Irises round William Pye’s fountain at Holland House, Kensington
No such luck with it in Hampshire; it can be too cold even a mere two miles from the sea. But for a London garden with some wall shelter and a fair amount of space I can’t think of a more satisfactory little tree. I tucked it into the south-facing corner by the greenhouse door. Now we have to cut off six-foot shoots to stop them casting the greenhouse into shade.
My obsession with blue has its moment at this time of year, and the solanum has a companion little tree in a pot on what I call the quarterdeck, four steps higher at the far end of the garden (for its total length, think a cricket pitch). I use blue in what a grammarian would call ‘sensu lato’ – as one must in discussing a colour that ranges from summer skies to deep distant shadow. Little acnistus (or iochroma if you prefer) dangles inch-long flaring bells of a deep violet hue. I keep this little standard clipped lollipop style the better to see its bells.
The most obliging blue, particularly eager to oblige, scrambling through the border, is Geranium ‘Rozanne’, celebrated last year as the ‘Plant of the Century’ or some such. With clematis ‘Perle d’Azur’ the blue mood needs lightening. Phlox ‘White Admiral’ is the answer.
