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Re: Aconitum

Wow, never though Aconitum would make the list like this.  When I owned a large perennial nursery we grew and sold several varieties but there was little demand since it obviously doesn't flower when garden centers are selling perennials.  The general rule of thumb was and still is that if it isn't in flower, it won't sell.  Funny though...we sold thousands of Delphiniums that were just budded.  Speaking of which...delphs and aconites are in the same family...and share the same diseases.
    Some 20 years after I sold the nursery I was managing a 120 acre private estate that dated back to the early 1920's.  Some of the gardens from that era were and still are in cultivation and some have been forgotten and lost on the large wooded property.  My second year on the site I was wondering through a lightly wooded area and found this magnificent plant blooming away in late October.  Yes, an aconitum.  It's probably been in the same spot for 30-60 years and withstood development, deer and the pilages of time.  Seeing it bloom so late I began to search for a similar species in the trade but it took several years.  I planted some at home and some in other woodland areas.  The ones at home get too little light and are forever sickly and will be moved next year.  The ones planted in the woods in what I considered high shade are still a bit lank and need more light.  The originals never get direct sunlight except in very late summer to early fall and the rest of the growing season they get very high shade from 80 to 100 year old oaks.
    If you shop for Aconitum be careful because I often find them labeled as fall flowering when the varities and species being offered are actually late summer flowering types.  Only one species flowers here in October.  Can't for the life of me figure out how it naturally propagates since there are no insects around to pollinate them and they never set seed.  What a treat in the garden though when everything else is on the way out.
    Ah, I still manage the estate and this summer I discovered two Phlox paniculata varieties that were hidden all these years amid the weeds and brambles.  Both were free of mildew so I transplanted them into a trial area in September and we'll trial them for several years to see if they maintain the mildew resistance in cultivation.  If they do we may have two new Phlox paniculata introductions/reintroductions that are shade tolerant.
 

Andrew Messinger
The Hampton Gardener
The Hampton Gardener is a Registered Trade Mark
(Published every Thursday in the Southampton Press)



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