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| Its not the birds and the bees but the balls and the bees. The flowers were alive with them! |
Allium Sphaerocephalon- Hampton was heaving with balls. There were Alliums everywhere; in the flower marquee, in the show gardens, but also clutched in virtually every pair of sweaty hands I could see, and they were all the same variety. Allium Sphaerocephalon can be effectively summed up as a dark red purple tennis ball on a long stick. A stick that has a shocking amount of flexibility which wiped the smile of every purchasers face as realisation set in that they were going to have a fight on their hands to maintain order with their new set of balls. Thankfully I took a picture of the label because ‘Sphaerocephalon’ is not exactly catchy! Other Alliums get memorable descriptive English names such as ‘ping pong’ or ‘red Mohican’ that you have a hope in hell in remembering, but clearly ‘Sphaerocephalon’ is just too descriptive to replace, even in Latin so that’s what they decided to stick with. Every Allium seller had a delightful display of these flowers and they were a definite winner with the crowds. However the best display belonged to a nursery situated outside of the flower marquee as it had turned into a complete bee-fest. If ever you wanted conformation that bees like alliums this was it, there were at least forty bees and those bees were going to town!
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| A Koria hydrangea forced out early so we all knew what we were getting. The mother had to choose this exact moment to have a feel didn't she |
Hydrangea Koria- Exactly like a normal lacecap hydrangea, except it looks like its been attacked by an arts and crafts fanatic with their beloved crimping shears. There is nothing like a little frilly edge to add a bit of interest. I would say that along with the aforementioned allium, hydrangeas were the other plant of Hampton. People were definitely buying ‘Koria’ en mass but not quite like they were buying another variety sold by the same nursery that had completely cornered the market. Stupidly as it didn’t appeal to me I didn’t get the variety but it was a two toned lacecap. A mottled mixture of purple and blue I swear every other person had bought one. I would see visitors from behind, assume they were carrying a child and then have them turn round and reveal the hydrangea lovingly clutched to the bosom. There weren’t many kids at Hampton, so maybe people had withdrawal pangs for the dead weight they were used to lugging around and filled that hole with a hydrangea.
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| 'Sunny Side up' Superbums are simply stunning |
Leucanthemum x superbum ‘sunny side up’- What a name. Bravo to who ever named a plant ‘superbum’. Any plant with a name like that deserves a special mention. As it happens I am particularly fond of daisy-type plants. Closely related to the ox-eye daisies seen on all verges round my area but on steroids, these have a lovely mass-packed untidy texture that I find irresistible.
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| Echinacea 'Southern Belle' |
Echinacea ‘Southern Belle’- Love it for much the same reasons as ‘sunny side up’. I have seen this before while trawling the internet for Echinacea seeds but you have to actually buy this plant and I always felt it wasn’t worth it. I have changed my mind; in person I loved them. For some reason these remind me of fat pink hamsters in tutus, which I know is very odd but they just work for me.
Echinacea ‘Green Wizard’- I considered growing some of these last year but I couldn’t decide whether I actually thought they were attractive plants. Resembling a lump of black honeycomb they are hardly bright and cheery plants. However they were used in the bed of yellow plants at Hampton and in that situation they showed their true potential. Used in the right setting ie. Amongst bright colour or possibly feathery grasses these would provide a very black structural contrast. Despite not taking a picture, me thinks I will be getting a packet.
The Dahlias- I’ve never been much of a fan but three turned my head:
‘Happy Single Party’- Highlighter yellow; need I say more?! I don’t even get how a plant can even produce colour like that naturally. Imagine that singing out from your border! A line of these edging your front path and you would never fall drunkenly into a bush on the way home from the pub again.
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| Hide your retinas people because these are bright! |
‘Happy Single First Love’- Love the colour, unfortunately so did everyone else and they got their first. Name is a complete contradiction of itself. I don’t think it is possible to have a ‘happy single first love’ as love generally requires two, but as this is clearly referring to not being a double flower I will let it pass.
‘Dame Deidre’- Well this wins the award for the most terrible name ever hands down. Way to make a plant sound exciting, no offence to Deidres. Luckily the name does not stop it being very yellow, very spikey and huge. If Big Bird was to be represented in a single flower it would be this one. I wouldn’t probably want this in my own garden as it wouldn’t fit in, but it really is something.
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| The worst named plant ever |
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