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Plant Snobs: Centranthus ruber and Agapanthus


>> Personally, I can't decide either about this plant (Centranthus
ruber).  I do 
     like the flowers.
>> They are very useful to grow in areas that will support little else. 
> It
>> also has the common name of 'railroad weed' in our area.  The white 
>form is
>> very classic looking - the clear, creamy white flowers and the cool,
>> slightly grey green foliage.  The 'red' is actually an interesting 
>shade of
>> brick or coral red, and combines well with salmons, corals, and 
>sunset
>> colors. 


My mother, who lives among redwoods at Sea Ranch along the Mendocino / N.
California coast, turned down my offer of Centranthus ruber / Jupiter's
Beard seedlings last year from my San Francisco bay area garden. And
she's not alone; many will pass Jupiter's Beard by as being "too common."

While Centranthus ruber probably wouldn't flourish in her
rhodies-and-foxgloves-and forget-me-nots garden anyway -- pure damp shade
is one situation they don't tolerate well -- that's not the reason she
turned the seedlings down. Let's face it. LIke most of us at one time or
another, she's a plant snob.

Now I admit to a bit of snobbery myself. I'm not too crazy about
Agapanthus, for example. You do see it everywhere. Worse still, its thick
white roots, once encouraged, will take over a flower bed, making it
nearly impossible to plant anything else. However, if I want a particular
area filled with broad, strap-shaped leaves and topped in the summer by
singular blue flowers, and if I also want something tough enough to stand
up to my neighbor's rampaging Algerian ivy, then I'll plant Agapanthus.

I grow orchids too, and enjoy pampering them when necessary. But does
that 
mean I should prize them above "common" plants like Centranthus ruber
that will take neglect and even abandonment and still bloom their hearts
out?

What a reward it is for me to look out my kitchen window into the garden
and see those stately spires of coral and white mingling in profusion
with Betty Prior roses, burgundy cosmos, Johnny-jump-ups, salvia and
snaps.This spring I've spent entirely too much time grading English
papers and working in a nursery and not enough time out in the garden.
Centranthus ruber, among others, has been there "filling in" for me.

Why is it that we so often turn up our noses at plants that, given half a
chance, are such rugged garden performers? 


Victoria T. Olson

Rabbitsfoot Farm
Perennial Tapestries
Benicia, CA

rabbitsfoot@juno.com
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