The Best Plants for Pots Bob Brown

©Bob Brown

The best plants for pots Bob Brown

Fig. 1 Heuchera ‘Citronelle’

y ideal plant is one You can squeeze in a pot can be arranged to be instant M that’s evergreen, with of Agastache mexicana gardens – a bit like the wonderfully colourful and ‘Red Fortune’ between a main door into the house at shapely foliage, and has phlox and helenium or Great Dixter or a stand at twelve months of flower. cover a declining oriental Chelsea. Arrange them in Contrary to comments made poppy with a pot of harmonious groups mixing on Gardeners’ Question Eucomis comosa ‘Sparkling textures, colours, shapes and Time such plants do exist, Burgundy’, only because sizes. or almost exist. I’m a pretty they’ve got their own living The only time I plant laid-back fellow really, but system – root and aerial several kinds of plant in listening to radio experts space, nutrients and water. one pot is when I want a and getting ever so slightly Having a few pots handy continuous succession. Such worked up go hand in hand. is good for making your pots need to stand alone and borders burgeon. I mostly probably merit something reckon on planting single posher than black plastic. Any plant which is good plants or groups of the Some plants are simply same plant in single pots, not suitable for pots, so don’t enough to go into my black plastic pots which’ll even try. The commonest tiny garden, where every disappear into the shadows is agapanthus. You get two plant needs to give lots of within the border – no one weeks of flower and fifty payback for the space it will suspect they’re there weeks of dull foliage, or dull and you can mix unlikely foliage and compost if the occupies, is good enough companions that normally plant is herbaceous. Not to go into a pot. need different growing good enough. After a year conditions if together they or two the packed roots will make a pleasing temporary force the plant up from the Growing plants in pots combination. pot like toothpaste and it can increase the apparent If your pots are not used will stop flowering because productivity of your garden. to fill out the border they you are being too unkind.

13 Contrary to ‘expert’ advice, cheering on my return agapanthus do not respond home on dreich December well to the Miss Whiplash afternoons and covered in ©Bob Brown method of gardening – delicate white flower from responding to deprivation August to October. It’s and being pot-bound by been there since he gave throwing more and more it to me in 2006. ‘Pink flower (but still only over Pearls’ (fig. 2), also bred by two weeks). Plant it in the Thierry, has more ordinary ground where the sun will soft-pink and brown foliage fall on the neck of the plant. but unbelievable quantities They’ll be happier. of pretty pink flowers from April till October. 12-month plants Dan Heims’ x Heucherella Fig. 2 Heuchera ‘Pink Pearls’ Most heucheras will give 12 ‘Redstone Falls’ is as months of good foliage and good as the foregoing. It whatever you choose their cascades over the sides of foliage will never be boring, the pot with buff, pink- usually changing colour red and orange foliage and ©Bob Brown when growing strongly and has white spring flowers. with appealing contrasts I recently sat on a panel between overwintered reviewing heuchera AGMs foliage and spring growth. and discovered how out- Plant three to a pot if the of-date my knowledge and pot’s big enough. My choice experience is. Those which is Heuchera ‘Citronelle’ had their awards confirmed (fig. 1), bred by Thierry or newly awarded are Delabroye. It’s a hybrid of probably going to be even H. villosa and, so far, vine- better. They’ll be listed by weevil-proof. I have a big the RHS by the time this is potful sitting outside my published. Fig. 3 Euonymus japonicus Exstase front door, unbelievably Some plants are effectively useful only for foliage. Euonymus fortunei and E. japonicus have several outstanding evergreen forms ©Bob Brown with coloured foliage. My favourite is E. japonicus Exstase (the Dutch word for ecstasy) (fig. 3). This looks so ordinary until you own it and realise its year- round display of clean bright yellow stays below 50cm even after years of growth. In winter it joins Heuchera ‘Citronelle’ by the front door to lift my spirits. Any Fig. 4 Trachelospermum asiaticum ‘Summer Sunset’ variegated E. fortunei with

24 coloured leaves will be good, My experience of and like the heucheras these Acanthus mollis ‘Tasmanian change colour dynamically Angel’ and A. ‘Whitewater’ with the seasons. Pushed to (figs 6a & b) when planted ©Bob Brown the back with a dark wall in the ground has not been behind it, E. fortunei will start good, both dwindling and to climb. Climbing climbers dying within 2 or 3 years. in pots are a problem so However they do well in remember this. pots. Mine are in full shade Trachelospermums are and I think this is important. also (self-clinging) climbers A. mollis is a winter grower (for N, S, E or W walls). and might be summer Fig. 5 Trachelospermum asiaticum If you abandon them dormant if the weather is ‘Theta’ surrounded by space rather dry enough. A. spinosus than suitable climbing is dormant in winter media, they will flop and grows in summer. sideways, set flower and ‘Tasmanian Angel’ and ©Bob Brown cease trying. This is true ‘Whitewater’ seem to grow of almost all climbers. T. all year and are splendid asiaticum and T. jasminoides enough in winter to have have so many positive caught the eye of the plant qualities they approach photographer Jonathan that 10/10, 12-month ideal. Buckley. They’re both They are collected and variegated. Strongly growing bred in Japan as cult plants foliage is cream and goes so there are many foliage speckly green-and-cream as forms with different colours it ages. The flowers are pink and textures, evergreen from a cream spike. Both and with bunches of cream burn horribly in sun so a pot jasmine-like highly scented sits in full shade. flowers. My favourite is Another plant from the T. asiaticum ‘Summer southern hemisphere is Sunset’ (fig. 4) which I getting everyone’s attention Figs 6a & b Acanthus ‘Whitewater’ keep as a pet in the black at the moment, sold as plastic equivalent of a long Senecio Angel Wings. It’s tom. The young leaves are unusual as a silver/white orange-red and mature leaved plant in having broad yellow and green. Sun foliage. The colouring is ©Bob Brown must be necessary for the defence against high UV redness to develop because light, but normally this I have one planted to climb results in leaf dissection a panel fence which is too. The name Angel Wings entirely in deep shade and is a marketing ploy. It’s it’s only yellow and green. simply Senecio candidans T. asiaticum ‘Theta’ (fig. 5) (fig. 7) which grows wild has long, pointed, dusky on beaches in the Falkland grey-green evergreen foliage Islands. Always look to with a pale midrib and makes where a plant grows wild to a bushy plant in a pot. discover how and where and

35 the answer because I can modify the rooting medium and keep competitors back. ©Bob Brown Passion (fig. 8) has classic, scented red flowers held strongly on short stalks, makes a neat tump of a plant with grey foliage and is rarely without flowers even in winter. I rate it 10/10. Memories (fig. 9) which is white gets only 9.5. It’s like the old favourite ‘Mrs Sinkins’ but much better, with a fabulous clove Fig. 7 Senecio candidans scent and flowers for almost as long as Passion. if to grow it. These beaches There are other classic have a mean temperature very long-flowering plants. of 4°C with no frost. 4°C The best-known must be ©Bob Brown with no frost! That means Coronilla valentina. Some it’s never going to get hot. people have had a bad Even in Britain we get hot experience with it but I sometimes and we have urge them to try again frost. Then it’s native to because it offers so many gravel and sand beaches. I’ve advantages: the longest just planted it in the clay to flowerer (‘Citrina’) blooms see how it does but I have a for 10 or 11 months, the potful which has now stood shortest (‘Brockhill Blue’ two winters looking amazing and ‘Pygmaea’) for about winter through. I’ve seen five. The flowers are highly a flourishing plant in the scented and always flower ground which is even older. in the winter. In bad winters My opinion of Carolyn the flowers retreat but Bourne’s Whetman Pinks then recover. Different Fig. 8 Dianthus Passion has varied from meedful cultivars have very different (meaning meritorious – hardiness, the toughest meedful is such a good surviving below –20°C old-fashioned Anglo-Saxon (Brockhill Blue’, ‘Pygmaea’ word and I can spell it!) and the pale yellow ‘Lauren ©Bob Brown to absolutely fabulous. Stevenson’), then there’s a Ordinarily I can’t grow group hardy to about –12°C pinks. They hate clay soil (pale yellow ‘Citrina’, – I believe the constant variegated ‘Cotswold stretching and compression Cream’ and C. valentina as the soil peds shrink and subsp. glauca), and finally expand break the felt- C. valentina subsp. glauca like roots. Also my garden ‘Variegata’ which dies at Fig. 9 Dianthus Memories is too crowded. Pots are about –3°C.

46 If I had to choose one it Counties member) who got would be ‘Cotswold Cream’ it from a small nurseryman (fig. 10) because the foliage who later died so the trail is so decorative for the short went cold. It sounds like a ©Bob Brown period it’s out of flower and Spanish variety but there’s it’s hardy enough. no evidence of it in Spain. Grevillea ‘Poorinda For a long time I seemed to Constance’ (fig. 11) is new to be the only person offering me. I got it from Steve Mules it worldwide but now it’s in Cornwall. I planted it by got around – which is good. the house wall in October The flowers are pink and 2017 reckoning that as an lavatera-like, look fabulous Australian it might need in December and February coddling. It had been in full under my winter-flowering bloom since August and cherry and maybe have their Fig. 10 Coronilla valentina there seemed to be more lowest point in June. Who ‘Cotswold Cream’ flower buds coming. As I cares in June? write in late May 2018 it’s still in full bloom and you Late spring to autumn

might remember the three, plants ©Bob Brown or was it four, beastly icy, Penstemons are not good drying, sub-zero winds from pot subjects but currently the east between December I’m beginning to think that 2017 and March 2018. I’m the ‘Elgar Series’ might amazed it’s still alive, but get my attention (fig. 13). not only that – it’s also never First they’re shapely plants, stopped blooming. The broader than tall, not nearest performance I’ve had gawky, have fine foliage and from a grevillea was from look acceptable even in G. victoriae which also had March which must be the continuous flower – but not low point for penstemons. for as long – and finally died Then they’re fairly tough Fig. 11 Grevillea ‘Poorinda at –19°C in 2010. So it’s no too although not evenly so. Constance’ news to me that ‘Poorinda ‘Elgar Nimrod’ has the best Constance’ is the result of survival record for me, the crossing G. victoriae with others disappearing after a

G. juniperina. In a pot few years. I get flower from ©Bob Brown the roots would be more May to November. (As an vulnerable to freezing, but aside, maybe I ought to stop I’ll try it because the house expecting penstemons to be wall gets crowded. perennial and start bedding The most serious them out.) contender for 12-month Verbena officinalis var. flowerer isAnisodontea ‘El grandiflora ‘Bampton’ (figs Royo’ (fig. 12). This is a 14a & b), bought in 2011, hardy upright shrub to 2m is still a delight and I (although it can be kept continue to take visitors to smaller). It came to me look at it. Garden verbenas from Mally Terry (a Western come from South America. Fig. 12 Anisodontea ‘El Royo’

57 Weirdly, this is a British more or less continuously native – vervain. Pots of from June to October and it are good because if it’s can really make a border ©Bob Brown planted in the ground and burgeon. Currently I’m shaded by adjacent plants, enjoying Indian Summer the glorious red-black (fig. 16) with dusky grey- glossy leaves go greener. purple leaves and orange- Elevated in a pot in full red and yellow flowers. light that foliage is stunning, The leaf colouring is due to especially in winter when anthrocyanin and confers the hummock of black some extra frost tolerance basal growth glints in the on the plant, so late frosts low sun; then from June to when the shoots have October it begins to make a emerged and early frosts in gypsophila-like cloud of tiny the autumn have less effect purple flowers. It self-seeds than on other varieties. Then Fig. 13 Penstemon ‘Elgar Nimrod’ on my clay – only enough there’s Rock ‘n’ Roll (fig. 17). for me to be grateful, but I It seems to me that people suspect that on gravel drives either find it offensive or or more open soils self- are groupies. I love its sheer ©Bob Brown seeding might be a problem. effrontery and rebellion. The plants resulting Don’t forget alstroemerias from the hybridisation prefer a bit of shade. of Linaria purpurea and Anything that self-seeds L. dalmatica are variable into paving, walls and old in colour, sterility, size, brickwork will make a shape, individual flower good pot subject. Erigeron size, flowering period and, karvinskianus (fig. 18) might for a nurseryman this is be king with a confusion of the most important, ease lawn-daisy-like flowers on of propagation. Currently wiry stems from late April Olive Mason’s L. ‘Dial Park’ to November. The shape is Figs 14a & b Verbena officinalis var. (fig. 15) is the best. It’s a right for pots, flowing over grandiflora ‘Bampton’ shapely 60 x 55cm (‘Peachy’ and out of the pot, and the can be 200 x 90cm), the more sun it gets the pinker foliage is glaucous grey, the flowers become. It’s the large flowers a pearly basically pink and white

©Bob Brown purple shading to white but the variety ‘Lavender and the flowering period Lady’ is unsurprisingly April to October and grey lavender coloured especially basal foliage over winter. I with full-on UV and has a have hopes for L. ‘Lemon paler middle. Moving the Cream’ which is certainly pot around the garden I’ve sterile, long-flowering and discovered that adjacent a wonderful colour but, citron yellows and violet crucially, how easy will it be work well with it. to propagate from cuttings? Fuchsias are not really Alstroemerias are good my thing, especially the in pots because they flower heavy-flowered froufrou

68 ones whose flowers are features Manfreda variegata broader than long and fall ‘Spot’ (fig. 20). ThePlant in the mud. The hardy Finder stubbornly refuses magellanica types and the to distinguish between ©Bob Brown jester-like ‘Genii’ and manfredas and agaves F. microphylla/thymifolia even though the plant list cultivars are fabulous, but which is a concatenation not really pot subjects. of taxonomic opinion However I’m smitten with worldwide does distinguish. the tender ‘Walz Jubelteen’ Manfredas are agave (fig. 19). I got three small lookalikes but are spineless, plants in May 2016 since have rubbery leaves, when they sit potted earning and each rosette reliably their space from late spring flowers after two years with to November. The flowers, impressive spidery brown- which are peachy-pink and and-white flowers. They Fig. 15 Linaria ‘Dial Park’ cream, look out rather than are dramatic architectural hang down. The flowering is plants with colourful leaves indeterminate (rather than often figured and marked.

determinate) which means Also in the pot is a toughish ©Bob Brown that flowers will continue to aeonium bred by Trewidden be produced as long as the Nurseries in west Cornwall, shoots are growing. It’s very Aeonium ‘Trewidden’. nice. Both the aeonium and the manfreda are tender here Summer holidays in the English Midlands. One of the problems with Manfreda virginica (which keeping plants in pots is that is herbaceous) is claimed most of them need watering as hardy by some littoral – you can’t rely on rainfall nurseries but Evesham is or the 14-year-old two doors about as far as you can get down. He or she’ll do their from the sea and it falters Fig. 16 Alstroemeria best but one plant or another then dies after a winter. Indian Summer gets missed and it’ll be a corpse on your return. Yes, you can install automatic drip watering and putting pots in saucers can be useful ©Bob Brown but I find it easier and altogether more satisfying to use drought-proof plants. There are some above – Erigeron karvinskianus is one, Senecio candidans might be another and heucheras will cope. Succulents certainly work and I’ve done great combinations in pots. One Fig. 17 Alstroemeria Rock ‘n’ Roll’

79 ©Bob Brown ©Bob Brown

Fig. 18 Erigeron karvinskianus FIg. 19 Fuchsia ‘Walz Jubelteen’

If you want hardiness in the ground simply to stop in your succulents, it blowing over. It was left sempervivums and sedums over winter and survived ©Bob Brown work well, but keep the two winters in all. It must compost lean or they get too be the hardiest. My personal big and soft and rot in the favourite echeveria I got from winter. There are plenty of Brian and Heather Hiley years hardy agaves too, varying in ago. It’s ‘Mauna Loa’ (fig. their hardiness between H4 21), with enormous hot-lava- (–10°C to –5°C) and H7 coloured foliage. A potful (below –20°C). Sadly most sits in a tiny patch of full sun of the most colourful and but sadly it has to go in in spectacular kinds are not in November. this range. Plant the tender My final recommendation Fig. 20 Manfreda variegata ‘Spot’ ones and risk death over for plants to survive two winter or grit your teeth and or three weeks’ absence in replant each spring. summer are the ferns in the The classics like echeveria genus Polypodium. (Figs 22, 23

©Bob Brown and aeonium are really & 24.) Many are native. Think good. When you replant about where you’ve seen them Aeonium ‘Zwartkop’, pith it. growing wild, critically as This unobtrusive operation epiphytes on tree trunks and which destroys the tiny in the crook of trees. This is growing point in the centre usually somewhere in western of the rosette stops it going Britain but even Cornwall up and forces branching. can have two or three weeks Little is worse than finding without rain. The leaves curl your prize A. ‘Zwartkop’ in when the plant is dry but smashed, lying on its side quickly recover. The range of because it’s top-heavy. I cultivars is so good that you’ll be Fig. 21 Echeveria ‘Mauna Loa’ once planted A. ‘Voodoo’ tempted and might overdo it.

Fig. 23 Polypodium scouleri Fig. 24 Polypodium macaronesicum

Being very discriminating, and July they’re herbaceous. Try growing some perennials I have only one pot in the I trim the leaves off when in pots if you haven’t garden. It gets moved about they begin to discolour in already. You’ll feel much from full shade to nearly full May, exposing the teddy- more in control than you sun and seems oblivious to its bear-coloured rhizomes. might if they were grown in surroundings. Polypodiums There are better things then the ground and there’s such can’t be described as so it’s pushed out of sight a range to choose from. Wot evergreen because in June under a tree. fun!

Bob Brown has had a life-long obsession with hardy perennials, widened and much honed since he started his nursery Cotswold Garden Flowers 29 years ago on an isolated acre of unpropitious alkaline clay in Worcestershire. He is known for having opinions (many very critical) about all the 16–17,000 kinds of plants he’s grown or tried to grow. He has been vice chairman of the Herbaceous Committees of the RHS overseeing trials for the Award of Garden Merit (AGM). He’s holder of the Veitch Memorial Medal awarded for the science and advancement of horticulture.

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