The flowering spires of the bushy perennial Erysimum Bowles’s Mauve, will enrich the border at the Lakeside garden from late winter through to late summer, possibly into autumn, with the beautiful eye catching subtle violet shaded flowers.
Erysimum Bowles’s Mauve is native to Britain and Ireland and is a member of the Brassicaceae family. The plant was grown in the late 1800s by EA Bowles at Myddleton House.
I call this perennial one of the connoisseurs for any planting scheme, it’s classy, there’s no denying it! It’s high on my list for environmental gardening as the beautiful mauve flowers are nectar and pollen rich for bees, butterflies, moths, lacewings, hoverflies and ladybirds. The single flowers are complimented with the striking narrow grey/ green leaves. Flowers are 4 petalled, 2cm across, ideal for pollinators.
This is an adventurous style planting under the heritage espalier apples of the rooftop garden. Adventurous in the sense they will potentially grow to be too bushy for this planting design concept, 75cm× 60 cm. With some strategic late summer pruning, not too harsh, to keep in check, this will extend the life/ longevity of this shorter-term hardy perennial.
It really is time to get cracking on planting jobs like this now, working with the environment and wildlife. We need to see more of these pollinating insects in the garden! Last year was a dreadful show for butterflies, we as Gardeners/ Horticulturists can make a difference to that from within our own plots and gardens by planting to attract all these insects into our green spaces.
I plan to take a stock of heel cuttings from the Erysimum during late summer. These will be struck into a peat free gritty compost mix, grown on in the cold frame, overwintered, and to plant out a new stock of plants for next spring / summer.
The Erysimum Bowles’s Mauve has been planted along the rooftop garden border into a rich mix of peat free compost, strulch (wheat straw with added iron minerals) and wood ash from the Biomass area, this will promote greater flowering.
Erysimum Bowles’s Mauve grows in a wide range of soils but performs particularly well on chalky soils. Full sun is the preference for exceptional flowering, but it will take semi shaded conditions. This perennial is also excellent for coastal gardens and will thrive under those conditions. I’ve seen it so many times doing just that.
Kevin Line
Head Gardener/ Plantsman, Lakeside Hotel Garden, South Cumbria.
Freelance Garden Adviser.
Member of Professional Gardeners ‘Guild.
Listed, Hort Week, top 100 UK Head Gardeners, (Consultation from Industry Experts)
HPS Blogs since May 2015, member since early 2013.
