A YEAR OF PLANTS: 12 OF THE BEST

Local resident and gardener Mark Templeman shares his favourite plants of the year, month by month
January: It can only really be one plant for January. Hellebores! I have several different ones, but there is an unnamed deep burgundy flowered one which never fails to please. I started with just three plants, which I planted under our apple tree. The spring after they flowered I noticed loads of little seedlings and potted a few up. After around three years, these made flowering sized plants and were planted out. Since then, my stock has increased and I have them planted up in all sorts of areas that need a lift in the winter months
February: The garden is really waking up now and one of my favourite plants is Primula ‘Hall Barn Blue’ I got one small plant around six years ago and every year it has bulked up enough to enable it to be split into three plants. I now have it in lots of places around the garden. It has semi-evergreen rosettes of dark green leaves and deep violet-blue flowers with a yellow eye and grows to just 10cm. Prefers moist soil, but survives quite happily on our sandy soil
March: I have quite a thing about Corydalis. I know and many people grow the purple variety in their gardens. However, I am going to choose a slightly more unusual one – Corydalis solida ‘George Baker. This form had brick red flowers flushed with violet in the throats. Mine are grown in pots, but they can be naturalised in the garden. Once they have finished flowering, they disappear for the rest of the year and re-emerge the next spring!
April: An interesting month in the garden, especially as everything still looks so fresh and new. , Tulip ‘Hearts delight’ is an early flowering rockery or dwarf tulip which I grow in a gravel garden. It is a ruby colour that gradually fades at the edge of each petal into a rosy, pale pink. Each flower has six pointed petals that reflex slightly and form a cup shape when closed but in full sun open to become completely flat and reveal the contrasting pale pink colour of the inner petals. It only grows to around 15cm -20cm so does not get battered by the weather.
​May: Salvia ‘Dayglow’ A fully hardy shrub with fragrant leaves and luminous magenta/pink flowers. It flowers from May until early November, reaches around 90cm and can be hacked back to 30cm or so in the spring if desired. It will seed itself around quite freely, or seed can be collected and grown on where it will make a good sized flowering bush in its first year from seed. The foliage is very fragrant and the plant is trouble free!
June: For shear nostalgia, Philadelphus ‘Belle Etoile’ is a must. A reasonably compact shrub, the white flowers with a flash of purple in the centre smell strongly of old fashioned bubble gum! We have it in the middle of the garden where it’s perfume fills the air. It makes a good cut flower for the house if you snip off a stem below a bunch of flowers. Needs only light pruning - just remove some of the old wood after flowering
July: The heart of summer and so many perennials to chose from. We grow a number of herbaceous Phlox and one of our favourites is ‘Blue Paradise’. It has domed clusters of double, mauve-purple, scented flowers on erect stems, up to 1.2 metres tall. It is long-flowering perennial and is good in sun or part shade. It is usually recommended to grow Blue Paradise in moist soil, but it seems to flourish well on the Eaton Rise sandy soil. Quite a show stopper!
August: This has to be the start of the Dahlia season. My wife grows many varieties of Dahlia, I have a few too, and one of the most distinctive is called  ‘Bright Eyes’ Never was a name more apt as the flowers of this dahlia really stand out in the border. It’s single flowers are vibrant purple-pink petals shading to a creamy yellow base surrounding a rich yellow disc. It keeps flowering right through until it is finally knocked back by the first frosts. This year it made it through units - November before finally running out of steam
September: Eucomis  comosa ‘Sparkling Burgundy’ This is known as the pineapple lily and is not often seen. Strap like burgundy leaves appear first, followed by  purple-tinged flowers on erect, purple stems. Despite its exotic appearance it is reliably hardy on our sandy soil, so well worth trying if you like something different. There are some (what I think are) less interesting versions with plain green foliage and flowers, but this one is the one to wow your neighbours with
October. This is the month to appreciate the stunning autumn foliage of the Acers. I my garden I have several different types, some small ‘mushroom’ shaped and some which have made small trees. One of the best is Acer Palmatum Sango Kaku. The leaves turn a stunning gold colour until they are nipped off by strong winds or frost. However, throughout the winter months, the stems and branches turn coral red to provide colour right through the winter
​November: A slightly difficult month as it depends somewhat on the weather. If we have not had any serious frosts, then there may still be a few flowers of Anemone hybrida ‘September charm’ hanging on. A good plant for awkward spots as it seems to thrive almost anywhere and spreads to make up a good sized patch in only a few years. Whilst it's pink tinged flowers are at their best in September and October, it will cling on until early November
​December:  My favourite plant for December is Sarcococca. Known as the Christmas box or sweet box. Sarcococca are small shrubs with dark green foliage and are covered in clusters of small white, distinctively fragrant flowers which can appear from December to March. After flowering it produces black glossy berries. It is a completely trouble free shrub and can be pruned to keep it at the size that suits you
Mark Templeman 



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