Taste in Flowers.

penchant in plant changes and prime are subject to fashion like everything else . Most nurseryman shrink in horror at the idea of red salvias uprise with Gallic marigolds and pinkish Busy Lizzies . Many flowers that our parents love are disliked now . nurseryman can be very cliquish about the sorting of flowers they will allow into their gardens . It is really unusual to retrieve that something as lovely as a flower can be turn over plebeian . The Victorians have intercourse annual as carpet bedding . It showed that they could yield large nursery and many gardeners . When these same annuals became popular with the masses they became unwashed .

Bedding plants Brasov , Transylvania

The great horticulturist Jenny Robinson used to survive just down the road from me . She was a redoubtable lady who died in 2010 aged 94 . Roy Lancaster call her : ‘ The Grande Dame of Horticulture ’ . Amongst other rarefied and lovely plant life , she grow awing checkered lily , lilies and small bulbs of all kinds . Her garden was featured in ‘ The Englishwoman ’ s Garden’by Alvide Lees - Milne and Rosemary Verey . It was considered a great honor to be invite to her lily sniffle parties . She was the arbiter of gustatory sensation in Suffolk plant circles . Flowers she considered vernacular she always call ‘ Hanging field goal flowers’and you would be amazed at the sort of prime that she included in this general condemnation . Any nurseryman who grow what she considered to be vulgar plants was force out as:‘the form of person whohas hanging baskets ’ . You don ’ t see many hanging handbasket round off here . Sometimes she would inform you that she was come to jaw your garden . Itwas like a royal visitation . I used to spread for the National Gardens Scheme but that was nothing like as nerve- wracking as a sojourn from Jenny . You fear the lips purse in disfavour at some floral solecism . Approval from her was something to be treasured and boasted about . After all she was unbelievably knowing .

Bedding plants Brasov, Transylvania

But Jenny grew up in a sentence when plant snobbism was prevailing . It was a fourth dimension when not just single plants but a whole color could be condemned as vulgar . The great plant woman Gertrude Jekyll spoke about ‘ malignant magenta ’ . E. A. Bowles ring it‘that awful form of original sin ’ .Most garden author at this meter talk about Battle of Magenta as if the very mien of such a crude colour would contaminate the garden . Basically magenta flowers were look at ‘ vulgar ’ . This is very singular when one considers that the very word was only coined in 1860 when a new aniline dyestuff was created and named after the Battle of Magenta which took place in 1859 . I am not sure what the color was called before the innovation of this artificially grow dye . I can find no quotation to it in early garden writing . Jekyll was writing at the time when disciple of the Arts and Crafts Movement were advocating a return to Nature . Magenta was associated with industrialisation and the availability of artificially produced dyes for textiles that were cheap . The dyestuff was arsenic based and it was only a while ago that people had been poison by the arsenic in their wall document and clothes . The distaste although confused continued for decades . In the 1970s and 80s people were very heedful to set only pastel shades with silverish foliage . I knew several people who said proudly that they would never leave yellow into their garden . Gradually stronger colour have been reinstated but I ’m not sure to what extent magenta has been welcomed back into the plica . Vita Sackville West was not afraid to use it in her royal border and in fact it is the magenta which makes this layer really zing . I love this clump ofGeranium psilostemonright in the middle of the bed .

I have to admit that influenced by my reading of early twentieth C gardening books I withdraw a prospicient time to come round to magenta but now I really appreciate the way it brings a border to life . But I am afraid that I do have a list of disliked plants ; I do n’t think that it is anything to do with manner and I do on a regular basis revisit my prejudices and endeavor to look with fresh eyes at the physical object of my dislike .

Less- Loved Plants .

Brasov, Transylvania

Bedding plants Brasov, Transylvania

Tuberous begonias . I loathe the big , blowsy , overhybridised motley that you see in hang baskets . Oh pricy I ’m turning into Jenny . I take this shot at the Farm Shop and had difficulty explain my objections to the Pianist . I love the mincing single flowers ofBegonia sutherlandiibut the hybridisers have been too officious with the one in the Farm Shop . Basically , I generally choose single flowers to three-fold ones .

Begonia sutherlandii

Gladioli . Horrid , slap-up big spikey things . Well to me they are just too Dame Edna Everage . But I didn ’ t like them before Dame Edna started discombobulate them at her audience . But I sleep together the small one likeGladiolus nanus . And who could dislike the adorableGladiolus robinetta ?

Gladiolus robinetta

I am no-account if I am going to disconcert my American blogging admirer but , ( and I must whisper this as it almost seems to be the American interior flower , ) I dislike manyHemerocallis . And why are they called Day lilies ? They belong to the familyXanthorrhoeaceae , notLilium . Although it is lawful that each flower only lasts for a day . Many of them are over- hybridize and common and don ’ t get me started on their names . There is an English one called ‘ Droopy Drawers ’ but even worse is the American one named after an article of underwear that I would n’t deal to mention on my nice respectable blog . And how can you grow something called ‘ bountiful Honking French Kisses ’ or ‘ Kissy Poo ’ ? I am a serious gardener and I ca n’t imagine hold horticulture supporter visit the garden and inviting them to come and look at my ‘ Droopy drawer ’ . Having said I dislike day lily I did rather care some of the I that Pauline show in a late post on her blog;Leadupthegardenpath . perchance I will be convert as long as they do n’t have slaphappy name calling and are not too frilly .

apropos , blab out about silly figure , how can you possibly buy a Hydrangea called ‘ Pinky Winky ’ ?

Hydrangeas . I always hate them . I associated them with bungalows in seaside town . I detest the wishy washy way that many of them can ’ t decide whether to be downcast or pinkish unless the soil is sufficiently caustic . But I have overcome my dislike and love several of the folk . I enjoy the big dramatic , felty allow ofHydrangea aspera villosa . I revel ‘ Annabelle ’ andHydrangea paniculatato name but a few .

Dahlia pinnata . My grandmother arise these and was very lofty of the enormous size and brilliance in colour of the blooms . Even as a child I lie with flowers and examined them closely . Dahlias had a olfactory sensation I dislike and they were always covered in earwigs . I thought that they were gross . It has take me many years to front at them with fresh center and decide I wish them . In fact I have even tried develop them from semen and I showed you my favourite recently . I am extraordinarily majestic of it so I will show it to you again .

Kniphofia . Red Hot Pokers like the omnipresent ’ Atlanta ’ were always anathema to me ; brilliant red and common . Well , I still don ’ t like ‘ Atlanta ’ but there are plenty I do like . I ’ll show you some of my front-runner in another Emily Price Post .

Begonia sutherlandii

Begonia sutherlandii

So I am making progress with my preconception but there are the plants that I still put on ’ t like despite trying to see them with fresh eyes .

Leycesteria Formosa . I detest it . I have no estimate why . I just do . I have a good friend who loves it . She has several in her garden . Several too many for my liking .

Spiraea Japonica ‘ Goldflame ’ . detest it , hate it , hate it . There is one in my garden that I scowl at every prison term I take the air by . When I have the energy I will savvy it up . In the meanwhile I cut off the pink efflorescence that depend awful with the yellow leave . Hypericum . I have no melodic theme why I can ’ t sleep together The Rose of Sharon . If I seek to draw a blank my prejudice and look at the flowers , I have to admit they are beautiful . But sorry , I don ’ t like it . Tradescantia virginiana . This works is known as Spiderwort and what a good name for it . Horrid , spidery matter with mean piddling bloom . I know they are blue and we all love blueish . But really I think the swell Tradescant should be think back by something less weedy than this . I do grow it ; here it is in my garden . But its days are probably enumerate .

Gladiolus robinetta

Gladiolus robinetta

There are more but I had better stop over now . I go for I haven ’ t upset anyone with my prejudices . I suppose if I tell you I do n’t like something you grow and love it is a bit like coming into your firm and saying I do n’t like your lenient furnishing , what a horrible lamp and I hate your pictures . If you have grown and nurtured it from germ , it is even worse . Then it is like order what ugly children you have .

But I am sure most of you have your own lists , if not of hated plants then of unloved ones . Many of your loathed plants may be on my list of choicest and most treasured , so please don ’ t be offended if I hate a industrial plant you love . It is a near matter that we don ’ t all like the same plants . Variety is the spice of life , so please tell me which plants you hate or don ’ t like and why . If you cognize why that is .

69 Responses toTaste in Flowers.

dead mythological , brave C. W. Post . Looking forward to seeing others ’ contributions .

What an interesting and entertaining billet ! I will have to find oneself my transcript of the English Woman ’s Garden to face up your Jenny . I hope none of my friends register this as I have never dared vocalize this before – I also dislike sidereal day lily . specially the large 1 that front like a besotted composition tissue when they are fade . It is the common sarcoid grain I do not like . I have some of the pocket-sized - flower ones that dies graciously and are so much more graceful . I speculate all this can be explain by the fact that I am too lazy at deadheading . I am also put off by the name give to some poor plants . One of my expert performing rose is called Tootie ’s Rockin ’ K ( in real fact I suppose my own plant was mislabeled as it does not correspond to Tootie ’s – perhaps I should just make up a name for it).Fashion in flower is bewitching . I remember being surprised to read ( in The Flower Garden by E R. Jane 1952 ) that for many decades pelargonium had then not been find in Britain , they were too old - fashioned . Or reading in an Ontario horticultural report from before the first human beings war that over 100 varieties of bedding verbena were available ( how many would you find today ! ) They must have been important in bedding out schemes . Thank you for an entertaining post !

Gosh you are brave ! I believe we all have favorites and dislikes , so this was a fun post to say . There are very few plants I do n’t wish , but any monoculture of plant makes me feel nauseated . And , God forbid , my least - favorite industrial plant in a monoculture landscape painting ! It ’s so overused by landscape gardener in my part of the world that I want to yell ! That plant is the Hemerocallis Stella d’Oro . Everywhere I look in retail preferences I see Stella d’Oro – and often all by itself with nothing else around . So overused and obnoxious ! Then again , it ’s OK if only one is used in a mixed planting . ( OK , thanks for letting me rant . )

I too love this post , Chloris . While I do n’t like to suppose of myself as a snoot in most respect , I have to admit to a level of botanical snobbism – despite the impressions Beth verbalize above , I also cogitate such snobbery is fair widespread among US gardeners ( or at least among people who have “ gardens ” as oppose to “ yards ” ) .

You ’re right that what ’s wide available or “ common ” allow for a commodious target . I still remember a conversation I had many years ago in which a co - worker told me about her garden , implant with petunia and marigolds if I recall right , which I pronto labeled “ pedestrian . ” I did n’t intend to be pitiless ( really ! I just want her to open her eye to other possible action ) but I call back she was study aback by the implied criticism ( which was also impolitic on my part as she was my wise man and higher up the food chain ) . I ’ve been more circumspect in my feedback since then but I definitely have my prejudices , even as my taste sensation continue to acquire . Like many Americans , I lessen in love life with the classic English garden that dominated garden lit and I still have a obsession on peonies and all mode of thing that are close to impossible to farm in Southern California . However , I ’ve come to respect some flora I antecedently dismissed , like Agapanthus , which grow everywhere here . In fact , I ’ve develop a definite enthusiasm for plant that will come through the heat waves we get with increasingly frequency in summer and the paltry drouth condition we ’re currently experience . Daylilies were a freshness for me when I move here – I could n’t grow them in my former , shady garden – and I acquire quite a few evergreen plant varieties but I continue to be rag by the 40 + plant of a dormant variety I inherited with the family . When you could garden all yr round , you do n’t really require the empty topographic point created by torpid daylilies from October through December . But , 5 years ago , if you ’d have told me that I ’d have succulents , Grevilleas , Leucadendron , and Phormium throughout my garden , I ’d have say you did n’t cognise me . Well , on the face of it , I did n’t roll in the hay myself . I still do n’t like petunias and marigold , though …

What a terrific topic , could n’t aid but laugh when I read about Day Lilies ! At my geezerhood I can just blank out ( on determination ) if a plant has a daft name , if you care the plant , then grease one’s palms it and just bury what it is called ! genus Hypericum is one of my plants that I just about tolerate but Hypericum prolificum is another matter , more of a small 6 foot tree with thousands of flyspeck yellow pulverization pouf for flowers , it is blossom at the moment , the bees love it and so do I ! When I first begin planting here , I just require one of everything but soon learnt that it was far better to go with the current and have tidy sum of fewer varieties that really like my dirt . Really I do n’t guess I dislike any flora but obviously opt plants that I have it away will grow well for me , and that includes the mean solar day lilies !

You know , I ’ve a half written mail service sitting in my drafts folder along like lines as this post Chloris . I never did get round to fetch up it , purely because I could not justify my dislike for some of the plants and did n’t require my rawness to vocalize unlearned . Thoroughly enjoyed this read and there are one or two , maybe even three or four of your choices that are on my listing too . Bedding plants are top of the tilt , close followed by Carnations and Dahlias – that will do for now . Maybe one day I ’ll get circular to finish that C. W. Post .

A most enjoyable and humourous post Chloris . As in all matter my philosophy is ‘ vive la departure ’ . I ’m more than happy to grow leycesteria formosa but appreciate that other folk may not consider it as lovingly 🙂 I ’m certainly with you on red hot poker ‘ Atlanta ’ which must be my most detested plant !

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Regarding different taste perception : My mother used to say , “ Be glad not everyone care the same things you do . You could n’t afford it . ”

Regarding Tradescantia : At our previous house Tradescatia volunteered in the green goddess , in the garden , anywhere and it was nice . So I planted it here in apparently like circumstance . I did n’t like it at all ; scraggly , begrudgingly flowered , moody . For me to be glad with a works , the works has to be glad .

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