A thug for your garden anyone?

It's officially summer! I know so because the Rosebay willow herb is flowering. Well, you know sometimes here in England it’s difficult to gauge when spring gives way to summer. Especially in a cool and wet year as we are having now. Of course, the calendar is a useful tool for that kind of thing, but as I tend to live a rather pedestrian life, nature often guides my way a little. I cannot think of a weed that could epitomize summer better for me. Where I come from in Canada, Épilobe or Fireweed as it is known there, is a ubiquitous native - it grows everywhere that has been tampered by man (or fire, hence the name) - and as a teenager I awaited the brightening of the roadsides and woodland edges with its bright magenta flowers with great anticipation. Strangely I remember them a more vivid shade than I see them here now, but that could be because there they were often found growing amongst the dull pink corymbs of Eupatorium purpureum. In any case, whatever the intensity of the colour, it still lifts my spirits up to see them growing abundantly on the road to town at the moment.

It is good that Chamaenerion angustifolium (previously Epilobium angustifolium) grows wild here as in my native Canada, it saves me having to grow it in the garden, but the one I do grow here is the white form, simply called ‘Album’. It is less vigorous than the type and has very pale green leaves, two things which lead me to think it might be an albino. This said, it still isn't the best behaved of plants, spreading about the garden in an insidious way. I just about tolerate it in the white border because it is easy enough to pull out, but I have to keep an eye at it regularly! Sometimes I wish it grew more thickly, but it has always refused to do so with me. I try pushing the spade through the clump to sever the roots and encourage more stems, but I can never manage to have it as a solid mass as does Mr. Francis Cabot in his garden ‘Les Quatre Vents’, La Malbaie, Québec. There I saw it thick as a wild stand, looking wonderfully ghostly on a moonlit evening. A sight I shall never forget.
I had often read in nursery catalogues of another cultivar of this great weed, ‘Stahl Rose’ but it was only this year that I had the pleasure to see it. I was a bit suspect at the idea of a pink selection, but what a lovely thing it turns out to be! I visited Phoenix Perennials a couple of days ago and it immediately caught my eye from a distance.It has petals of the most delightful shade of pale pink and deep red stems, a most successful combination. The fact that it had come out of its pot and was growing up other plants' pots gave me a clue as to its equally invasive nature (apparently it runs more than the white one) and so I refrained from buying a plant – for now at least!