Here, in my last round-up of those new plants in this year's
RHS Plant Finder which are stocked by the most different nurseries, there’s an intriguing selection: a climber, two very different perennials, and a dwarf shrub. All these have six stockists (details available in the printed
RHS Plant Finder, or online on the
Find a Plant page)
Clematis Corinne ('Evipo063') is the latest in Raymond Evison’s Boulevard Series of clematis that are relatively short in growth and ideally-suited to growing in small gardens or in patio pots. Reaching no more than 1.2-1.5m (4-5ft) in height, Corinne has white flowers with a soft pink stripe along the middle of each petal. Simply prune hard in spring. Lovely.
Erysimum 'Red Jep' is a new perennial wallflower; a dwarf, short-lived shrub with neat, dark bluish-green leaves and dense spikes of red flowers over many months. Well, actually, it’s not quite that simple: the flower buds are smoky purple, the flowers are reddish-orange when they first open then mature to reddish purple - although in spring the mature colour leans towards purple and in summer more towards red. Simply calling them “red” is way too simplistic.
Rehmannia 'Magic Dragon' is a new hybrid from the man who brought us Ivory Prince (‘Walivor’) and Walberton’s Rosemary (‘Walhero’) hellebores as well as
Scabiosa ‘Butterfly Blue’ and
Spiraea Magic Carpet (‘Walbuma’). And his dad created the famous ‘Potter’s Wheel’ hellebore. This vigorous hybrid between the tall
Rehmannia elata and the shorter
Rehmannia glutinosa, which reaches about 70cm (28in), has vivid pink 6cm (2.3in) wide flowers with a honey-coloured throat – they’re like foxgloves on steroids. They last all summer, they’re sterile so they just keep coming, and they’re magnets for bumblebees.
Finally,
Senecio polyodon var. polyodon. This unexpectedly-hardy, evergreen perennial from the South African mountains is neat and fairly compact in growth and ideal at the front of a sunny border. The big news about this plant is that the carmine daisies, carried on slender upright stems, keep opening from May until the autumn frosts.
** Please note the contents of this blog reflect the views of its author and are not necessarily those of the RHS **
