Stephen – the only thing we would slightly disagree with is that at Bressingham we treat Annabelle like a perennial and in late March, just as shoots start to show, we cut all old wood to the ground.
See our current offer on Annabelle and other plants from Foggy Bottom.
The hardiest and arguably most spectacular of crocosmias, C. ‘Lucifer’ is worth a place in all but the smallest of gardens.
The seven or so Crocosmia species all originate from South Africa, and since the 19th century considerable hybridizing has given us some wonderful selections for adding colour to the summer garden. Strictly speaking they should be classed as bulbs or corms, but the hardier types in particular are looked upon as perennials. Selecting for hardiness was one of my father Alan Bloom’s intentions, and while working with Percy Piper in 1963 they crossed the hardiest two species: C. masoniorum and C. paniculata.
Several hundred seedlings arose from this cross, and over the next three years they were assessed and reduced to a final six that were named and introduced in 1966 and then sold in 1970.
All six cultivars have stood the test of time, but ‘Lucifer’ has become the gardening world’s favourite Crocosmia. From large clusters of corm-like roots, bright green spear-shaped shoots emerge in spring, quickly forming broad, rich, green, ribbed leaves to 120 cm (4 ft.). It is the earliest Crocosmia to flower, arching heads of vermillion flame flowers on wiry black-green stems, creating an eye-catching display for several weeks. The combination of foliage, flower and attractive seedheads gives ‘Lucifer’ great garden value, especially in plant combinations where the flowers are luminescent against the purple foliage of Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’ or Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Diabolo’.
‘Lucifer’ and other crocosmias need full sun, and even there, given warmth and moisture, the heavy leaves of ‘Lucifer’ can flop later in summer, so may need some maintenance. In hot summer regions, rust can be a problem, and in both cases discretion should be used in cutting away unsightly foliage. ‘Lucifer’ and other crocosmias will grow well enough in any garden soil that is neither too wet nor too dry, but all resent poor drainage in winter. If root growth becomes congested with age, lift in early spring and divide, discard the oldest woody corms, compost the soil and replant.
Protect for winter by mulching corms with 10 cm (4 in.) of leaf mould, or alternatively in very cold areas you can also lift the corms in late autumn, cut off foliage and dry the corms in a frost-free building, and then plant out the next spring. ‘Lucifer’ cuts such a dash that all this effort is rewarded.
120–150 cm (4–5 ft.) チ~ 60–75 cm (2–2. ft.)
Period of interest: Early to late Summer and Autumn