Wealden Times | WT207 | May 2019 | Extensions & Outdoor Living supplement inside

Garden
Islands, where they are native, and down in the West Country,
where the soil rarely dries out and there is plenty of high
humidity, that is certainly true as they grow to great heights (2
metres). But I have to say that the numerous plants we have here
facing east and all self-seeded into gravel, aren’t too bad either.
It is sometimes difficult to get out of the door in the summer.
Many of the spurges are evergreen and give good winter
structure. Not only that there is such a selection of colours
of stems, leaves and flowers. I just love the frothy bracts of
the big Mediterranean Euphorbia characias forms. They start
flowering in March and go on through to May and beyond.
In their native countries they grow out of crevices in rocks and
on poor soil and they make a good foil for hard landscaping.
Bear in mind too that they are drought tolerant and battle
on quite happily in hot summers – the perfect conditions
for them – whilst around them other plants are flagging.
We were spoilt for choice at Great Dixter’s Spring Fair in
early April. Dixter’s nursery had Euphorbia donii ‘Amjillasa’
for sale. It grows to 1.5 metres with lime green flowers, an
exciting prospect in the border and flowering from midsummer
through to the autumn. A stunning foliage plant. Bob Brown’s
Cotswold Garden Plants were there and his list of euphorbia is
absolutely extraordinary. His catalogue should be compulsory
reading for all plantaholics. Each plant gets marks out of ten for
its attributes! We succumbed and came home with Euphorbia
x arendsii which is a cross between E. wallichii and E. griffithi
and has ‘bronze foliage and flower tints’. This and Euphorbia
‘Excalibur’, another chance cross found at Fromefield Nursery,
near Frome, came from Pelham Plants who had a lovely
selection of plants. E. ‘Excalibur’s new leaves start the season
with a burgundy margin, fading to the edges as the season goes
on and as its jade flowers begin to make themselves known.
A few favourite euphorbias to look out for would include:
• Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii ‘John Tomlinson’
which has very large yellow/green flowers tapering towards
the base rather the shape of a light bulb. You get a good
long flowering period from this cultivar with flowering
starting in February and flowering on for five months.
• Euphorbia x martinii was found growing wild in France
in the 19th Century. It looks good as a winter foliage plant,
remaining compact (stems to 2 feet) but when it starts to flower
… wow! Lime green bracts each have a tomato red eye. I like
Val Bourne’s description of this euphorbia having ‘poise’ – with
each rosette having a flower head ‘perfectly placed on top’.
• Euphorbia palustris prefers moist conditions in sun
or shade and is also known as the marsh spurge. It’s
not only a spectacular sight all summer but has good
autumn foliage too with its leaves turning yellow.
• Euphorbia sikkimensis, the Sikkim spurge, is useful as
it flowers from July onwards and has sharp lime green
flowers which is unusual in the border so late. In the spring
the stems produce red leaves and as the season progresses
the plant becomes more willowy and gentle. Finally, blue
green seed pods are set off by the bright green bracts.
Sue Whigham can be contacted on 07810
457948 for gardening advice and help in sourcing
and supply of interesting garden plants.
Previous page: Euphorbia mellifera Top left: E. characias subsp. wulfenii Top right: Euphorbia cyparissias ‘Fens Ruby’
Above: E. characias subsp. wulfenii with Choisya.
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