Two decades ago, I planted a flower mixture that included many interesting annuals. One of them, through modest but persistent self-sowing from year to year, remains a resident in the garden.
In the fall, when I cleaned and prepared emptied areas of the vegetable garden for the winter, I left some of the low-growing densely leaf-packed green mounds to bloom in the spring. Throughout the winter, the plants have remained plump and robust, undaunted by snow and pelting rain.
The flower is a European native known commonly as drooping catchfly or nodding catchfly (Silene pendula), a plant that is perfect for rock gardens, plot edging and containers. “Catchfly” refers to the plant’s sticky stems, said to be capable of entrapping tiny insects.
Over the years I’ve become very fond of the plants for their utterly undemanding resilience and their thick clusters of nodding, rosy pink blooms. I’ve always taken care to leave several conveniently located self-seeded plants to grow and bloom.
My fondness for Silene pendula came leaping to mind when I noticed a new listing in the William Dam Seeds catalogue. It was for a Silene pendula selection called Sibella Carmine, a form of the species with double flowers in an intense purple-rose. Sibella Carmine is a 2020 Fleuroselect Gold Medal winner.
It’s worthwhile paying attention to European Fleuroselect award-winning plants. They are always superb. The website Fleuroselect.com pictures the new Silene. Other Fleuroselect award winners I’ve grown and delighted in include Xanthos cosmos and the exquisite viola Delft Blue.
William Dam Seeds lists and labels numerous winners of awards from both Fleuroselect and All-America Selections. Here are a few more items of interest in this catalogue.
• Mashed Potatoes is the name of an elongated, white acorn squash whose flesh “resembles mashed potatoes when baked and fluffed.” Since potatoes, steamed tender and mashed with butter and cream, is a personal favourite comfort food, I’ll by trying this winter squash as a “fun potato alternative.” Another, tan-coloured acorn squash called Baked Potatoes, has “sweet and nutty” flesh excellent for roasting and using in desserts.
• Dropshot, a new listing in the Herbs section, is a Mexican marigold (Tagetes filifolia) that produces ferny leaves with “a surprising sweet licorice flavour suitable for fresh or cooked use.” The bushy, compact 20-cm plants are attractive used in containers or as a bed edging.
• Amazing Grey is a new Shirley poppy (Papaver rhoeas) in shades of blue, purple and smoky grey. “We have been waiting several years for seed to be available.”
• Edible Flower and Herb Mix. Listed in both the Flowers and Herbs sections, this blend of tasty plants and blooms is recommended for adding colour and flavour to salads and stir-fries.
• Choho is a cross between the Asian greens tatsoi and komatsuna. I’m intrigued by this listing because I’ve enjoyed good results growing komatsuna, an upright leafy green with rounded, dark green leaves. I grow it with mizuna, another easily grown upright Asian green with attractive and mildly pungent, serrated leaves. Tatsoi grows in a compact rosette of thick, spoon-shaped leaves. The results of joining the characteristics of the rosette-forming tatsoi with the thinner-leaved, upright komatsuna will be interesting to observe.
• Deema. For years, my summer squash of choice has been the ridged, Italian Romanesco type of zucchini. I like the nutty flavour. It’s been a while since I’ve grown the creamy-flavoured Mid-Eastern types like Deema, which produces pale green, tapered fruits with cream mottling.
GARDEN EVENTS
Orchid meeting. Victoria Orchid Society meets Monday, Feb. 17, at 7:30 p.m. in the Gordon Head United Church Hall, 401 Tyndall Ave. Speaker for the evening will be Tom Mirenda, founding member of the North American Orchid Conservation Centre and former orchid collection specialist at the Smithsonian Institute. He is currently director at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. His talk will be a fitting lead-up to the theme of the society’s Annual Show and Sale Feb. 28 and March 1: Conserving Our Natural Beauty.
Cannabis workshop. The Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, 505 Quayle Rd. in Saanich, is offering a Cannabis Basics for the Home Grower workshop on Saturday, Feb. 22, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The class will cover different strains, propagation from seed or clone, growing indoors and outdoors, harvesting and relevant legislation. Cost to HCP members $60, others $65. To register, call 250-479-6162.
