Sisyrinchium striatum, a hardy perennial with evergreen foliage. Perhaps you know it well,  but its new to me.

Before the flowers started to develop, I was convinced this plant was a form of Iris.

*** In our garden ***

Soon after we arrived in Cheshire, in the front and back garden I spotted quite a few of these plants with the evergreen leaves. 

As I say, I was convinced we were in for a treat, giving us a show of Iris blooms in the Summer ahead.

Come late May, it was evident that once again, I was wrong.

The leaves may well remind you of Iris but as you can see, the pale creamy yellow flowers couldn’t be more different

In a sunny position in our South facing front garden the blooms lasted from late May, persisting in to the second week of August.

The one plant which actually performed best of all, was the one which I potted up, and was in a position that didn’t get quite so much sunshine at the bottom of the back garden. 

*** Plant description ***

Sisyrinchium striatum, with its sword shaped evergreen (grey/green) leaves, and clusters of small creamy yellow flowers, is quite an eye catcher, in perhaps an understated manner.

I mean, they don’t shout out at you, but as the weeks go in its easy to become, sort of attached to this little beauty.

Flowers for a long period, late May until early August, at times when the weather turns miserable for a day or two, its easy to think its all over when you see the blooms turning brown. The sun comes out again,weather turns warmer, and the plant gets a new lease of life.

Sisyrinchium striatum from South America, grows to a height of about 60cm/2ft, perhaps a little taller. 

*** Hardiness *** Fully hardy

*** Position *** Full sun/partial shade

*** Soil *** Free draining, not too heavy

*** Flowering *** Late May to early August

*** Propagate *** Divide in Spring every two/three years

*** Common name *** Aunt May 

*** Sisyrinchium ***

  

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The village in Cheshire where we now live, at one time was very small with a population of a couple of hundred residents.

In the 1980s, housebuilding got under-way, and by 2014 the population reached over five thousand.

The old part of the village still has that old world feel, whilst the new developments have the typical character of the period in which they were built.

The village, to a certain extent has everything that you would expect regarding health care,schooling, pubs and shops, 

A large area of land was taken over by one of the supermarket chains last year, I felt sorry for the local co-operative store which had served the community for decades.

However it seems these multi’s have been experiencing lower profits, and apparently our new store is on hold.

Well anyway, I had been saying to my eleven year old grandson that the biggest disappointment with living here was, that there was no park for the residents to stroll around or the children to play in.

He soon put me right, informing me that an area of land was currently being developed into a park.  Further investigation proved that this was certainly in progress and seating areas and paths had been completed. Emphasis was on wildlife and flower meadows and not exactly a cultivated park, which was fine.

During the school Summer holidays, my grandson informed me that he knew where this park was, and we could have a walk there, not far he said, probably less than a couple of miles away.

I was fine with this, just getting into my new found pastime of walking, so off we went on what happened to be the hottest day of the year.

We called in at the old village first for some refreshments, which happened to be on the way.

Eventually we reached this country path, which was in a very picturesque situation. We walked past fields and woodland areas, crossed a small bridge over a river, children were playing, jumping off the bridge to the river below.

We carried on walking and I thought it was time I asked if we were near the park, **  I think this is the park he said. 

Well it seems like we just ended up having a nice walk in the countryside.

Apparently, this year at some time we are going to find the real thing. 

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