a l t e r n a t i v e s Plant List 2002
U
# 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.
U. dioica. Stinging Nettle.
+. I would like to establish whether butterflies such as the small
tortoiseshell lay their eggs on some or any of these unusual foliage forms; some
moth species certainly do. Please
share your observations! Note: the
foliage effects of most of these nettle cultivars can be enhanced with feeding
and watering, with or without cutting down, which always promotes strong new
shoots. Many are very elegant in
flower and the flower clusters may also be coloured or variegated in some forms.
U. dioica ‘Bradfield Purpler’ -
a form of stinging nettle showing strongly purple flushed foliage at certain
times of year, especially spring. Purple
stems and flowers. An excellent
partner for paler, variegated forms. If
the first year stems don’t impress you don’t give up - it is my theory that
the best colour is produced on shoots arising from the older rhizomes.
From Martin Cragg-Barber. £2.50
U. dioica 'Brightstone
Bitch' - The
leaves are smartly sectored and flecked with white and shades of green. Pull out
any green shoots. Vicious. Found by
Jill Butcher. £2.50
U. dioica 'Chedglow' – A fine nettle with soft yellow leaves subtly speckled with green.
Much less vigorous than most and probably best under glass. £2.50
U. dioica 'Danae Johnston' -
Lovely nettle with the new leaves densely mottled and flecked with cream,
especially in spring and early summer. £2.50
U. dioica
'Dusting' - A nettle with the leaves developing a finely speckled
variegation which may take the form of fine green spotting on a yellow ground
fading to cream (reminiscent of tartare sauce) or a similar spotting in yellow
fading to cream on a green ground (whereby the younger leaves have a gold-dusted
appearance). The variegation can be
in sectors and can revert (pull out green shoots).
Otherwise the variegation repeats well on the new foliage if the stems
are cut back mid-season. £2.50
U.
dioica 'Dying
for Attention' - When growing strongly the youngest leaves have a
distinctive pallor, simulating (superficially anyway) the effects of weedkiller.
Repeats well if cut down. £2.50
U. dioica ‘Fearnvale Tigertooth’# - A seasonally variegated nettle from Gordon Fearn’s Derbyshire
garden. Around midsummer the leaves
begin to fade to a parchment colour around the edge, their centres remaining (or
is it becoming?) bright green. The variegation affects the foliage all the way
up the stems and can be very dramatic, especially when suffused with shades of
pink and purple, as my happen late in the season. £2.50
U. dioica
'Good as Gold' – This, my favourite nettle, has golden foliage
enhanced by red-tinted stems, especially in spring. Viewed close-up, many of the leaves are found to be very
subtly variegated in green or cream. Pull
out the odd green shoot. Can be cut
back for fresh golden leaves or left to flower, when it is very elegant.
Seems to stay as a clump in my garden.
Found by Kevin Swales. £2.50
U. dioica ‘OGG Mutant’# - This form named by Martin Cragg-Barber hails from the Oxford Genetic
Garden and has curled, congested foliage on thickish stems.
Slower growing than usual and strongly reminiscent of Sambucus
nigra ‘Pyramidalis’. Few.
£4.00
U. dioica 'Spring
Fever' - In spring
the foliage becomes wholly suffused with a bright, searing yellow, becoming
green in summer. Late season regrowth can also show the effect. £2.50
U. dioica ‘Worn Gilding’# - The leaves acquire a soft grainy variegation in two shades of yellow
reminiscent of worn gilding. The
dusty pink-tinted flowers in midsummer accentuate the eighteenth century feel.
If the stems are cut down, the variegation is repeated on the new growth. £2.50
U.
dioica var.
inermis -
From Denmark via Ulrike Paradine comes this relatively friendly form with
non-stinging leaves (but stinging hairs on the stems, though I haven’t yet
been stung myself!). Few, late
summer to autumn. £4.00