Harvest Tones
In late Summer / early Autumn the garden can be entering a new and glorious phase of rich warm tones evocative of harvest time. This is kicked off by many late flowering perennials, often originating from open grasslands of the Prairies or Steppe, before the Autumn leaf colour of many trees and shrubs takes us towards Winter.
One of my favourites amongst the prairie plants are Heleniums. The name is sometimes reported to refer to Helen of Troy and the story that this plant would pop up wherever her tears fell – a nice story but perhaps more likely to simply be derived from the Greek helios meaning sun. Just as interesting is the common name, Sneezeweed, so called because the leaves were used to make snuff by the Cherokee Indians to treat colds and catarrh. More recently Helenium compounds have been identified by cancer researchers as containing significant anti-tumour properties.
Heleniums are members of the compositae or daisy family. There are numerous cultivars available, bred by people such as Alan Bloom, Karl Foerster and Mein Ruys (Moerheim Beauty), as well as some spontaneous crosses (Sahin’s Early Flowerer). Colours range from golden yellow, through burnt orange to rich reds, often with golden brown tones. In the centre of the slightly downward angled petals lies the boss of true flowers, coloured rich brown. Heleniums provide flowers from around July right through to October. Some are self supporting, though many do benefit from a little support from neighbours to stay upright.
Heleniums benefit from mass planting where space allows, and look wonderful with tried and tested “new perennial” combinations including grasses.
For something a little different, how about trying them near clipped Beech hedging. Those rich flower tones work beautifully with the golden green and later russet gold tones of the Beech, and there is a pleasing contrast of form between the two.
Categorised in: Plant of the moment
This post was written by Christine Whatley on October 17, 2014 4:44 pm
