Erysimum 'Bowles's Mauve'
Erysimum 'Bowles's Mauve' is a plant that every garden should have. It manages to flower almost all year long apart from in the depths of winter.
This vigorous subshrub reaching 75cm (21/2ft) in height, has glaucous foliage and mauve flowers that lend it to many planting combinations. Given a good sunny aspect with well-drained soil it will reward you with months of continual flowering, and attract a whole host of insects.
At Harlow Carr we have it planted in Gardens Through Time among lavender and artemisia, where it looks great all spring and summer.
It's best treated as a short lived plant, looking good for two to three years, however in a hard winter they can be killed by the severe cold.
Luckily they are very easily propagated and available in all RHS Plant Centres, so why not treat yourself during the month of May to a beautiful and rewarding Erysimum 'Bowles's Mauve'.
Vital statistics
- Common name
- Wallflower 'Bowles's Mauve'
- Family
- Brassicaceae
- Height & spread
- 75cm (2.5ft) x 60cm (2ft)
- Form
- Evergreen perennial
- Soil
- Poor to moderately fertile, alkaline soil
- Aspect
- Full sun
- Hardiness
- Hardy in some areas, needing frost-free protection in winter
Erysimum
Erysimum is a genus of around 80 annuals, biennials or woody-based perennials with narrow leaves and dense racemes of often fragrant, four-petalled flowers. They grow mostly on well-drained, chalky or limey soil from Europe to North Africa, West and Central Asia, and North America.
We often know them as wallflowers.
Erysimum 'Bowles's Mauve'
'Bowles's Mauve' is a bushy evergreen perennial up to 75cm (21/2ft) tall, with narrow, dark grey-green leaves and upright racemes of rich mauve flowers 2cm (3/4in) in width, which it bears from late winter to summer.
It is named after the distinguished English amateur botanist and horticulturist Edward Augustus Bowles (1865-1954), once vice-president of the RHS and creator of the garden at Myddleton House in Enfield that has recently been re-opened.
Cultivation
- Grow in poor to moderately fertile, well-drained, neutral or, ideally, alkaline soil; full sun is essential
- Trim lightly after flowering to prevent plants becoming leggy
- Prone to slugs, snails and flea beetles
- May be affected by a downy mildew, club root and bacterial leaf blight.
Propagation
Propagate by semi-hardwood cuttings in spring or summer.
AGM
The RHS Herbaceous Plant Committee awarded Erysimum 'Bowles's Mauve' an Award of Garden Merit and described it as a:
'Bushy evergreen perennial to 75cm, with narrow, dark grey-green leaves and erect racemes of rich mauve flowers 2cm wide.'