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Plant of the Day
Wednesday 13 February 2019
The delicate flowers of Fritillaria striata (striped adobe lily) an endemic to California, USA, and listed as a ‘threatened’ species. The main challenges to plant survival in the wild are cattle grazing, wild pigs, and invasive species of grasses. This specimen was flowering on the display bench in the alpine glasshouse at the Royal Horticultural Society Garden Wisley, Surrey, UK.
Jill Raggett
Plant of the Day
Sunday 10 February 2019
A dramatic addition to the newly planted heather beds at the Royal Horticultural Society Garden Wisley, Surrey, is Yucca rostrata (beaked yucca, tree yucca) which adds an architectural effect. It is interesting how the specimens are scattered through the beds and form a colony in the pathway. This Northern Mexico and Southern USA species is a tree yucca growing up to 3.5m high, with one or more woody stems. The flower stalk can reach up to 1.5m with white flowers in the late summer or autumn. Once the heathers grow the Yucca will provide repetition of form through the mounds of fine texture and colour provided by Erica and Calluna species. Some beehives and a large sculpture of honeycomb have also been added to this reimagined part of the garden.
Jill Raggett
Plant of the Day
Wednesday 11 April 2018
‘Boxing clever’ - a display of Narcissus (daffodil) varieties at the Chelsea Physic Garden, London. The individual cultivars are in containers allowing them to be admired, compared and changed as needed. The display theatre is constructed from wooden crates bolted together at the front.
Jill Raggett
Plant of the Day Sunday 11 March 2018
At the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Kew Gardens it is the last day to see Rebecca Louise Law’s installation ‘Life in Death’. There are 350,000 specimens of flowers that she has collected over the past ten years including Limonium sinuatum (statice), Xerochrysum bracteatum (everlasting flower), Helipterum roseum (strawflower) and Lilium (lily). These have been dried and strung on very thin copper wire garlands suspended from grids attached to the ceiling. The viewer walks slowly through this - it was like being in a rain of flowers frozen in time.
Jill Raggett
Plant of the Day Tuesday 9 January 2018
Not a plant today but an organism from the kingdom Fungi that feeds on the dead or dying hardwood of tree species including Acer (maple), Fagus (beech), Quercus (oak), Betula (birch), and Fraxinus (walnut) - Hericium erinaceus (lion’s mane mushroom, bearded hedgehog mushroom, satyr’s beard, bearded tooth fungus). It is native to North America, Europe and Asia but here it was being cultivated for sale at a Farmers Market in Nova Scotia, Canada. After being sliced and cooked it had a texture and taste reminiscent of seafood. This species is being researched in connection with a potential dementia treatment. There were lots of other beautiful looking and tasty fungi being cultivated by the stall holder.
Jill Raggett
Plant of the Day
Tuesday 17 April 2018
The recent plant fair at Great Dixter, Sussex, allowed me to meet some new Fritillaria cultivars including the gentle coloured Fritillaria 'Early Fantasy' (crown imperial) with large petals in peach-pink, fading to apricot and the striking Fritillaria imperialis 'Sunset' (crown imperial) with deep orange flowers and a maroon stems. While the yellow flowered cultivar Fritillaria imperialis ‘Lutea’ was providing early interest in another garden. These imbricated bulbs need a well-drained soil in a sunny location and are said to be deer and rabbit resistant.
Jill Raggett
Plant of the Day
Friday 23 March 2018
Solaria atropurpurea is a winter-growing, summer-dormant, perennial bulbous plant from an area near Santiago, Chile, where it grows in free-draining, poor soils on rocky slopes, and in dry forests. The star-shaped flowers are produced in winter and early spring, and when mature can have an unpleasantly smell.
Jill Raggett
Plant of the Day
Saturday 24 March 2018
The sculptural 'shepherd's crook' flower stems of the South African bulbous perennial Cyrtanthus falcatus (falcate fire lily) attract attention in the cool glasshouse at this time of year.
Jill Raggett
