Erysimum ‘Bowle’s Mauve’

Jeremy Bartlett's LET IT GROW blog Posted on by
Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve'

Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ (with white Sweet Rocket in the background)

If you want a plant that flowers for a long time and is good for insects, Erysimum ‘Bowles’ Mauve’ is hard to beat. It is a bushy evergreen perennial which grows to 75cm (two and a half feet) to 90cm (three feet) tall and reaches a similar width. It has narrow, dark grey-green leaves and erect racemes of rich mauve flowers, which have a slight scent. (Watch a You Tube video about the plant.)

Wallflowers used in bedding schemes (also Erysimum) are usually treated as biennials and planted out in their first autumn to flower the following spring. However, they are actually short-lived perennials and I have some on the allotment that have lasted four years so far. They are becoming increasingly untidy with age but the flowers are still as lovely.

Erysimum ‘Bowle’s Mauve’ is a bit longer lived, though it won’t last more than a few years. It is hardly surprising – it must put so much of its energy into flowering. I bought the plant shown in the photo above last June and it has flowered continuously since then, including in the depths of our (admittedly very mild) winter. The flowers have attracted early bees such as Anthophora plumipes and have been visited by Large and Green-veined White butterflies.

To give your Erysimum the best chance of a longer life, grow it in well drained, poor to moderately fertile soil. (Our soil is rather sandy, so it is ideal). It won’t like soil that is too acidic or damp in winter and it likes full sun, preferably in a site that is sheltered from strong winds.

It is a good idea to remove dead flowerheads by cutting down a few leaves into the stem. If the plant ever stops flowering you can give it a trim all over to tidy it up. You can raise new plants from cuttings in spring to early summer. Pull off side shoots with a small ‘heel’ and, ideally, choose non-flowering shoots, though this is rather difficult with Erysimum ‘Bowle’s Mauve’!

If you enjoy growing this plant, there are other varieties of Erysimum too, such as ‘Apricot Delight‘ and ‘Walberton’s Fragrant Star‘. Many are scented, flower for long periods and are a real asset in the garden.

According to the Plants For a Future website, wallflowers contain various medicinal compounds but are not edible.

Cow Parsley, Anthriscus sylvestris

Jeremy Bartlett's LET IT GROW blog Posted on by

Spring has reached that moment when the verges of country lanes are white with lacy clouds of Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) umbels. They are magnificent and fleeting, for the foliage of this biennial or short-lived perennial, another member of the Apiaceae, dies back in summer, leaving skeletal brown stalks and seedheads.

Anthriscus sylvestris is known by a variety of English names, though Cow Parsley is the most widely used. Other names include: Queen Anne’s Lace, Kex, Keck, Kecksie, Mother die, Badman’s oatmeal, Blackman’s tobacco, Spanish lace, Rabbit meat and Fairy lace. (See Richard Mabey’s Flora Britannica for more.) The Plant Lore website explains the stories behind some of them. “Mother die” suggests that bringing the plant indoors may have tragic consequences, perhaps a warning that some related umbellifers (such as Hemlock) are poisonous. The flowers have a heady smell rather like Hawthorn or May (Crataegus) and there are superstitions about bringing those flowers indoors too.

In spite of these beliefs, Cow Parsley makes a good cut flower and it is perfectly edible.  As long as you can identify Cow Parsley and tell it apart from any poisonous relatives, it is worth picking the young leaves for use as a Chervil substitute. When crushed between the fingers, they have a strong, almost aniseed-like scent. They are quite pleasant to eat and can be used raw or cooked. The root can be cooked and used as a tonic – the Plants For A Future website has more details. You can also pickle the stems, but again make sure you know your umbellifers as you would only eat pickled Hemlock stems once.

In hedgerows, Cow Parsley is followed by Rough Chervil, Chaerophyllum temulum, which flowers from May to July, and Upright Hedge-parsley, Torilis japonica, which flowers from July to September. In parts of northern England and Scotland, Sweet Cicely, Myrrhis odorata, takes its place. In northern Finland, Cow Parsley is a native of broad-leaved forests and it looks lovely growing under trees in dappled shade, such as in Earlham Cemetery in Norwich.

Cow Parsley

Cow Parsley on a Norfolk roadside, early May 2014

Cow Parsley can be invasive in the garden, though it looks lovely in wilder areas. I currently have just one plant of the dark form, Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’, which has purple leaves and a pink tinge to the flowers.  It should do well on our light sandy soil, in semi-shade. Plants will usually self-seed and the trick to keeping your variety true to form is to weed up any green-leaved seedlings. I first saw a mass of it growing in the garden of the National Trust’s Townend in Cumbria and decided I wanted some.

Anthriscus sylvestris 'Ravenswing'

Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’

 

Smyrnium perfoliatum, Perfoliate Alexanders – a lovely relative of Alexanders

Jeremy Bartlett's LET IT GROW blog Posted on by

A couple of years ago I wrote about Alexanders, Smyrnium olusatrum, which is one of my favourite plants. But I now grow something that I think is even better, its relative Smyrnium perfoliatum (Perfoliate Alexanders). I bought my plant earlier this spring at Natural Surroundings at Bayfield, near Holt in North Norfolk.

Smyrnium perfoliatum

Smyrnium perfoliatum (left), with wallflowers “Vulcan” and “Bowle’s Mauve”

Like Smyrnium olusatrum, Smyrnium perfoliatum is a biennial member of the Apiaceae, though it can take three, rather than two, years to complete its lifecycle. It grows a two bright green leaves in its first year, which eventually become a small loose rosette of basal leaves. Upright flowering stems follow in years two or three. These stems bear tiny, airy flowers surrounded by showy, glowing bracts, variously described as chartreuse-yellow, lime-green or green-gold.The plant grows happily in hedgebanks and under trees, even in the dry shade of Beech trees. It mixes well with other spring flowers – forget-me-nots, foxgloves, tulips, ferns or wallflowers. My plant, pictured above, looks rather good with ‘Vulcan’ wallflowers (Erysimum chieri ‘Vulcan’) and a perennial wallflower Erysimum ‘Bowles’s Mauve’. Looking at my Great Dixter photos from last spring, I see it grows there too. It is a superb choice for a wilder, less fussy sort of garden. It is also a favourite with flower arrangers, as it lacks the overpowering smell of Alexanders.

Smyrnium perfoliatum

Smyrnium perfoliatum at Great Dixter

Like Alexanders, the plant will die away after flowering, leaving heads of shiny black seeds. I have only the one plant at the moment, but I am hoping it will self-seed into the narrow border by my fence.

In the wild, Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum) originally comes from southern and central Europe, west Turkey and Algeria, mainly by the sea, and it is naturalised around our coasts in England and southern Scotland, particularly in East Anglia. Smyrnium perfoliatum comes from southern and central Europe, west Turkey and the Crimea but grows at higher altitudes, in rocky scrub and on the edges of woods. (“Annuals and Biennials” by Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix, Pan Books 2002.)

As I only have one plant, I haven’t tried to eat Smyrnium perfoliatum but it has edible leaves and young shoots, stems, flower buds, seeds and roots. These have a celery-like flavour and, according to the Plants For A Future website, the plant is crisper and blanches better and has a less overpowering flavour than Alexanders. Leaves, stems and young shoots can be cooked in soups or stews and young shoots, flower buds and leaves can be eaten raw in salads. Roots can be cooked and the seeds are spicy and peppery.

Smyrnium perfoliatum is generally described as a gentle self-seeder – so it shouldn’t take over your garden like Alexanders can – although Dan Pearson suggests it is “a dangerous biennial if it decides it likes you“. I’ll take the risk for now…