Plant(s) of the Month: The Blues (March 2026)

Anemone coronaria (De Caen Group)

My garden has suddenly come alive with spring colour, mainly yellow, mauve and blue flowers, but I’ve had to work at it: the result being some gorgeously blue-flowering plants purchased (as a contrast to the in-situ yellows) for growing in containers. They have worked their magic, basking in the sunshine and enticing me into the garden with their beauty and my admiration!

This year, I decided, firstly, to recreate my spring ‘blue garden’ in a galvanised planter, first digging out unwanted material. I chose blue flowering plants with different shapes and sizes of flowers for harmony and these are the varieties I planted (including a purple Viola and Agapanthus to give depth to the arrangement):

Veronica umbrosa ‘Georgia Blue’ (alpine speedwell)
A enchanting little ground cover perennial, preferring full sun, if possible, and flowering during the spring months.

Continue reading Plant(s) of the Month: The Blues (March 2026)

Sedum or Hylotelephium? Aster or Symphyotrichum?

But which is which?

I’m sure you know by now that herb garden favourite rosemary had its botanical name changed following DNA testing. It was reclassified to the Salvia family and its proper name is now Salvia rosmarinus (while the common name of course remains ‘rosemary’). Another common garden plant, Perovskia (aka Russian sage), has been renamed Salvia yangii. And then there are the sedums, some (but not all) of which must have needed a few more syllables to sound properly botanical!

Gardeners often wonder why this happens, and feel like botanical names are simply there to confuse us. Many gardeners choose to stick to the ‘old’ names, and occasionally (but not usually!) this is rewarded as science progresses, as is pointed out in this useful article from Gardens Illustrated.

Continue reading Sedum or Hylotelephium? Aster or Symphyotrichum?