What's That Plant?

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One question I get asked a lot when I open my garden is:
“Can you tell me what that plant is?”

Usually it’s about things that are in flower, but there are also one or two ‘favourites’ that have a presence at all times. And sometimes, it’s something that takes me entirely by surprise. Here are the most asked-after plants when I opened this year – how many can you identify?

Potentilla alba. There was a large mat of this in full flower, enjoying the sunshine

Rubus spectabilis ‘Olympic Double’. Many guessed it was an old-fashioned rose of some kind

Malus floribunda is a flowering crab apple, just coming up to its peak

Rhododendron ‘Everred’ had everybody stumped

Another favourite was anemone nemerosa ‘Robinsoniana’. I now seem to have three clumps, having started with one, so it must come true from seed

Clematis x jackmanii ‘Moonbeam’ is just coming into flower near the front gate, so always attracts attention, either in bud or when in bloom

Leucojum’s were one of the surprises this year, ‘big snowdrops’ being somebody’s guess

Then were the perennial favourites.
Luma appiculata for its bark

Drimys lanceolata for its shape, evergreen leaves and red stems. This time it was in flower as well

And pseudopanax ferox – what on earth is THAT?

One foliage shrub that attracted interest this time was pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Tom Thumb’

This year’s surprise plant was rhodiola rosea, looking like some sort of sedum before it flowers

But the ‘star’ plant this year that got the most questions was cornus alternifolia ‘Argentea’

Maureen was well chuffed!

• 8 May, 2013
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