NO FUSS PERENNIAL

I don’t fuss with perennials (anymore). To live in my garden they must look after themselves…

                                                                                              

    The Toad lily (Tricyrtis hirta) does , and blooms in the autumn…..

                                                                                       

fabulous with the club moss (Selaginella kraussiana ‘Aurea’) below.

                                                                                                 

According to Allan Armitage (THE perennial expert) they got the common name ‘toad lily’ from the fact that members of the Tasaday Tribe in the Philippines, their native habitat, rub their hands with the juice of the flowers and foliage before going to capture frogs.

Thought you might like to know.

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WHAT WAS I THINKING?

Never one to work on just one project, I am now looking into another area of the garden I may not have discussed before; that would be the Mourning Bench.

                                                                             

  Located  down the walk from the Circle of friends,  just past the intersecting path that leads to the Potager and compost, sits the Mourning Bench. Flanked by two variegated Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens ‘variegata’), it is recessed into the border and one can pass it without noticing.

                                                                    

I spent a lot of time here, both having morning coffee and finding shelter from the sun when working in the Potager. Opposite the bench were planted perennials, a tapestry.  Quite lovely for several years, then…

                                                                  

 the Vinca appeared.  Above, it is pushing the Golden Club Moss (Selaginella krausiana ‘Aurea’) into the path. Earlier in the season I thought I would let the Vinca take over….but It looks terrible!

WHAT WAS  I THINKING?

                                                                  

So, while I recruit an extra pair of hands to help with the landscape fabric, then locate the right colour pea gravel for the Circle of Friends… this is what I will be working on.

© All photos & text 2010