a l t e r n a t i v e s  Plant List 2002

E

# denotes name of plant which, to the best of our knowledge, is new to cultivation in the period 2001/2002 or which has not been offered before commercially under any other valid name.  

*  means that seed may be available.

+  denotes species beneficial to butterflies and/or moths.  Please note double-flowered forms are of little or no benefit as they lack nectar.

A large number of the plants listed are of native provenance and many are local.  

EPILOBIUM   WILLOWHERBS

E. hirsutum.  Great Willowherb, Codlins and Cream.  A great coloniser making lushest growth in damper soils.  The bright rose-pink flowers have contrasting creamy white stigmas.

E. hirsutum album*- attractive white-flowered form. £2.50

E. hirsutum 'Caerphilly Castle' - A curious form in which many of the flowers have extra petals. In some flowers these are tiny and vestigial, and perhaps no more than one or two; in others they are bigger and resemble a more conventional doubling with four extra petals; and in others the effect is rather more congested and includes tiny, stalked 'flowers' (without stigmas) within the main flower. Other characters seem normal. Comes true from seed.  £2.50

E. hirsutum ‘Pistils at Dawn’ - In bizarre contrast to ‘Caerphilly Castle’, a form with no petals.  Found by Ken Page. £2.50

E. hirsutum 'Spring Lime'# - The young shoots in spring emerge a beautiful clear yellow, turning through lime green to a more typical green in summer.  Relatively large flowers. Refreshing! I have a strong feeling this comes true from seed. £2.50 

E. hirsutum ‘Well Creek’ - A generally showy variegated form having greyish-green leaves with a somewhat variable white margin which can set off the richly coloured flowers to perfection.  Gardeners may welcome the fact that seedlings perish through lack of chlorophyll. £2.50

E. obscurum ‘Mottisfont’- Form of short-fruited willowherb with an unusual variegation - many of the leaves have broad, pale-speckled margins.  Found by Martin Cragg-Barber.  £2.50

E. x subhirsutum (E. hirsutum x E.parviflorum)  An uncommon native hybrid. It makes a tall, robust, somewhat downy-looking plant with many long, straggly side-shoots. Don’t be put off: it from summer into autumn it smothers itself in clusters of bright rose-purple flowers with a prominent white stigma. Seed is largely infertile and there are no far-creeping rhizomes to worry about. A floriferous plant for informal, semi-wild effect in ordinary to damper soils, attractive to bees and very well-behaved for a willowherb. £2.50