My first visit to Benton End was in September. That year, the summer had been relentlessly dry, yet out of the parched dusty ground peeked large clumps of Colchicum speciosum, both white and tessellated purples.
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Here are three pots that bridge the gap between summer and autumn.
A pot of autumn crocus
This hefty iron drum container is an optimum size for mixed plantings, whether tall and wispy arrangements or much flatter displays, such as this one, with a sprawling begonia and spurflower, that allows the blue star fern to shine. The colchicums’ rich colour and generous goblet-shaped flowers form the focal point of this arrangement.
Holding this eclectic blend of ingredients together is a repetition of blue spectrum colours that complement the begonia’s saffron flowers and the rosy purple of the colchicum blooms. You could make the arrangement stronger by adding more of the white umbel, which adds a magic sprinkling across the upper regions. More colchicums would bring some punchy confidence, but these are best clustered in gangs to avoid creating an arrangement that feels too symmetrical and too tiered.
Cultivation and care
Although it’s evergreen, Phlebodium aureum is summer dormant, and tends to begin growing new fronds in late summer and all through autumn. It’s tender in the UK so must be sheltered from freezing temperatures.
You could prolong this arrangement by moving it to a frost-free greenhouse when night temperatures drop below 0 degrees Celsius. The tender begonia can be allowed to die back as it will reshoot in late spring the following year. Colchicums are great fun to arrange with because they are resiliently able to flower out of their corm while not in contact with any water, though they’d rather be making new roots at this time too, which will help the growth of the corm for subsequent years.
Plants
Colchicum ‘Rosy Dawn’ An autumn crocus that flowers later than others. Height and spread: 15cm x 10cm. AGM*. RHS H5, USDA 4a-7b†.
Nothosmyrnium japonicum var. sutchuenense ‘Loushan Filigree’ Late- flowering umbellifer that is recently new to horticulture. 50cm x 50cm.
Phlebodium aureum An incredible winter houseplant. This prized giant form came from Derry Watkins of Special Plants [see page 72] who generously sold me one of her own display plants. 60cm x 50cm. RHS H1B, USDA 9b-12. 4 Begonia sutherlandii Sophisticated single flowers belie the hanging basket vibe. 30cm x 40cm. AGM. RHS H2, USDA 8a-10b.
Plectranthus ambiguus ‘Nico’ This spurflower is a vigorous, tender Salvia relative with subtly attractive dark-green foliage that has purple undersides. 50cm x 70cm. RHS H2.
Silvery foliage in a square pot
I found this metal box – once the frame of a car trailer – in the overgrowth within a walled garden I once
renovated. I detached the wheel axle and have since used it as a raised bed-style planter. For this arrangement, without excesses of soil to fill the large volume and no intact walls remaining, I’ve set in typical medium-sized terracotta pots with a nest of branches and prunings from the garden. The result is a kind of hybrid planter-habitat pile.
Container and composition
The metal frame has no sides or base. I simply set it down and laid branches into the frame, then set pots among the branches so their rims were level with the top of the box. I then wove more branches between and around the pots to secure them and fill the box. I’ve chosen plants with strong form that accentuate the sculptural quality of the box, but they also make a strong impact from a distance.
The airy African love grass contrasts with the solidity of the yucca and agave with movement and softness. Little flurries of autumn crocuses are planted around the bases of the larger plants – a nod to a Cedric Morris painting, Blackbird and Flowers, in which crocuses flower beneath an architectural Sauromatum venosum.
Cultivation and care
Although most of these plants are drought-tolerant, they can’t be deemed fully established in a medium-sized pot, which will dry out more than soil in the open ground. The pots are simply filled as usual with crocks and a loam-based potting soil.
The agave, Helichrysum petiolare, and to a lesser degree the Francoa ramosa, can be sensitive to cold weather. But often hardiness is linked to soil type, with plants sitting too wet through winter. Finding a spot where the soil drains well may enable them to thrive through the cold seasons. A maturing agave produces pups around its base and these can be severed from the parent plant and potted up as a way to increase stock and protect against losses.
Plants
Eragrostis curvula SH10 Cool season African grass that is in flower by July. 60cm x 90cm. RHS H3, USDA 6a-10a.
Francoa ramosa Delicate wands of white flowers throughout late summer. 70cm x 30cm. RHS H4, USDA 7a-10b.
Centaurea ‘Silver Feather’ A sub-shrub-scale knapweed with very silvery dissected white foliage. 50cm x 70cm. RHS H3.
Helichrysum petiolare An ever-useful perennial that is quick growing, with round, grey leaves. 90cm x 1.2m. AGM. RHS H3, USDA 9a-11.
Yucca gloriosa Architectural punctuation for the dry garden. 1.5m x 1.5m. AGM. RHS H5.
Crocus speciosus Can naturalise in a meadow. 10cm x 5cm. AGM. RHS H6.
Agave salmiana var. ferox Beastly agave that is a beautiful dark bronze green. 2m x 2m.
RHS H2.
An autumn sunshine pot
Sternbergia lutea is one of the most delightful surviving bulbs within the walled garden at Benton End. Hundreds still thrive since Cedric Morris planted them in the mid-20th century. Their long-lived success is a great example of growing the flora that best suits the existing conditions of your garden, which for us is a pairing of dry summers and a sandy loam soil. Prior to Benton End, I’d only seen them flowering beneath olive orchards in Tuscany.
Container and composition
This antique terracotta French confit urn doesn’t have any drainage holes, but I’m happy to make such a simple arrangement for just a few weeks. The urn’s opening is quite narrow, and out of it the leggy Pelargonium sidoides emerges like a Louise Bourgeois spider; its jointed flower stems touching down around the base.
The radiant green of the single aeonium rosette acts as a restful focal point and is positioned just on the rim of the urn. The whole arrangement is not square to the urn’s two handles, which gives it a more casual feel and adds intrigue. The only space left is for tucking in handfuls of Sternbergia lutea bulbs, the flowers acting like beacons when this arrangement is displayed on the dark fireplace hearth.
Cultivation and care
When pulling together a short-term arrangement, every ingredient must be carefully prepared and look its best to justify its inclusion. The pelargoniums have been grown on for a year after being struck as cuttings, and crucially haven’t been cut back in spring but only tidied and allowed to develop their lax stems.
The Sternbergia lutea have been prised from the garden soil and carefully slipped into place. I’ve filled the bottom half with 8mm grit for to create some drainage but a couple of drainage holes could enable the arrangement to persist a second year. Ideally, use a loam-based and peat-free growing medium with added grit for the crucial drainage. Water the container with a seaweed liquid feed once a fortnight.
Plants
Sternbergia lutea An autumn-flowering Mediterranean bulb requiring a free-draining soil. 15cm x 8cm. AGM. RHS H4, USDA 6a-9b.
Pelargonium sidoides Scented leaf species pelargonium with small inky red flowers over a long, late-summer season. 20cm x 20cm. AGM. RHS H1C, USDA 9a-11.
Aeonium ciliatum Produces a satellite of smaller rosettes off the main stem. 60cm x 30cm. USDA 9a-12.
Suppliers
- Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens Tel 01206 822007, bethchatto.co.uk
- Great Dixter Nursery Tel 01797 254044, shop.greatdixter.co.uk
- Pan Global Plants Tel 01452 741641, panglobalplants.com
- The Plantsman’s Preference Tel 01379 710810, plantpref.co.uk
- Special Plants Nursery Tel 01225 891686, specialplants.net