Profiling a plant which I am not familiar with, I wont make a habit of.  However every now and again something catches your eye and you have difficulty getting it out of your head.  For me, Fothergilla Monticola is one such shrub. I first came across it in April of 2011 on a visit to Crathes Castle gardens. I did take something like a dozen pictures of it, just to make sure I had at least a couple of decent ones to show you.

I have of course had to do a bit of research on this shrub, but hey I don’t see a problem in that, doesn’t all of our information come from both experience and what is passed on by being educated.

Fothergilla Monticola (Hamameleoaceae) a member of the Hamamelis family with creamy white bottle brush type flowers in Spring, grows to about 6.5 ft tall. The blooms are very striking and said to be scented, growth is also mentioned as being quite slow.

The fact that I had not seen Fothergilla before made me think it may be on the tender side. Crathes Castle gardens are in a sheltered position and about fifteen miles inland from Aberdeen. In spite of the short distance from the city, Crathes is in fact milder in Spring and Summer than we are on the coast. However this does not protect the gardens from the cold weather in Winter where the temperatures are lower than we would expect in town.

Fothergilla Monticola is said to be hardy down to a temperature of minus 15c/5f which should make it suitable for growing in Aberdeen as our temp very seldom goes as low as this, and on the occasion that it does it is never prolonged.

Fothergilla Monticola is also said to be quite stunning in Autumn when the glossy toothed dark green leaves turn various shades of red and orange.

I just do not know where I am going to find a place in the garden for this beauty, something is going to have to go.

Hardiness – Fully hardy

Position – Sun/part shade

Plant prefers soil to be on the acidic side

After seeing this shrub last year, I spotted that Rosie of Leavesinbloom did a very interesting post on Fothergilla Blue Shadow, do take a look.

—Mail Order— I could only find the variety which Rosie profiles.

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After living for twenty seven years in the same house, it isn’t all that surprising to find that some trees which we planted in the early years had outgrown their situation.  You know what its like, the specimen which you were once so proud of is now blocking the sunshine to such an extent, it just has to go.

What about the Sorbus Cashmeriana (Rowan)

It wasn’t time for you to go, you were one of our favourites and only little.  Cashmeriana, the first of our Rowans to burst into leaf in early Spring, followed by pale pink flowers and then those large white berries which you produced in abundance every year from late August through till December some years.

You weren’t a very tall Tree, in fact at seven feet you were rather short, well formed though, just like your owner.   I think your height may have been stunted by the positioning, where there was a huge rock underneath  probably restricting your roots.

Cashmeriana is said, not to be very long lived.  This Spring we noticed the leaf buds of the other Rowans developing and thought it strange that our white berried one was still bare.  On closer inspection it became clear that the Tree was dead.  Yes Cashmeriana is gone and will be missed.

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On a cheerier note here we have a few plants which were looking quite good in April/early May,

A touch of white is welcome at any time of the year. Osmanthus Delavayi on the left actually first opened its blooms in March and continued to look good till the end of April.  I often undeservedly overlook the Viburnum Tinus.

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Just look at the Cherry Cheals weeping, what a sight for sore eyes.  Makes me think of the gardeners who say they don’t like pink, others have a dislike for yellow, and then red often gets the works as does orange.  Oh my, I just don’t get it, ah the bliss in my simplicity.  Mind you everyone loves blue (hurrah)

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A cheery container in the back garden and another by the front door.

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I have been known in the past to say that the only dependable Camellia for the Aberdeen area is the Williamsii Donation.  Well well, look what we have here, a lovely red Japonica. It has been in the woodland for a good few years and normally has three or four blooms. This Spring, wow it had twelve flowers.  OK so its not smothered like Donation normally is, however it always looks very healthy with lush dark green glossy foliage.  It was sold in the garden centre as a Japonica seedling.  I have decided from now on it will be known as, Camellia Japonica Myra’s Red.

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On April 21st we have this attractive trio of shrubs. Viburnum Judii, Camellia Donation and the Rhododendron Taurus. This Viburnum normally fills the air with a heady fragrance in April/early May, this year it has been too cold for it to release its perfume.

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Day Lilies can be shy of flowering in some of the colder Summers which we get here in Aberdeen. This unusual form  Golden Zebra has  yellow/gold blooms, however I like it most of all for the very attractive variegated foliage which it has, looking very fresh in late Spring.

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Erythronium Pagoda still looking fabulous in May.

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Dont ask me why, but the Pulmonaria had been absent from our garden for a long time.  The reintroduction this year with Blue Ensign has rekindled my interest. In future expect to see more of it in our garden, Sissinghurst white I think will be a strong contender.

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 Dicentra Formosa in the front garden starts blooming in very early Spring, apart from the flowers, just look at those leaves.  The form Spectabilis (bleeding heart) may have more elegant arching flowers, however I have a preference for the one above.

© 2012, Alistair. All rights reserved.

Perhaps you may see Muscari (Grape Hyacinth) as a humble plant.  However when I saw how Latifolium performed in our garden I was very happy that I had found room for this little beauty.  In actual fact back in 2005 this one was selected as bulb of the year and described as the Marge Simpson of the garden.  You may wish to read what garden writer Elspeth Thompson had to say.

In our garden we have this Spring flowering plant in the woodland, where it has been for a few years.  Also last Autumn we planted them in a new bed along with  Hellebores, which may eventually take over and smother out the Muscari, in the meantime we will just enjoy them.

Look how the tuft of pale blue above the very deep shade just brings the plant alive.  You can see why Marge Simpson came to mind.

For years Muscari did very little for me, so many of the varieties in our garden were rather uninspiring, and the following years the flowering of them diminished greatly, not Marge though, she goes from strength to strength.

This year Latifolium came into flower on the third week of March, a little earlier than usual due to the very warm early Spring which we had.

Hardiness – Fully hardy

Position – Sun/part shade

Height – 15/20cm

RHS Award of garden merit

— Mail Order—

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Also flowering in the woodland area of the garden at the same time as the Muscari is the very handsome Rhododendron Taurus and the gorgeous Camellia Donation.

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A couple of weeks ago with little else to do, off I went with camera in hand to photograph some of the coastline around Aberdeen.  Don’t be fooled with the blue sky’s, it was a very cold morning.  I did take about one hundred pictures of which fifteen are of acceptable quality.

This is the ruin of St Fitticks an ancient church and graveyard. set just back from an area known locally as the bay of nigg.  First recording of a church on this site was  1199.

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Bay of Nigg

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Another view of The Bay of Nigg.

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Here we have the old foghorn, well maintained but hasn’t been in use for several decades.

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This is the view a short distance further up the coast road.

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Aberdeen is regarded as being the oil capital of Europe.  Looks like I chose a quiet spell for taking my pictures. I was hoping to catch the oil rig supply boats and the ferries leaving for Orkney, Shetland and also those heading for Norway.

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© 2012, Alistair. All rights reserved.

I know, I have referred to other Clematis in the past as being my favourite, but you know by now what I am like.  Truly this has to be one of the best blue flowered Clematis available. Perle d Azur  with sky blue blooms measuring 4in across flowers continuously from July to September.

The one which we have, grows over an arch in the main area of the back garden. I found that this Clematis did take a couple of seasons to settle in, but is now robust and gives a wonderful display every Summer without fail. Here in Aberdeen ‘Perle’ d’ Azur’ performs best in a sunny position, coming into flower in July and continuing through till late September.

Pruning should be carried out between late February till the end of March, and it could not be simpler, just cut the stems hard back to buds which are about 6 to 8 inches from ground level.

The RHS has given this one its prestigious award of garden merit.

Position – Full sun

Hardiness – Fully hardy

Flowering period – July/September

—Mail Order—

Clematis are hungry plants. I like to give the first feed in late March using a good quality Rose food. Then every two weeks after this I give a liquid tomato feed.  It is essential to stop all feeding as soon as you see flower buds starting to develop.

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Its not that often I show pictures of the front garden. Here is how it was looking in early April.

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In the past I have gone on a bit about my fondness for the Daffodil Jetfire,  Here it is again, only this time I will show some others which are in the garden.

I don’t know the names of all our Daffs but the one above, Jack Snipe has really caught my eye. I planted them in a tub last October, they have a similar habit to Jetfire, a little taller with more subtle shades of creamy white and warm yellow.

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Daffodil Reggae above is another new introduction in the garden for us this year. Planted quite a few of them near the front of the main border in our back garden. The flowers are carried on quite short stems and the trumpets are more pink than my picture suggests. Extremely attractive, at the moment of posting they are hanging their heads rather low, I am hoping this is because we are having quite a cold spell.

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The multi headed Narcissi Grand Soleil above right, planted in a tub and sitting on the patio is looking rather good.

I have an East facing border which only gets about two hours sunshine per day. I would like to add some Daffs to brighten it up in Spring. If anyone has had success with this, I would really like to hear which variety you used.

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Here we have the third of the short stemmed Tulips which we planted in tubs. This one came into flower on the 1st of April, a little later than the first ones which I posted.

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Finally today we have the Fritillaria Meleagris Snakes Head

I have had great pleasure in maintaining my website and most of all my blog, if I can call it that.   Somehow I have the idea that a blog is more of a daily activity and I certainly don’t fall into this category. It has given me great enjoyment keeping in touch with all of you which I have met through Blotanical and elsewhere, and I cant thank you enough for leaving comments on my posts, it has given me an enormous amount of pleasure.

 I am not giving up on my site, nor am I stopping my visits to your wonderful posts.  However, a condition with my eyesight is making it more sensible for me to add a post only once per fortnight on my site.  I have overcome problems with commenting on your blogs by a simple technique of increasing the font size. So as you see all is fine, I just may be a little slower than usual.  And, oh, did I tell you, I won a fantastic gardening book from the competition which  Mark and Gaz hosted.  

© 2012, Alistair. All rights reserved.