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Welcome to the April 2020 edition of Shade Monthly. Thank you to everyone who contributed

something – we’ve got a bumper issue this month with loads of interesting articles.

After an impressive five years at the helm, we are sorry to announce that Joe Sime is stepping

down as editor of Shade Monthly. Joe has done an amazing job during this time, editing and

frequently contributing content that was always of the highest quality. He will be greatly

missed, but hopefully we will still see his words in these pages from time to time. The members

who responded to our questionnaire also expressed their appreciation, thanks and best wishes.

Thank you Joe.

Thank you also to Tony Bays, for his sharp eye and computer skills – Tony has done a fantastic

job in formatting and editing SM, and I’m glad to say, continues to be involved.

Questionnaire results

Thanks to everyone who responded to our questions about the future of Shade Monthly. It was

very useful to have your feedback, and I will try my best to reflect your preferences in future

issues. Of the 30-odd members who replied, almost everyone read SM every month, and the

overwhelming majority said they would be happy to contribute a note or article – great news!

The features that were most popular were Plant of the Month and cultivation information,

although this varied so much from one person to the next that I will try and make sure there is a

range of different types of content. Several people also commented that they would appreciate

feedback on their contributions, so if you have any comments on any of the articles featured –

maybe you have grown the same plants, had the same/different experiences, or know of

another way to do something – let me know and I will either forward this to the author or, with

your permission, include it in the next SM edition.

Please do send any thoughts, texts or photos to Beccy at shademonthly@gmail.com.

We are grateful to receive any contributions – these do not have to be long or complicated and

you do not have to be an expert to get involved. Equally, if you have questions or requests,

please do get in touch.

April 2020

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Disporum longistylum ‘Night Heron’

Text and photos – Colin Crews

Disporum are shade-loving rhizomatous perennials

related to Polygonatum, Disporopsis and Uvularia. They

form clumps of sometimes tall stems with a terminal

cluster of flowers that are usually white or yellow,

sometimes with a green or purple tinge. The leaves are

like those of a narrow hosta, are deeply veined and

sometimes variegated.

D. longistylum is found in Nepal and east Asia. The form

‘Night Heron’ was introduced by Dan Hinkley from seed

collected in China. Its most distinctive features are its

very dark stems and foliage. New stems emerge in spring

looking like a thin bamboo and are of an olive green in

colour that darkens to a purple/brown before the small

groups of drooping flowers emerge from green buds.

The flowers vary from a greenish-white to yellow and are followed by greenish-black berries that persist

with the stems late into winter.

The plant prefers humus-rich soil in the usual free-draining moist site in part to quite heavy shade with

protection from heavy frost. 'Night Heron' is also suitable for growing in a container. Unrestricted it can

reach 2 m in height under good conditions, although 1 – 1.5 is more common. The height, form and colour

of its arching stems and the contrasting flower colour make this a very architectural and attractive addition

to the shade garden.

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The Pleasures and the Pains of growing Ypsilandra thibetica By Tim Longville

(Apart, that is, from simply trying to get your tongue around its name...) This is one of those

plants sometimes described as ‘connoisseur’s plants’ and claimed by enthusiastic nursery

owners as likely to be ‘the next big thing.’ Often of course such plants turn out to be miffy

beasts of few attractions which lurk in a few catalogues and gardens for a few years then

shuffle off into oblivion. Ypsilandra thibetica, however, is the real deal, or something close to it.

It and its half dozen or so immediate relatives come from various parts of East Asia (China,

Vietnam, Thailand) where they are shade-and-moisture-lovers growing in the under-storey of

forested slopes. (Y. cavaleriei and Y. kansuensis, at least, are also occasionally offered by the

odd UK nursery. I should add that there does seem to be some doubt aka confusion about the

naming and even the number of species in the genus, so buy with caution.) Ypsilandras are

members of the Melanthiaciae, cousins of Helionopsis. Like all the other species, Y.t. (as for

brevity’s sake it will be from now on) makes a ground-hugging rosette of long, narrow, pale-

green leaves (which as they age and the weather becomes colder turn an attractive reddish

brown): a rosette which spreads slowly –very slowly, in my experience – from the plant’s thick

underground rhizomes. So far, so pleasant but also so distinctly underwhelming.

Now, though, we come to Y.t.’s USP. Very early in the year (usually in January here in Cumbria)

it produces from the centre of each rosette a short sturdy flowering stem, to perhaps 9 inches

or so, which is topped by a loosely arranged cluster of tubular flowers. The cluster is too loose

and ‘open’ to suggest a miniature bottle-brush: perhaps if you don’t mind a touch of feyness

you might think of it as a fairy’s feather-duster! The flowers on my own plants are white, fading

to pink as they age or are pollinated, but there are desirable forms around which are properly

pink throughout their lives. (Rosemoor used to have – may still have – a particularly good deep

pink form.) Almost any flower at that bleak time of year is desirable but these are not only in

their miniscule way attractive and eye-catching they are also – drum-roll, trumpet-fanfare –

deliciously scented. (The interpretation of scent is very personal. I’d call Y.t.’s scent vanilla or at

least vanilla-ish but I know that isn’t how everyone ‘interprets’ it.) And as if all of that weren’t

enough, Y.t. seems almost entirely impervious to attacks whether by critters or climate. As I

write in March, for example, the recent weeks of incessant wind and rain here have troubled it

not one whit, jot or iota.

So what are the pains announced in my title? There are two as far as I’m concerned. First, you

need a sizeable drift of such a small plant if it’s to make a real impact: but here the speed of

increase would make a snail snort with contempt. And it is a plant which – again, here: it may

be different elsewhere – rarely if ever sets seed. The second pain, a very literal one, given that

this gardener is ancient and physically awkward (and many of his visitors are not much more

youthful or lissom), is appreciating said scent without subsequently needing the local Mountain

Rescue gang to restore him and/or them to the vertical.

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But there are always solutions – often, with this sort and size of plant, courtesy of the hugely

informative website of the Scottish Rock Garden Club. From its forum pages I discovered the

cunning wheeze of multiplying Y.t. not by seed or division but by leaf cuttings. What’s more,

either end of the leaf will work – either base or tip – so you can get two plants from each leaf.

Ba-boom, no? For more details, see http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=16999.0. The

idea came originally from Lisa Wesley of Growild Nursery in South West Scotland – a good

source, incidentally, for seed of unusual plants: see https://www.growildnursery.co.uk. The

solution to the second pain I’m still working on. In an ancient AGS entry in the Diary column

which the heroic John ‘Primula’ Richards has been contributing from Northumberland two or

three times a month since 2006 (give that man a medal!), he writes of lifting it from the garden

(‘where it flowers so early that it is liable to become somewhat spoilt’) and potting it up. (See

http://archive.alpinegardensociety.net/diaries/Northumberland/%20March%20/27/?user=non

e.) That would certainly make it easier to appreciate and probably seems a natural thing to do if

you’re an alpine gardener. (It doesn’t become ‘somewhat spoilt’ here in Cumbria but of course,

though JR didn’t say so, he may well have been potting it up to keep it in absolutely pristine

condition for an early-season AGS Show.) However, it seems much less of a natural thing to do

if you’re a – certainly this – Hardy Planter. Grow it in a raised bed, think’ee? In fact, the garden

here already consists entirely of beds confined behind home-made dry-stone-walls: but the

walls are only low, designed merely to stop soil escaping or our dogs invading. Raising any of

them to eye- or at least nostril-level would not only look hideous but also uncomfortably

suggest a series of plant-prisons. My best notion so far is to experiment with Y.t. in an existing

large and relatively tall trough. (The trough is in fact a disguised Belfast sink, rescued from an

old farm kitchen.) Even that is a bit of a cheat, I admit, if you’re a purist about growing only

plants which successfully and effectively ‘do their thing’ in the ground: but if it works...etc etc.

On the other hand, if anyone has any better ideas I’d be delighted to hear them.

PS The ever-entertaining John Jearrard has photographs of several Ypsilandra species on his

website (http://www.johnjearrard.co.uk) plus cogent doubts about their names. (Both the

photographs and the plants are usefully unmanicured and hence honest.) He also has

innumerable photographs of innumerable species and varieties of his beloved hedychiums

(mostly grown in a south-facing greenhouse, even though he gardens in Cornwall: to be precise

on a hill outside Redruth) and of many unusual arisaemas. If you visit the site, don’t miss the

inimitable section on Me.

Ypsilandra thibetica - images courtesy of the HPS Image Library

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Double Primroses

Text and photos by Caroline Stone

In my National Collection® of Double Primroses I have many different colours of flowers which

are the result of deliberate breeding. But very close to my heart are the double versions of

primroses that have been found in the wild. It is relatively common to find them but they are

not all so easy to keep going in the garden.

I have planted three out in my little woodland area. It is much easier to place them amongst the

plants I am growing there than some of the brightly coloured “bred” ones which would look

quite out of place. There is always a bit of a story attached to these wild plants which makes

them interesting. I also find it fascinating that they are all distinctly different; the shape of the

flowers vary considerably.

Two of those in the woodland area were found when people were looking for snowdrops. One

was found in Wales at Cenarth. It is really a semi-double or a not quite decided! This

photograph is of a particularly fine plant of it photographed in David Bromley’s garden about

seven years ago. Alan Street is now calling this form ‘Alan Street’. The other came from East

Anglia and is called ‘Buxton Andrews’ after the owner of the land where it was found.

Primula 'Alan Street'

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The third is a Devon native

‘Pridhamsleigh’. The original plant

was found in 1968 by Mrs Charles

Hilliard near Ashburton just where the

A38 was being widened into its

current dual carriageway. It is

sometimes called the Ashburton

primrose. This plant does extremely

well for me and is one of, if not my

most favourite of all the double

primroses in my collection. Part of my

fondness comes from its provenance

since I got it from a lovely lady, the

widow of the Ashburton postman who had it from Mrs Hilliard. Having been told stories of her

husband and his rural post round, those memories are now inextricably linked to the plant for

me. I do wonder if more than one plant was originally retrieved by Mrs Hilliard; some people

say it is difficult to grow and report their plant as having more of a yellow colour to the petals

than mine. I have never seen any of these plants to be able to compare them however. Mine is

a very pale cream and a very easy plant.

Northern Ireland was the source for two wild doubles. ‘Elizabeth Dickey’ was found in

Ballymoney, County Antrim by a little girl of the same name and given to the family GP who was

Molly Sanderson. It was widely grown in Dublin and

around Ireland at one time and I believe circulated in

England. Sadly I have never been able to find it.

‘Boyne Valley’ came from the same area and has

definitely earned the epithet miffy.

The key with the double primroses is a damp

position. I find they seem to need more moisture

than the singles. Obviously they need to be

propagated through division and I find they respond

best to quite frequent division.

There are several varieties of bred double primroses

that look very much like the wild doubles and are

very good plants in themselves. An old Barnhaven

‘Marianne Davey’ is very good and one of the first

doubles bred by David Kerley ‘Belarina Cream’ is

excellent. ‘Belarina Cream’ has quite a strong scent -

that better appreciated when it is in a pot rather

than needing to kneel on damp ground to sniff it! Primula 'Pridhamsleigh' (both photos on this page)

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Contrasting Corydalis Text and photos by Jan Vaughan

Corydalis, or fumewort, belong to the Papaveraceae and are spring ephemerals dying down after flowering to remain dormant until the following year. They are native to moist woodlands in Europe and Asia so grow well in a semi-shaded position where the soil doesn’t get too dry. Corydalis solida is a tuberous perennial with grey-green, delicate ferny foliage (not unlike the dicentras to which they are related) and complex tubular flowers in shades of mauve and purple. I am particularly fond of this rather somber dark purple form.

Corydalis solida ‘Beth Evans’ The delicate pink flowers of this cultivar have a distinctive white flash on the spur, creating a very bright showy clump for the edge of a shady border. It is a garden seedling, first exhibited by alpine enthusiast Kath Dryden in 1988 and named for the wife of Alf Evans, assistant curator of Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh.

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Corydalis temulifolia ‘Chocolate Stars’ has a very different appearance and comes from China. It is a bigger plant, growing to 30-40cm and has wonderful, very striking foliage with deeply crenellated bronze leaves in spring. The colour fades to green during the summer and dies away over winter. The flowers are small by contrast although the pale lilac is pretty against the dark foliage. There are many more delightful Corydalis to enjoy and you can read more about them in the December 2017 issue of Shade Monthly. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Available seed

If you would like some of the following seed and are a paid-up member of the Shade Group, send an S.A.E to S J Sime at Park Cottage, Penley, Wrexham, LL13 0LS. Please include your email address in case there is a query. If you have seed to donate please send it to the same address. Actaea japonica ex ‘Chengdu’ Arisaema ciliata Arisaema consanguinea Cardiocrinum giganteum var yunnanense Hydrangea heteromala Bretschneideri Group Hydrangea paniculata ex ‘Tender Rose’ Hydrangea paniculata ex ‘Praecox’ Kirengeshoma palmata Kirengeshoma palmata Koreana Group Pinellia tripartita Stewartia pseudocamellia ex ‘Ogisui’ Stewartia serrata Stewartia sinensis Tricyrtis hirta

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The View from the far ( not so frozen ) North. Text and photos by Chris Parkin As I look out on a garden covered in snow on the 12th of March, I have to admit that this winter was been mild (for us). The thermometer hasn’t dropped below -6c all winter. That is positively tropical! We have had a couple of months when it has been above freezing in the day and just below freezing at night. Stratification of seeds should not be problem A recent mild spell has enabled me to get all of the Spring tidy-up done, as well as the roses pruned. Last year, I was still playing catch-up. Projects for the cold months have included making several Blue-Tit nest boxes, House Martin nest sites, and Bat boxes. Nature has been given a helping hand. I feel like hanging a sign on them ‘New Desirable Properties To Let’, rent payable in caterpillars or midges! Next I plan to make a specialist nest box for our Great Spotted Woodpeckers.

Project for the Spring; Making an Epimedium Theatre. If our Alpine friends can have their Auricula Theatres, ours can be for Epimediums or Pulmonarias. This was prompted by having a back yard that receives very little direct light. I purchased by mail order, several Epimediums last year, and found that they thrived in the damp shade provided by this site. Obviously; right plant, right place. Here are some early risers in the plant department; Erythronium ‘Frans Hals’ and Pulmonaria rubra,

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Leucojum vernum and Helleborus foetidus

Helleborus orientalis Hybrids

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and finally; signs of something good to come in a few weeks. Great rosettes of Meconopsis staintonii.

Bye for now from Ross-Shire.

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Notes from Seattle – Winter’s Last Hurrah (March 2020)

Test and photos by Walt Bubelis

Just when we thought winter was done and we could relax, a last bout of snow and below-freezing

temperatures are in force. Hopefully, the ground has warmed up enough that it won’t be too hard on

the early risers.

In a triangular shaped bed in the back yard, I was thrilled to see that the first trillium flowering was the

diminutive T. rivale, sometimes known as Pseudotrillium rivale. The freckled petals are charming in

themselves. Close by, stalks of T. sessile catch the eye with those patterned leaflets. A swarm of Scilla

forbesii (previously Chionodoxa luciliae) enjoy the dappled company of Fuchsia magellanica

‘Whiteknight’s Amethyst’ and ‘Pearl’ all overshadowed by a North Star sour cherry upon which a

Clematis montana cultivar (small ‘petals’ but seems to be a montana) and Aristolochia sempervirens

grow.

Trilium rivale

Nearby roots of Acer macrophyllum/Bigleaf Maple penetrate this bed so at times I cut out what I can

and loosen up the soil in-between Daphne tangutica, Platycrater arguta and Hydrangea panicuIata ‘Le

Vasterival’. On the sides next to the sidewalk are smaller treasures such as Mukdenia rossii,

Arthropodium cirratum and Wulfenia carpathica. I add a thin layer of leaf mulch yearly in the fall and

sometimes a second layer in late winter if it has been incorporated into the sandy loam by earthworms.

Scilla forbesii

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In full shade is a gift from a friend, Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Black Beauty’, showing new dark foliage

and bicolored blossoms. I’m surprised that this is blooming so much sooner than a Epimedium pinnatum

subsp. colchicum ‘Black Sea’, the latter being in a much warmer spot and which gets some western sun.

Less conspicuous blossoms are found on a dwarf version of the species, Eurya japonica ‘Winter Wine’.

Being under a large Thuja plicata (Western Red Cedar), it doesn’t get the winter time exposure or cold

to color up. I grew from seed the species which is now over 20’ high and is reckoned to be the tallest

example in Seattle. Not that hard to do considering it’s not commonly grown, not being a glamorous

plant but I enjoy the small, glossy foliage. Mine is in dappled light with only the top in sun, overreaching

the rooftop.

Eurya japonica 'Winter Wine'

Epimedium grandiflorum 'Black Beauty'

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Lastly, one needs to bend down to spot the dorsally placed flowers of Ruscus x microglossus, which

appear to be sterile. Ruscus hypoglossum, one of its parents, is closeby and also flowering in a quiet way

too. The other parent (R. aculeatus) is some distance away so I probably won’t see spontaneous hybrids

appearing. As it blooms early, I’m assuming solitary bees are the pollinators but I’ve never observed any

insect on them.

As we all know the healing power of plants in the gardening sense, I’m finding particular solace these

days in working in the garden. Seattle is still a hot spot for the COVID-19 virus, being the first spot in the

country to register an infected person (who had been to Wuhan recently) and then to see numerous

deaths thereafter. The count is at 95 of today. With so much shut down from schools, libraries,

restaurants, most stores except for groceries and the pharmacies, gardening does have ever more

benefits. May all of you come through safely too.

(P.S. That first person with the infection spent three days in the hospital, then self-quarantined himself

and recovered within two weeks.)

Walt Bubelis

walthorticulture@comcast.net

Ruscus x microglossus