Golden Oat Grass, Stipa gigantea

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Stipa gigantea

Golden Oats or Giant Oat Grass, Stipa gigantea in our front garden.

Last Friday I cycled past a lovely front garden in Crown Road in the Norfolk village of Buxton. It was dominated by the wonderful Golden Oat Grass or Giant Oat Grass, Stipa gigantea, which was magnificent. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me, but the mental image stays in my mind as a source of inspiration.

We have our own single specimen of Stipa gigantea in the large raised bed in our front garden. This is its first year of flowering and its handsome golden brown heads of oat-like flowers look lovely at the moment, especially in late evening light.

For the first year, there was just a low clump of green leaves. Then, this May, the flowers started to emerge, green at first, large panicles of oat-like, long-awned purplish flowers which soon ripened to gold. These will stay on the plant into the winter, swaying in the slightest wind to add movement, grace and drama to the garden. The flower heads can reach eight feet (2.4 metres) tall but they are see-through and allow plants further back in the bed to show through.

Stipa gigantea is from southern Spain, Portugal and northern Morocco, where it can be found growing amongst scrub in sharply drained, stony soil. This makes it very tolerant of drought. It likes full sun and does well on light soils, though it does well in sunshine in heavier soils too, here in Norwich: at Grapes Hill Community Garden, where I first grew it, in my friend Jo’s garden in north Norwich and even in my raised bed which has slightly clayey loam, in contrast to the native garden soil here, which is sandy. But it won’t like cold and wet.

There are various English names for the grass: Golden Oat Grass, Golden Oats, Giant Oat Grass, Spanish Oat Grass, Giant Feather Grass.

Stipa gigantea doesn’t like to be shaded or having other plants too close, but there are many good planting companions. Matthew Wilson suggests the purple flowers of Salvia ‘Mainacht’ and Verbena rigida, the steel-blue Eryngium x tripartitum and the evergreen foliage of  Euphorbia ‘Portuguese Velvet’, with its acid-green flowers. Our plant is growing with lavenders, Verbena bonariensis, Eryngium karvinskianus, Euphorbia characias and Salvia ‘Hot Lips’, all of which enjoy the same growing conditions. It goes beautifully with the blue flowers of Geranium ‘Rozanne’ in my friend Jo’s garden – the Geranium grows around the base of the plant in the summer but then dies back completely in the winter, so that the leaves of the Stipa aren’t shaded or swamped.

Stipa gigantea is also used to great effect at East Ruston Old Vicarage Garden (pictured below). If you haven’t already been there (or even if you have), it is well worth a visit.

Stipa gigantea at East Ruston

Stipa gigantea at East Ruston Old Vicarage Garden

Society Garlic, Tulbaghia violacea

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Tulbaghia violacea

In my last post I mentioned our 2008 cycling trip in southern France. At the end of the trip we spent a day in Montpellier and visited the Montpellier Botanic Gardens (le Jardin des Plantes de Montpellier). One of the loveliest plants we found there was Tulbaghia violacea, the Society Garlic. Last summer I bought my own plant and it is growing in a pot on our sunny patio.

Tulbaghia violacea is a beautiful ornamental plant that grows from bulbs to form a clump of grey-green leaves with beautiful pale pink-mauve flowers, borne on long stems. It is a member of the Alliaceae (the garlic and onion family) and has edible leaves that smell and taste of garlic, like an Allium.

Tulbaghia violacea is a native of southern Africa, where it grows in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo regions, as far north as Zimbabwe. It is naturalised in Tanzania and Mexico. In its native lands, Tulbaghia violacea is probably pollinated by butterflies and bees, but other members of the genus have dull flowers that become sweetly scented at night, so are adapted for pollination by moths.

Tulbaghia flowers during the summer. In South Africa, this is from January to April but in the northern hemisphere the flowering period is June to September. It makes a very good pot plant for a warm, sunny patio and the plants are quite resistant to drought and not bothered by pests, with the possible exception of slugs and snails. It can be bought as a plant or – if you have the patience – grown from seed.

Tulbaghia does not like very cold winters. The USDA hardiness zone rating is 8 – 11.  In the UK Tulbaghia violacea is classed as hardy to zone 7, which means that it should survive several degrees of frost, although the Gardeners’ World website suggests taking the plants indoors into a frost-free greenhouse in winter. I grow my Tulbaghia in a pot in peat-free compost with added grit and I overwinter it in an unheated greenhouse from late October until April. In winter its foliage dies back and I keep it fairly dry. (It is usually a combination of cold and wet that kills plants in a UK winter.) If you have well-drained soil, you should be able to grow the plant outside all year round, if you use a mulch to protect the crown from frosts.

Tulbaghia leaves, stems and flowers are edible and can be used in salads. The leaves taste hot but otherwise don’t have a very strong flavour. The Zulus use the leaves to make a hot, peppery seasoning for meat and potatoes and eat the leaves and flowers like spinach.

The bulbs have been used to treat pulmonary tuberculosis and to destroy intestinal worms and as an aphrodisiac. Fresh bulbs boiled in water are sometimes used as a cold remedy.

The leaves have antibacterial and antithrombic properties and may have an effect against cancer of the oesophagus. The crushed leaves are sometimes used to help cure sinus headaches or can be rubbed on the skin to repel fleas, ticks and mosquitoes. The smell of the plant may also discourage moles from the garden.

The genus Tulbaghia was named by Linnaeus after Ryk Tulbagh (1699 – 1771), the governor of the Dutch Cape Colony from 1751 to 1771. Tulbagh corresponded with several botanists, including Linnaeus, and sent them over 200 species of local plants. The specific name violacea means violet-coloured. As well as Society Garlic, Tulbaghia is sometimes called Pink Agapanthus, as it resembles Agapanthus when in flower and even likes similar growing conditions, although Agapanthus is a member of a different family, the Amaryllidaceae.

My Tulbaghia violacea is the variegated form ‘Silver Lace‘. It is very decorative, but I would probably have chosen the green-leaved form if it had been available. Here is my plant, on 1st August 2015, growing with Agapanthus (blue flower), Salvia darcyii (red flower), scented Pelargoniums and a patio pear tree.

My Tulbaghia violacea 'Silver Lace' (pink flowers), growing with Salvia darcyii (red flowers) and Agapanthus.

My Tulbaghia violacea ‘Silver Lace’ (pink flowers), growing with Salvia darcyii (red flowers).

Lizard Orchid, Himantoglossum hircinum – in Norfolk for the first time since 1956

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In early July this year I was fortunate enough to be able to visit the first Lizard Orchid, Himantoglossum hircinum seen in Norfolk since 1956. The site is being kept secret and the plant is a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, so if I told you more I would have to shoot you.

Lizard Orchid in Norfolk

Lizard Orchid in Norfolk, July 2015

The discovery of the orchid by Andrew Brown of Old Costessey was reported in the Eastern Daily Press (EDP) on 23rd June. He first discovered the plant two years ago, and had been waiting for it to flower. It was well worth the wait.

My friend Chris Lansdell wrote about the discovery first, on 21st June and his blog includes three good pictures of the Norfolk specimen. Penny Clarke also wrote about it on her blog, on 28th June.

The Lizard Orchids is rare in Britain (see distribution map). Good sites include the golf links at Sandwich in Kent, where the plant occurs in good numbers and, nearer to home, on Devil’s Dyke in Suffolk, near Newmarket Racecourse. The orchid prefers sunny, alkaline sites, such as chalk or limestone grassland or calcareous sand dunes.

The plant is widespread but rare and localised in parts of Southern and Central Europe and it can be seen in large numbers growing on the roadsides in the Lot Valley in France. I first saw the plant on a roadside in the Vendée in France in 1990, followed by several more on a cycling trip in southern France in 2008. The Norfolk plant is, so far, my only British specimen.

Lizard Orchids reputedly smell of goats, but I didn’t realise this at the time, so I missed my chance to verify this finding. Needless to say, the next time I encounter this handsome beast I will have a good sniff.

Lizard Orchid

A French Lizard Orchid, near Saint-Martin-d’Ardèche, 2008