Spring is not far off now and soon we’ll be enjoying a range of gorgeous flowering plants at garden centres aimed at cheering up the garden – and us of course. However, it seems a shame not to notice the many wonderful and often unusual plants which choose this time to shine.
One of the joys of the coming weeks is catkins and the earliest and most spectacular or these are Garrya elliptica – often called the Silk Tassel Tree. A catkin is basically a slim tube shaped flower cluster with either inconspicuous petals or no petals at all. In many plants it’s only the males which bear catkins with the female plants having the odd single flower. In Garrya both sexes have them but the male plant bears great long silky grey catkins up to 20 cms long which sway in the breeze like oriental fringing – it really is quite spectacular. Add to this that this shrub is evergreen, tolerant of low rainfall and requires no special maintenance and it qualifies in my book as a great easy care plant which deserves our attention. If you want to plant one try the variety ‘James Roof’ which has been tried and tested by the RHS. Oh and bees love them, and birds feed from the purple berries borne by the female plants.
