Meanderings and Musings

Mary Toomey

Spring 2004

First decade of the 21st century, a plethora of garden plants, and most of them readily available. Aren't we gardeners very fortunate? Yes, but let us be realistic, we cannot possibly grow them all, especially those of us, who garden in small spaces. There is also the other limiting factor, our plant preferences. Why am I, a clematophile? Why is someone else, a helleboremaniac (well, there is that old English word, anthomaniac, so why not, a helleboremaniac) or any other plantmaniac? Now, you know why we are all ranunculophiles, fans of the humble buttercup family. A simple buttercup, and yet the enormous variations based on its floral arrangement are staggering. Compare and contrast the flowers of Helleborus with those of Clematis montana, Anemone × hybrida, Pulsatilla vulgaris, Ranunculus lyallii, Thalictrum delavayi or any other member of the buttercup family. The similarities are there for us to see and rejoice, and yet there are remarkable differences too. I have never ceased to make mental crosses (marriages) between hellebores and clematis, or pulsatillas and clematis. I am a crazy 'matchmaker' in the garden. Although I have enjoyed Helen Dillon's hellebore collection a few years ago, I did not become seriously hooked on the genus Helleborus - I was too involved with the genus Clematis - remember I am a clematophile. I was content with the knowledge that hellebores and clematis belonged to the same botanical family Ranunculaceae.

Hellebores were not going to let me slip away that easily. They got my attention via a letter from Japan, in November 2002. We all know of gardeners who never give up on acquiring a plant, no matter how long it takes or how much it costs. My Japanese plantsman friend wanted me to seek, find, and send him a bare rooted specimen of Helleborus thibetanus. He enthused, so much about it, and impressed upon me that his hellebore collection would be incomplete without it. Thanks to Graham Rice, author of RHS Wisley Books - Hellebores (2002), I was able to learn more about this hellebore. So, I was determined not only to treat him to this treasure but also find room for this plant in my garden. I was on the Helleborus thibetanus trail. In March 2003, I visited Jane Sterndale-Bennett's garden in Hampshire, and fell in love with her collection of hellebores. Never mind the very cold weather, there they were, all beautifully dressed up in full and gorgeous bloom, pretty as can be, thriving in the face of adversity. Jane talked so much about her hellebores, and raised some pertinent botanical questions about some floral parts, and that was it - I was hooked on them. I wanted to learn more about them. We went to Blackthorn Nursery in search of Helleborus thibetanus. Plantaholics know the consequences of visiting an excellent nursery. In addition to two pots of well-grown Helleborus thibetanus, I came home with more clematis, a much-wanted plant of Ranunculus lyallii and an unnamed seedling of a beautiful anemone? I was over the moon, when Mrs Robin White presented me with this delightful anemone. Didn't I do well? If only you could have seen all those different anemones in flower... Oh, my Japanese friend got his hellebore, and I received a letter thanking me profusely, along with a beautifully presented box of all sorts of Japanese cookies.

I spent last autumn eliminating some seedlings of aquilegias (columbines) in my front garden. Where did they come from? The promiscuous columbines never fail to amuse me. They do not need any help from me, the 'matchmaker'! If I am not careful, they will simply colonise every inch of my small garden. I used to know an elderly lady by the name of Nora - no, she was not into gardening at all - and she was thrilled to learn from me about Aquilegia 'Nora Barlow'. I gave her a present of it, and having seen it in flower, she became an aquilegiamaniac. In the meantime, I acquired a Clematis chiisanensis and the sepals boasting their caruncles, which I fondly call the "shoulder pads", immediately drew my attention to the sepals of Aquilegia. Incidentally, if you are interested in learning more about Aquilegia and its cousins, Semiaquilegia and Paraquilegia, I heartily recommend a recently published book, Columbines - Aquilegia, Paraquilegia and Semiaquilegia by Robert Nold. In fact, this Timber Press (Portland, Oregon, USA) book, is the first gardener's guide to these plants in more than half a century. Sixty-five species of Aquilegia are treated in detail with a complete summary of cultivation requirements, history and biology. The book also boasts beautiful watercolour paintings, in addition to, many excellent photographs of columbines in the wild and in gardens.

Let me enthuse about Pulsatillas (pasque flower), another member of the buttercup family. The finely dissected, hirsutus leaves of pulsatillas - even if they make an ugly exit during late winter - never fail to remind me of Clematis hirsutissima, an aristocrat among clematis, and a native of USA (Washington and Oregon, Rocky mountains east to S. Dakota and south to Arizona and New Mexico). The tubular to urn-shaped, nodding, solitary, terminal dark bluish-purple, glistening flowers are stunning. It is a pity, that at the moment, our editor does not have the budget, to include colour photographs of some outstandingly exquisite flowers, in our newsletter. However, our webmaster, Bill O'Sullivan, I hope, will add a picture of Clematis hirsutissima to the picture gallery. I have digressed. Let me get back to Pulsatillas. There is a beautiful picture of the flowers of Pulsatilla 'Budapest', on our website (www.buttercupsonline.com) I am grateful to Harold McBride, a distinguished plantsman and our Society member, for sending me a plant. I am waiting for it to flower very soon.

As I write this piece (early February), every one is talking about hellebores - yes, hellebore time. Last year, Anna Nolan kindly asked me to visit her hellebore collection. Each flower had a story to tell and what a super time, I had, in her garden. Anna grows them with such love and enthusiasm, and knows her plants so intimately. Aren't our plants, our children too? It is all about nature and nurture...