Wealden Times | WT182 | April 2017 | Gardens supplement inside

ED422 HURST GREEN V2.qxp_Layout 1 17/03/2017 14:36 Page 1
LET’S GET
GARDENING
With Ernest Doe Power
Image: FreeImages.com/Marcin Wojciech
WE HAVE 1000’s OF PRODUCTS TO HELP YOU
CREATE & ENJOY THE PERFECT GARDEN
There’s so much more in your local country store...
We’re online too: ernestdoeshop.com
The Foundry, Hurst Green,
Etchingham TN19 7QP
Tel: 01580 860495
fantastic ground coverers. At Great Dixter a venerable old
crab apple, M. floribunda, growing near the oast, appears to
rise from a carpet of E. pinnatum subsp. colchicum (AGM).
I love Christopher Lloyd’s description of Euphorbia
palustris’s lime green ‘flowers’ as literally sparkling perhaps
with ‘a tiny crystal of nectar in the centre of each flower’.
It is a particularly nice euphorbia with a good spread and
an average height of a couple of feet as well as lime green
inflorescences. Perfect for giving a dramatic backdrop to
bright tulips. Another spurge that takes itself here and there
and then flowers in April is E. amygdaloides var. robbiae. It’s
not a rich and rare plant and it pops up usually where you
haven’t planted it but it produces loose limey ‘flowers’ from
rosettes of dark evergreen leaves which are just great with
bright spring bulbs. Have a look at the Cottage Garden
at Sissinghurst in April to see the first of the euphorbia
flowering. Each spring I admire Euphorbia polychroma
there and mean to grow it. Greenish yellow flower heads
last for weeks, are SO cheerful and are perfect for the front
of a border. I haven’t grown it myself but it might be an
idea as I usually go for huge plants like E. mellifera and
E. stygiana which grow into completely unruly giants.
And finally, the hellebores, most of which started
flowering long before April, are treats in the spring garden.
One that is completely different from the hellebore hybrids
we grow and collect is the Corsican hellebore, Helleborus
argutifolius. I saw a clump in full flower yesterday and it
is a very dramatic, beautiful thing. The combination of
big bold trifoliate leaves, distinctively veined and many
bunches of apple green flowers is very striking. I couldn’t
help noticing that seedlings were coming up merrily in
the gravel surrounding it. A midnight raid perhaps?
Sue Whigham can be contacted on 07810 457948 for
gardening advice and help in the sourcing and supply of
interesting garden plants.
wealdentimes.co.uk
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