Open Gardens 2025 - plants from 101JR

Open Gardens - about the plants

You'll most likely be reading this page because you visited our garden as part of the Telegraph Hill Open Gardens weekend in May 2025. It contains some information about the plant(s) that you may have taken away with you which I hope will be useful. My garden is a haven for slugs and snails and everything here survives! I've added what I hope you will find some helpful details along with links out to the Royal Horticultural Society website where you can read more from the professionals. 

Campanula

This one is fantastic as ground cover and will grow in little cracks. It is great in the shade but also works in the sun. The blue flowers are great polinator magnets - you know it is in flower by the noise as well as the lovely carpet of blue. I found that once the first flush of flowers is done, you can pull them away and you'll get a second flush later on in the summer. There are lots of varieties but the closest I can get is this one. However, it seems not to be attractive to slugs and snails.

Crambe cordifolia

This greater sea kale produces large leaves and a fabulous quantity of white flowers on a tall stalk. My original plant came from an open gardens visit, and this year I've managed to get five new plants from the original parent. It seems only right that some should go to local gardens. The lower leaves can get munched by slugs and snails but not to the extent that it stops it from thriving. More info here

Crassula ovata

Very easy to care for houseplant. What more can you ask for? See what the RHS have to say about it here

Geranium

I think this one is "Ridsko" judging by the image and description on the RHS site. It is great at surpressing weeds and giving good reliable ground cover. Pretty pink flowers in early spring. 

Hylotelephium (the plant formerly known as sedum)

Probably this one. Great big flowers late on in the summer which the polinators love. 

Jasmine Beesianum

Great climber. Smaller red flowers in the summer. RHS info here

Jasmine (common)

Great climber. Wonderfully scented flowers in spring. More here

Jasmine (winter flowering)

This evergreen provides yellow flowers during the winter and is good for the polinators that are still around at that time of year. Tolerates hard pruning. More here

Lamium

Great for shady ground cover. This one produces lovely yellow flowers early on in spring. It will weave its way through the undergrowth and where it touches the ground, may form new roots. I find it is easy to pull up if it has strayed to where you don't want it. More information here

Mint

If you like your mint tea then this is a great plant. Because it spreads very easily, I keep mine in pots and sink them into the soil. It is easy to propagate - take some long stalks, remove the lower leaves, and then place in some water. You will soon see some roots. But don't take my word for it, read more about variteies of mint and how to take care of them here.

Pittosporum tobira

I was given two of these by a former colleague. She'd had them as standards on her balcony. Occasionally they produced small shoots and so I took heel cuttings, most of which rooted. Their flowers are gloriously scented. The RHS advice is to grow them in full sun but mine have survived in pots and with only the morning sun.

Phormium

Fantastically resilient ornamental plant that can grow quite large in the open ground. We first planted one in 1993 and it grew and multiplied into a large clump. We then dug that up, separated out all the plantlets, and put some of them back, including a couple of clumps in pots. It does well in a pot and seems to thrive however badly you treat it. In a pot, it can create a really useful screen. Individual leaves look great in flower arrangements. See what the RHS have to say here.

Raspberry "Malling Promise"

A vigorous early fruiting raspberry. I'm glad I planted mine in a raised bed as it has gone bonkers. This year I will net it once the fruits start to form so that I get more than the squirrels do! RHS advice over here

Sorbaria Sorbifolia

I was attracted to this because of its lime leaves which are tinged with pink when they emerge in spring. It also produces a lovely white flower. It is vigorous and sends out suckers with new plants along them, so I'm now keeping mine in pots so that they stay where I want them to be. Great for a pot. Seems to tollerate hard pruning. You can read more over on the RHS site here

Tradescantia Zebrina

A lovely houseplant, gifted as a birthday present a couple of years ago. Really easy to propagate - I do mine in water, simply cut off a length with a few leaves on it, remove the lower leaves, place in water and watch as the roots emerge. You can read more from the RHS experts here

Vinca minor

Ground cover. Produces little purple flowers in the spring. If it is very happy (as mine was) it will produce a carpet of glossy green leaves under which our resident toads like to overwinter! See the RHS information here

Six on Saturday - 23rd October 2021

Leaves, seeds and propagation

It's the time of year when I not only mow the lawn, but also the paths, effectively using the mower as a means of chopping up and hoovering up all the fallen leaves prior to adding them to the compost bin.

This week's #SixOnSaturday, inspired by The Propagator has a leafy theme.  

1) Teasel seedhead

I'm liking the rather striking seedheads and am looking forward to seeing them over winter, especially if we get a frost.  

2) Varietad Fatsia Japonica

With leaves bigger than most dinnerplates, this variegated fatsia provides year round interest. Here, it is poised to flower, providing some much needed food over winter for polinators.  

  

3) Propagation time

I've had mixed success with cuttings, but enough success that I still give it a go. I particularly concentrate on things that work in the garden, which aren't fodder for slugs and snails, and which are useful for filling gaps here and there, or for replacing plants that have gone leggy. This little group includes some Artemesia "Powis Castle", Erysimum (don't know variety name but it produces flowers that have orange through to purple tinges) and some Salvia. The Artemisia and Salvia both have deliciously fragrant leaves. 

4) Variegated Phormium

We got our first phormium in 1993. It grew and grew and grew, it "walked" from the back of the border to the front and in the end, we had it taken out. I reckon I got about fifty viable plants from the original and since then I have used them as architectual backdrops at the backs of borders or in pots. The best specimens are perfectly fan shaped. I now keep an eye out for further offspring and remove those and pot them up for passing on. The leaves on this one are fantastically stripey and look great in a gentle breeze as they dance about. 

5) Mahonia

This is another plant that provides year round leafy interest This variety is called "soft caress" and doesn't have the spiky leaves of the more common variety. As with the Fatsia, this is poised to flower. When it does it produces gorgeously scented flowers which are loved by the polinators, and then lovely black berries which are devoured by the birds.  

6) Virginia creeper

The virginia creeper is providing loads of colour this year and the birds are still feasting on the berries.

This weekend's jobs include dividing and potting up some houseplants, and perhaps some more cuttings. It also includes pulling out some brambles which I spotted as I was taking pics for this week's Six! Meanwhile, the cosmos flowerbuds are getting bigger and bigger and I'm hoping will burst onto the scene soon. 

That's all for this week. Check out the participant guide if you want to join in.