Showing posts with label French honeysuckle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label French honeysuckle. Show all posts

Sunday 10 July 2016

How to grow: French honeysuckle. By Carol Klein.

How to grow: French honeysuckle - Telegraph
'Once seen, never forgotten', writes Carol Klein
Imagine a whopping clover with flowers of brightest red borne on strong stems that form an open bush 3ft high. For good measure add glaucous pinnate leaves, silver rimmed and silver on their reverse. Hedysarum coronarium is a once seen, never-forgotten sort of a plant. It is instantly attractive and has huge presence in any planting scheme.
Pinks abound, crimson is common but a good clear red is a rarity in the garden, which is part of its draw. Another is the heightened magnetism of this colour when surrounded by foliage. The eye is unused to seeing red and green of the same tone next to one another: the discord makes us see stars.
The Linnean herbarium lists more than 30 hedysarum but most are vetch-like plants of lowly demeanour and none can compare with H. coronarium. This is a legume, closely related to peas and beans.