It’s been a lovely October here, bright days with quite a bit of sunshine and crisp, chilly evenings.
It feels wintery, but there are plenty of nice flowering plants around, so if you feel that your garden could do with a plant that has colour on offer at the moment coupled with texture and leaves that rustle gently in the wind, you’ll love this plant.
Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firetail’ has tall, slender stems with spikes of small flowers, its been flowering for weeks and will probably carry on for a few more. It’s not a well-known plant, so I’m giving it a plug here.
Persicaria amplexicaulis Firetail & grasses in the background.
The flowers are small, so it it’s at it’s best planted in a group to make an impact, the number of plants depends on the size of your garden, it looks really good planted alongside grasses.
Red and pink flowers together can be a dodgy combination, but Persicarias manage to pull it off, the pink one is Persicarea Rosea.
Persicaria Rosea & Persicaria amplexicaulis Firetail.
Vital statistics:
Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firetail’ grows to 1.2 x 1.2m
Persicaria Rosea is smaller, 1 x 1m
They flower for months from late summer into autumn and like clay or loam soil that doesn’t dry out completely. Plant them in sun or part-shade.
Cut them down to a few inches above the ground in February or early March, the cut stems can go on the compost heap.
They’ll start to re-grow as the weather warms up and the days get longer.
Happy gardening, Jill Anderson
all photos: Jill Anderson
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