My top eight planting combinations
Words: Martyn Cox
Wander around the Chelsea Flower Show and you’ll spot many breath-taking plant combinations in the gardens. Sometimes it is just a pair of plants that contrast perfectly, while in other gardens a group of plants catches the eye. Here are my favourites from this year’s show:
Dark and desirable spires of purple Iris ‘Sable’ rise above an airy sea of Deschampsia cespitosa. The vertical shapes of the iris are echoed by those of Acanthus spinosus and Salvia 'Cardonna'.
Frothy Tiarella cordifolia rubs shoulders with Dicentra spectablis ‘Alba’ in a display punctuated by Digitalis purpurea ‘Alba’. A cool, fresh combination that knits together perfectly under the dappled shade of Betula utilis ‘Jacquemontii’.
Contrasting beautifully with acid green Euphorbia wallichi is a little known umbellifer with light, airy white heads of flower - Cenolophium denudatum is likely to become one of the most-wanted plants of the show.
Clear blue Meconopsis betonicifolia contrast with the tiny pom-pom flowers of Aquilegia ‘Black Barlow’ in a plant partnership that is knitted together perfectly by the wispy strands of Stipa tenuissima.
Who says romance is dead? This garden has a plant combination that would make the most hardened cynic swoon. The soft pink flowers of Digitalis purpurea ‘Sutton’s Apricot’ make a lofty backdrop for Cistus x purpurea at the foot of a pergola draped with a white ‘Rambling Rector’ rose.
The popularity of alliums show no sign of waning, and here the rounded pom-poms of ‘Lucy Ball’ echo the height of Thalictrum ‘Elin’, whose dark hued stems compliment the zingy yellow flowers of Iris ‘Harvest of Memories’.
If you fancy bedding out your houseplants this summer, why not try this exotic partnership? The huge, glossy leaves of Ficus lyrata, the fiddle leaf fig, mingle with a fish tail palm above the lobed glossy leaves of Philodendron ‘Yandu’.
The zingy orangey yellow flowers of Trollius ‘Cheddar’, stand out vividly against the purple leaves of Corylus maxima ‘Purpurea’. Yellow spires of Primula chungengis and white Geranium sylvaticum ‘Album’ provide interest at the base of this display.