Every designer and gardener has a number of trusted plants that they rely on to add lasting joy and value to any planting scheme. I call them Power Plants. This is an (incomplete) selection of mine.
1. Geranium ‘Rozanne’
When we rented our London house (and garden) to professional people, we did not appreciate just how uninterested our tenants were in even the most basic gardening. The result: all perennials perished after a year of snow followed by drought followed by torrential rain. All perennials, that is, except Geranium ‘Rozanne’. When even the boxwood had given up, the geraniums kept flowering in purple abundance all the way through October. Geranium ‘Rozanne’ is the plant for those with zero green fingers.
2. Pittosporum ’Tom Thumb’
Shrubs give structure to a planting scheme. Evergreen Pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’ is no exception. I love this shrub and prefer it to buxus because it keeps its shape over a long period of time. Even if like me, you one day decide to clip a row of pittosporums into cubes, pyramids and eggs. The ‘Tom Thumb’ variety has a beautiful dark bronze colour which makes it a great backdrop for bright green foliage and white flowers. In spring it displays very charming green new growth of its own.
3. Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’
Cornus in the garden makes me look forward to winter. Nothing packs a punch quite like a cloud of this variety of dogwood shrubs with its fiery orange-red branches. Cornus happily tolerates wet feet, is therefore ideal for the centre of a rain garden or areas of poor drainage. No winter garden should be without it.
4. Geum
You cannot have a spring-summer border without geums. Chances are you have one of their many many varieties in your garden already. Geums are the plant that keeps on giving, each little plant capable of producing hundreds of bright and delicate insect-magnets (aka flowers) per season. A real trouper.
5. Stipa tenuissima
I call stipas the blue jeans of the plant world. They go with absolutely everything. With elegant lilies or common milkweed, even with other grasses. Nothing provides more movement in a sweltering summer garden than a drift of Stipa tenuissima.
As I said in the beginning, this list is by no means complete, and I might publish part 2 soon.
Tell me about your Power Plants!
