Snowy Woodrush, Luzula nivea

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Snowy Woodrush, Luzula nivea

Snowy Woodrush, Luzula nivea

Two years ago I bought a couple of small Snowy Woodrush (Luzula nivea) plants from a lady who was selling plants outside one of our local charity shops.

I first grew Luzula nivea in the garden at the Belvedere Centre in Norwich, where it did very well in dappled shade in heavy clay soil. I wasn’t sure how well the plants would do in our very light sandy loam, but I needn’t have worried. They have done extremely well and have produced several seedlings, which I have potted up for sale at my wife’s Open Studios opening.

Luzula nivea is a native of southwestern and central Europe. It will grow in a range of soil types and from sun to quite deep shade, though it is happiest in semi-shade. It is an evergreen perennial, reaching 60cm (2 feet) tall and providing dense ground cover as it gradually spreads outwards. On light soil it is a good idea to add compost to improve the soil structure and retain moisture, before planting.

The leaves are quite attractive, covered in tiny white hairs to give the plant its white or ‘snowy’ appearance. In late spring (May – June here in Norfolk) it has spikes of white flowers. (The name nivea means ‘white’.) The flowers are very attractive for about a month, then they start growing brown. At this point the spikes can be cut off down to the base, to tidy up the plant, though if you want seedlings you’ll need to leave a few on the plant. Otherwise the plant needs little or no maintenance. The flowers last well in water and can be dried as well.

As you can see from the photograph above, my Snowy Woodrushes are planted next to a perennial wallflower, Erysimum ‘Bowles’ Mauve’, which will provide interest after the woodrushes’ white flowers have gone.

Honesty, Lunaria annua

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Honesty

Honesty, Lunaria annua, with Golden Hop

Honesty, Lunaria annua, is in flower in the garden at the moment. It has long been one of my favourite plants and with its cheerful pinky-purple flowers it looks especially good in the semi-shade by our blue shed, next to a Golden Hop (Humulus lupulus ‘Aureus’).

Honesty is a biennial plant that has been naturalised in most temperate parts of the world, though it originally comes from the Balkans and south-west Asia. Once established, it will self-seed but it is very easy pull up seedlings that are growing in the wrong place, or you can move them early in the year before they develop their long tap root. It loves semi-shade and often prefers to grow at the base of hedges, rather like its relative Garlic Mustard (‘Jack-by-the-Hedge’).

It is also possible to treat Honesty as an annual, if you sow the seed very early in the year, but the resulting plants will never have the stature of slower grown specimens.

Honesty can sometimes take longer to reach flowering size. I bought my seeds from Great Dixter Gardens in April 2013 and sowed them in the early autumn of that year. I planted them out in the early spring last year but they grew rather slowly and this is the first year that they have flowered. My soil is rather dry, which may account for the slow growth.

My plants will set seed this summer and the plants will die. The seeds are borne inside architectural flat seed pods and these provide interest for the remainder of the year after flowering, or can be used for winter dried flower arrangements. The flowers can be attractive to butterflies too.

Honesty is a member of the cabbage family, the Brassicaceae. Its seed pods (known as sillicles) have an outer skin, which falls off (or can be peeled off) when dry to reveal a silvery central membrane to which the seeds are attached.

These seed pods give the plant many of its names. ‘Honesty’ probably comes from the transparency of the central membrane and ‘Money Plant’, ‘Silver Dollars’ and ‘Chinese Money’ refer to the coin shaped pods. In Denmark the plant is called judaspenge and in Dutch the name is judaspenning (coins of Judas). Both names refer to Judas’ thirty pieces of silver in The Bible. The French name is monnaie du pape (Pope’s money). Lunaria means moon-shaped – another reference to the seed pods. Van Gogh included the seed pods in his 1884 painting ‘Vase with Honesty‘.

Another, more prosaic name is ‘Annual Honesty’, which distinguishes Honesty from Perennial Honesty, Lunaria rediviva. This is a very pretty, clump-forming perennial which also flowers in the spring but has paler, scented flowers and less spectacular seed pods. I bought a specimen from West Acre Gardens earlier this month. It likes slightly damper soil than Lunaria annua. I’ve planted it in semi-shade and have improved my sandy soil with compost, to help it thrive.

Honesty seeds can be used as a mustard substitute as the plant contains sinigrin, a compound that is converted into mustard oil (allyl isothiocyanate) when the plant is crushed.

There are some fancier strains of Honesty, such as Lunaria annua ‘Variegata’ (white flowers, marbled foliage) and Lunaria annua ‘Albiflora’ (white flowers, green leaves), but I’m happy with the normal flower and leaf colours.

Honesty with seed pods, mid May.

Honesty with seed pods, mid May.

Wood Sorrel, Oxalis acetosella

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Wood Sorrel

In flower at the moment in Norfolk, the Wood Sorrel, Oxalis acetosella, is a delightful, delicate spring flower. A member of the Oxalidaceae, it has pretty light green trefoli-shaped leaves, composed of three equal and heart-shaped leaflets, which droop at night and in bright sunlight. White flowers with five petals and purple veins are held above the leaves.(There are also deep pink and purple-flowered variants.)

The plant can be found in shady, moist areas throughout the British Isles. It will even grow in conifer plantations, where it can be the only ground flora apart from mosses.

Wood Sorrel has various other names, including Wood-sorrel (note the hyphen), Alleluia (because if appears at Easter), Cuckoo’s bread and cheese and Gowke-Meat (it flowers when cuckoos return here in spring), Wood Sour and Granny’s sour grass.

The last two names refer to the acidity of the leaves, which are delightfully sharp and can be eaten in small quantities. The sourness comes from oxalic acid and it’s best to only eat small quantities, since this is toxic in large amounts – and also because it would be a shame to pick too much of this lovely plant. The Plants For A Future website tells us that the flowers can be added to salads for decoration and that the plant has various medicinal uses. A Modern Herbal tells us that Wood Sorrel was once used as a pot herb, before French Sorrel (Rumex scutatus) was introduced. The specific name acetosella also refers to the sharpness of the leaves – it is shared with equally sharp-flavoured Sheep’s Sorrel, Rumex acetosella.

The Nature Gate website has some more information on Wood Sorrel, plus lovely pictures of the plant (far better than mine), as does the Woodlands.co.uk Blog.