City Gardening

If you haven’t been keeping up with my Tweets, you might well ask: Who on earth is Matthew Wilson and why the heck should I care about his star plant picks for small gardens?

Well, firstly, he lives up to his nickname of Heathcliff of the Hedgerows (although the debate rages about whether he’s more Darcy-like. Personally, I think there’s a bit of (a young) John Cleese in him too…). Secondly, after unlikely stints at pizza-making and hotel-running, he has wielded his trowel in some of the world’s best-ranked gardens — namely, RHS Hyde Hall and Harlow Carr. So, he’s got real dirt under his fingernails. And thirdly, he can pronounce Zauscheneria as naturally as we might say: Make mine a double-double! So, ya get the picture. He’s gorgeous, funny and knows his stuff.

So listen up: here’s the scoop on which plants in the whole wide world (that we can grow here in Canada “the edge of where it’s good to garden”) rank among Heathcliff’s Wilson’s favourites for small gardens:

The solid performers

Geranium 'Rozanne'

1. Geranium ‘Rozanne’ (is there anyone anywhere who doesn’t love this plant?)
2. Nigella damascena (what, an annual on a best plants list — yes!)
3. Sanguisorba ‘Tanna’ ( gorgeous, purple-rose colour)
4. Kniphofia rooperi
5. Echinacea ‘Sunset’ (as opposed to the “annual” ‘Art’s Pride’)
6. Rosa ‘Roserie de l’Hay’ (but you won’t ever hear him recommending a hybrid tea…)
7. Phlomis russeliana (in the words of Oudolf, a plant that “dies heroically”)
8. Eyphorbia schillingii in combination with Hosta ‘Frances Willams’ (ask him his guaranteed solution for slugs and snails on hostas…)
9. Polystichum setiferum ‘Herrenhausen’ (lovely twisted fronds)
10. Kirengeshoma palmata (oh yah, loves deep shade)

Shooting Stars

1. Pulsatilla vulgaris (must be the pickiest plant on the planet — needs limestone magnesia with acidic water running underneath — as if!)
   

   Camassia

2. Iris orchiodes (a Juno type)
3. Eremurus robustus  (oh sure, Matthew,  just try growing it on clay…)
4. Camassia cusickii (yup, I’m with you on this one)
5. Rhododendron yakushimanum (ditto)

These are just a few of Wilson’s top picks for small gardens. To hear about all of them, you’ll have to track him down at one of his next speaking engagements.