On 04/01/2015 23:27, Bob Hobden wrote:
"Spider" wrote

, Martin wrote:
Pam Moore wrote:

What plants do urglers recommend as flowering for the longest time.
So many things I like flower for a week or two and then are over. In
my garden iris sibirica and Patty's Plum are offenders.

Roses encouraged by dead heading.


+ 1, then add Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve'.
I bought this Erysimum for a 90+ friend and neighbour. He'd neither
heard of it nor seen it before; now he can't stop telling me how good
it is. Bees and buttlerflies love it. After a few years (3-4), it gets
a bit straggly and woody, but it's easy to take cuttings and start it
off again. However, young plants are fairly cheap if propagating isn't
your thing.

Another favourite of mine is Potentilla fruticosa, also loved by bees.
The soft yellow-flowered type seems to be the most floriferous in my
experience and it goes on for months. I had a 25ft hedge of it years
ago and it was gorgeous - even the neighbours loved it! Indeed, one
gent copied it.

I also find hardy Fuchsias have a longish flowering season, but I know
they don't appeal to everyone.

On a smaller scale, Erigeron karvinskianus flowers most of the year
and is a delicate froth of white/pink/carmine flowers.

A useful tip which I use a lot for favourite plants with a shorter
flowering season is to place them around the garden so that each
receives sunshine at a different time of day. Sometimes it's possible
to extend the season by a month or perhaps more.

From my experience all the Erysimums, not just Bowles Mauve, are good
value plants that keep on flowering, just dead head them occasionally
and take a few cuttings for when they get woody or give up.



Yes, as you say, they're pretty good doers, but I find that E. 'Bowle's
Mauve' is the most attractive to bees and some butterflies, which is why
it's one of my favourites.
--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay