Gardening Gardening
Plants of the
Month
March
Narcissus ‘ Rip Van Winkle ’
This double-flowered dwarf Irish cultivar , is one of the more unusual and eye catching Daffodils with its spiky , yellow petals . Rip Van Winkle is excellent naturalised with other bulbs at the front of a border and as a cut flower . They are pest resistant and when given ample sunlight and moisture during the growing season , will provide years of tousled colour in early spring for many years . Well worth picking one up from the Plant Centre .
Words : Peter Edge , Plant Centre Manager
April Erythronium pagoda
I can ’ t get enough of this plant . Absolute dream . This Erythronium with its mottled leaves and bright yellow lily like flowers is a hybrid of E . californicum and E . toulumnense . It prefers a damp spot with partial or dappled shade and if happy will spread vigorously , so best to plant giving plenty of space to neighbouring plants . The Royal Horticultural Society have given it an Award of
Garden Merit and it is available in the Plant Centre .
May Primula pulverulenta
The Mealy Primrose can be found in numbers as you walk from the Ornamental Garden to the Cherry Orchard , rosettes of reddish purple flowers add colour to this area under the trees . We collect the seed in autumn and sow before the spring so we have plenty in the nursery to provide the Plant Centre . Put this Primula in a damp fertile spot in part shade to return year after year .
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