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Sally Nex

Tag Archives: cynara cardunculus

Dead plants

12 Friday Dec 2008

Posted by sallynex in Uncategorized

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Tags

cynara cardunculus, Perovskia 'Blue Spire', poppies, seedheads, Verbena bonariensis

At this time of year it’s a blessing that some plants continue to look good even after they’ve turned up their toes. You have to experiment – I find a lot of the plants supposed to hold on to their seedheads, like Rudbeckia, Echinops and many grasses, actually collapse sideways into a soggy heap around November, which hardly counts as winter these days. But when you find the ones that work, they really are worth their weight in gold (which is the colour many of them are on a frosty winter’s day, too).

Spiky seedheads of Cynara cardunculus towering overhead against a December sky.

Verbena bonariensis is one of the best for looking good all winter – as long as the bluetits don’t tear the seedheads to bits first.

Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’ puts up a forest of ghostly silver stems.


And of course poppy heads: many of these do collapse sideways but there are always a few left standing. I wonder what critter chomped its way through the side of this one looking for seeds?

Plant of the month – November

01 Saturday Dec 2007

Posted by sallynex in plant of the month

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

architectural plants, cynara cardunculus

Cynara cardunculus

Cardoon

In the depths of winter when there’s little else to entertain, this is a marvellous change from the usual evergreen blobs. Massive architectural stems hold aloft these sculptural pincushions right through the worst of the weather. Even better are the downy tufts of golden fluff that sit inside, adored by the birds for winter nest material, and beautiful when the sun catches them, too. They’re mostly gone by this time of year – though you can see some of the effect here:

As you can see, the resident flock of bluetits (and sparrows, and starlings, and robins…) have had their chunk, but isn’t that butterscotch yellow gorgeous against a blue winter sky?

As if all that wasn’t enough, cardoons hold a rosette of serrated, sword-shaped slate-green leaves at the base all winter, which then develop into even more stately beauty next year. I love cardoons at any time, but now they take centre stage and I appreciate them more than any other plant in the garden. You can’t ask for more than that.

First frost of the year

16 Friday Nov 2007

Posted by sallynex in wildlife gardening

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Tags

birds, cynara cardunculus, frost, Helenium, Rudbeckia, Stipa gigantea, Verbena bonariensis


We had the first really hard frost of the year last night – down to minus 7 degrees, which is pretty low for any time of the year in this part of the world. We’ve had a couple of minor ground frosts in the last few weeks, but this one has really sent temperatures plummeting.

I love frosty nights, mainly because they’re almost always followed by a day of glorious winter sunshine which makes the garden sparkle as if it’s been dusted with diamonds. I’ve left as many of the seedheads on this year as I felt I could, and it’s in these conditions that they really reward you for it: the ones in the picture are Helenium “Moorheim Beauty”, which were beginning to go a bit soggy and brown but have been transformed this morning by their frosting of mini-icicles.

Leaving seedheads on à la Piet Oudolf can be a bit hit-and-miss, I find. Some are strong enough to cope, but others (even ones Mr Oudolf recommends) collapse very quickly into a rather uninspiring mass of damp bobbles. A client of mine has an otherwise lovely clump of Rudbeckia, which are supposed to stand most of the winter, but despite my exhortations to last at least until Christmas I think I’m going to have to tidy them up in a week or so as they look just awful at the moment.

The lovely fluffy puffballs that adorn my cardoons (Cynara cardunculus) on the other hand have been wonderful – the birds think so, too, as everything from great tits to starlings have been tugging great clumps of fluff out of them to line their winter quarters with. I’ve got another flock of bluetits which have been stripping the seeds off the Stipa gigantea (which has been truly gorgeous this year – you can see why everyone raves about this fabulous grass). They also perch precariously on the wildly-waving bobbles of Verbena bonariensis to feast on the seeds inside: now this is one plant which stands bravely no matter what the weather, though I think mine are about to lose their heads if the birds carry on the way they are. It may be winter, but it’s not boring.

Main border: May 07

19 Saturday May 2007

Posted by sallynex in Uncategorized

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Tags

alliums, californian poppies, cynara cardunculus, irises, main border, phacelia

Here’s my main herbaceous border (the Christopher Lloyd Tribute Border as I now call it – though it’s a long way from finished, and as you can see doesn’t bear a lot of resemblance to Great Dixter just yet!). It’s Californian poppy season, so I’ve got them in rivers through the other plants – lovely. You can just make out the last of the forget-me-nots (which have slightly taken over this spring) and in the foreground the Phacelia tanacetifolia is making a lovely pale mauve contrast. The cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) is revving up nicely and should be spectacular soon – already the foliage is looking great. The purple dots are alliums, which are dotting the border nicely – I’ve got Purple Sensation and A. christophii already out, and A. giganteum about to burst into fireworks at the back. You can just about make out the irises, too, at the top left-hand corner: I’ve got some fairly plain but nice irises, probably sibirica, but the star of the show has been I. Lothario, which you can just about make out in the picture. It’s been spectacular this year, and is the first year it’s really flowered, though I’ve had it about three years now – I think I’ve finally managed to keep it clear of competition from other plants. It’s all looking lovely – slightly blowsy but full of interesting things to look at.

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