Plant of the Year

Easy peasy this year. As most things have died or forgotten to flower, it makes it that much easier to identify the stars of a somewhat challenging period.

And the winner is…. Hang on, we must have some honourable mentions:

Salvia microphylla types

Totally dependable in every way. ‘Royal Bumble’ is soo good it could win every year, the Lionel Messi of varieties. However, this year, despite its aptitude for getting better and the colours more vibrant as the year progresses, it has been eclipsed, which means the bar has been set ridiculously high!

Other contenders: Aster ‘Mönch’, a stupendous plant, comes into flower early for Asters and then just keeps going with glorious, glowing hues of lavender blue. There will be others, but honestly none come close, so why put this off any longer….the winner is….

Tagetes ‘Cinnabar’ (Great Dixter strain)

I was given some small plants by one of my customers in spring this year. They were surplus to requirements, so probably not the best examples, but I persevered with them, potted them on and then planted them out in borders where I could see gaps developing or, and this is the important bit, when you are trying to create the orange/purple look for late summer displays but the Dahlia/Salvia combination is just not enough.

Add this wondrous plant and everything is lifted to a higher plane.

Apparently, annuals are out of fashion because of something to do with ridiculous net zero or biodiversity…. I know not what, but as I advance in years my inclination is to grow more and more annuals. Perhaps I am reaching a horticultural Nirvana where the balance between shrub, perennial and annual are in perfect harmony, who knows.

What I do know is that this plant advances the case for the annual in leaps and bounds. Consider its attributes: it flowers and flowers and flowers; it is a substantial size once mature; it has variation of flower colour within an individual plant; it can look like highly glazed porcelain after rain; you can collect enough seed from one pod to give you all the plants you will ever need the following year.

I rest my case, and if anyone can offer up a candidate to beat the winner, I look forward to reading your bona fides.