May is the beginning of the Bank bursting into life with 150 yellow and orange Eremurus lilies each throwing up between 3 and 8 6ft spires of tiny flowers. There is an understorey of Kniphofia Fiery Fred. Over 1000 yellow, orange and red verticals contrast against a backdrop of a hedge of purple beech and are quite stunning to see through May and June.
The purple tones of the beech hedge are carried through the planting on the Bank using 250 Eucomis Sparkling Burgundy and 200 Bishops series Dahlias. None of these are lifted over winter as the conditions on the Bank do not cause waterlogging so they do not rot off. Here again the plants selected were a considered choice to reduce workload.
4 varieties of Penstemon, 10 varieties of Salvia, Alstroemerias, and Fuschias are planted throughout the Bank and provide a tapestry of pink, purple, yellow and red flowers for 6 months starting in early June. These shrubby plants also fill the spaces between neighbouring plants, and so block out light and help to control weed growth.
Annual plants Calendula, Antirrhinum, Rudbeckia and Amaranthus Red Hot Hopi were added to the bank in 2020 and have been left to self seed. Careful hoeing controls where these annuals are allowed to grow.
In late summer Rudbeckia, Echinacea, Salvias, Penstemons and the rarest plant in the garden Lobelia Tupa take over from the early summer flowers. Lobelia Tupa originates from Chile and is a very difficult plant to propagate. We have around 30 of these majestic plants that put on a show of spires of reddish pink flowers towering above large silvery leaves. When the Bank was replanted in 2020, Lobelia Tupa were the first to go on the planting plan and the rest of the design was formed around them.
The Bank has possibly the most unusual combination of plants in the UK due to the growing conditions allowing us to put together plants that would not normally survive in the same places.
I highly recommend that you come and see it throughout the summer as it changes monthly. The best place to view it from is the far end of the mown field, looking back toward the Summer House.