SOME FAVOURITE PERERNNIALS IN MY GARDEN.

June is a good time to take stock of the perennials in the garden. Anything that has survived the winter will surly be making an appearance by this time and if not then it has passed on to another world. I don't grow annuals so everything in my garden is perennial, but a lot of them are not what is usually construed as such in the gardening books. They usually refer to herbaceous plants that grow into large plants with lots of foliage and an abundance of flowers from midsummer till the first frost. My perennials are small dainty little fellows and a lot of them are nicely perfumed into the bargain.

Let's start with my old favourite and one that I have mentioned on numerous occasions before. Nemesia Confetti, This plant is worth its weight in gold and definitely earns its keep where ever it is planted. It never fails to appear year after year, is easy to please, will grow just as well in a pot as in the ground, cuttings root with no bother at all, flowers from early April until the first heavy frost, and is beautifully perfumed as well. Where would you get another plant to do that?

My next is a little charmer called Aethionema Grandiflora, a lime loving crucifer but will tolerate neutral soil in a sunny position that does not get too wet. It is ideal for troughs or pots and flowers in April and May when it produces loosely branched stems covered with ice pink flowers and a perfume that would take your breath away. Apart from those that are growing in various places in the garden I always grow one in the alpine house just for the perfume alone ,and on a warm day I can smell it a good five yards from the door.

Another favourite plant is a short stemmed terrestrial or epiphytic perennial belonging to the family of bromeliads called Fascicularia bicolour. This is a curious little fellow with spiky leaves much like a pineapple and towards the end of the summer the rosette of leaves turn red and an inflorescence appears in the centre with tubular bright blue flowers. The whole spectacle lasts for nearly three months.

Molly Saunders is a nice little viola with black flowers, and while not really classified as a true perennial it does last for a number of years with me. This is another of my favourites and although the flowers appear to be black they are really very deep velvet purple but you would a magnifying glass to find that out. This little plant flowers all summer, is easy to root from cuttings, and makes a useful foil for some of the more gaudy flowers.

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