Summer is here and the borders are heaving with colours that tickle my senses and make me want to dance like a school girl! Of all the garden plants in flower at the moment, none lift my heart and satisfy my greed for bright tones more than the Achillea millefolium. It is a queer sort of plant, and not the easiest to keep alive over the winter outside here in balmy wet England (it is impervious to cold but despises the British rain of January) but those cloched or brought indoors and put back out in April are repaying the little attention I gave them with a myriad of flowers arranged in flat domes over ferny dark green foliage. It isn't an obvious fact that they are in the same family as the asters and daisies, but if one looks close enough it becomes pretty apparent, each individual flower having its typical ray of petals around a conspicuous centre.
I tried some new colours this year and so far I am pretty impressed with the vigour and shade of 'Rose Madder'. I am already faithful to the pale yellow 'Hella Glashoff' as I am to the wonderful 'Lachsschönheit' (which is German for 'Salmon Beauty') and I need to rekindle my friendship with burned orange 'Walter Funcke', which I used to grow and thought wonderful amongst silver leaves of Artemisia and plumes of grasses.
The only downfall of Achillea millefolium for me is its slightly stale odour. It makes great bouquets, but must be kept away from finely powdered noses!
No comments:
Post a Comment