Symphytum grandiflorum | Green Light Plants
There are 35 species of Symphytum.
It is a perennial herb and can have blue, pink, white or yellow flowers that are bell-shaped or tubular.
The broad hairy leaves are generally green but there are variegated types, such as S. x uplandicum 'Variegatum' Award of Garden Merit (AGM) which has creamy variegations.
Growing tips
Symphytum will grow eagerly as long as you can provide some shade and moisture (a hedge bottom, a ditch or under a deciduous tree in moist soil would be ideal). Cut down the stem quickly after flowering to promote a second flush and to limit self-seeding. Remember, only plant S. ibericum or grandiflorum cultivars - the ones with the yellow-edgd flowers - if you want to cover whole tracts of the garden.
Where to buy
- The Cottage Herbery, Mill House, Boraston near Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire WR15 8LZ (01584 781575). Send four second-class stamps to receive seeds.
- Bernwode Plants, Kingswood Lane, Ludgershall, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire HP18 9RB (01844 237415). Send £2 for a catalogue
- Symphytum orientale/white comfrey
- a lovely wine-red comfrey called 'Romanian Red'
- But, remember, if there is a hint of tobacco-stained edge on that flower, walk away.
The plants spread far too quickly. Removing them from a flower bed, once the mistake was realised, was an impossibility - they grew back from tiny pieces of root and self-seeded vigorously.
In focus: comfrey - Telegraph
- To make a compost tea from comfrey (Symphytum officinale usually, but S. asperum and S. x uplandicum have similar properties) pack a water butt with leaves and steep in the water until it has digested and cogitated.
There will be an unholy smell but this is the price you pay for getting liquid fertiliser, rich in nitrogen, potassium, phosphorous and calcium.
Symphytum | Horticulture Week
SPECIES AND CULTIVARS
There are 35 species of Symphytum.
It is a perennial herb and can have blue, pink, white or yellow flowers that are bell-shaped or tubular.
The broad hairy leaves are generally green but there are variegated types, such as S. x uplandicum 'Variegatum' Award of Garden Merit (AGM) which has creamy variegations.
Growing tips
Symphytum will grow eagerly as long as you can provide some shade and moisture (a hedge bottom, a ditch or under a deciduous tree in moist soil would be ideal). Cut down the stem quickly after flowering to promote a second flush and to limit self-seeding. Remember, only plant S. ibericum or grandiflorum cultivars - the ones with the yellow-edgd flowers - if you want to cover whole tracts of the garden.
Where to buy
- The Cottage Herbery, Mill House, Boraston near Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire WR15 8LZ (01584 781575). Send four second-class stamps to receive seeds.
- Bernwode Plants, Kingswood Lane, Ludgershall, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire HP18 9RB (01844 237415). Send £2 for a catalogue
- Symphytum orientale/white comfrey
- a lovely wine-red comfrey called 'Romanian Red'
- But, remember, if there is a hint of tobacco-stained edge on that flower, walk away.
The plants spread far too quickly. Removing them from a flower bed, once the mistake was realised, was an impossibility - they grew back from tiny pieces of root and self-seeded vigorously.
In focus: comfrey - Telegraph
- To make a compost tea from comfrey (Symphytum officinale usually, but S. asperum and S. x uplandicum have similar properties) pack a water butt with leaves and steep in the water until it has digested and cogitated.
There will be an unholy smell but this is the price you pay for getting liquid fertiliser, rich in nitrogen, potassium, phosphorous and calcium.
Symphytum | Horticulture Week
SPECIES AND CULTIVARS
