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Foul Weather Friends

© Jane Hollis

I must admit I have been spoiled by the last few autumns. The weather was mild enough to allow late summer perennials to go on and on until nearly Christmas. This year, however, it has been so different. England has been subject to the wettest autumn since records began 300 years ago! Many plants lashed by constant wind and rain gave up the struggle to produce blooms. For example, Rosa 'The Fairy', normally a consistent autumn performer, is covered in soggy, brown, rotted buds that will never open.

But yet, despite the never-ending foul weather, there are a few brilliant stalwarts who still continue to brighten up the dull days. Miscanthus sinesis 'Undine' (top left) is one of these. For a start its elegant clump of arched narrow leaves is never flattened by the relentless wind and rain. And then in those rare spells of dry weather the seed heads dry to a white fluffiness that looks almost luminous in the low winter sun.

Penstemon 'Blue Gem' is another foul weather friend that has flowered constantly through these last few soggy months. True it is given a well-drained spot in a scree bed, but its pretty blue-purple blooms have been produced non-stop, nevertheless. A surprise wet weather performer is Argyranthemum frutescens (marguerite). Grown from seed and planted in a new border as a gap filler, its blue-green feather foliage has been generously decorated with white daisy flowers for weeks and weeks. In fact, being a tender perennial it enjoys this wet weather as there are not the usual early winter frosts.

Another surprise is the Kaffir lily (Schizostylis coccinea). The beautiful lily-like blooms seem so fragile that it is hard to believe they can brave the worst wind and rains without being bedraggled. The profuse crimson flowers bring a touch of summer's gaiety to a dark, dull, wet autumn day.

Whilst late autumn and early winter flowers are a delight, the real stalwarts of the foul weather garden are the structural trees and shrubs that make up the garden's backbone. Phormiums, Hebes, Escallonias, Euonymus fortunei, Pittosporum, Cistus (rock rose), Santolina (cotton lavender), Laurus lusitanica (Portuguese laurel), Rosmarinus (rosemary) - all these evergreen plants create a contrast of colour, texture and form which lends interest to the garden even on the worst rainswept day.

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