Elizabeth’s top spring plants
1 ‘Roy Davidson’ An excellent and vigorous lungwort with masses of pale, almost milky-blue flowers and mottled leaves. American gardener Roy Davidson produced this seedling of Elizabeth’s . ‘Bertram Anderson’. 30cm. RHS H6, USDA 3a-8b. 2 One of the most dramatic toad lilies, this California native is similar to . but with larger, darker flowers and beautifully mottled foliage. 60cm. RHS H4. 3 ‘Jenny’ A delicate cyclamineus type daffodil with typically reflexed petals that emerge pale yellow but fade to a milky white and surround a lemon-yellow trumpet. Small but sturdy. Flowers in March to April. 20cm. AGM*. RHS H6, USDA 3a-8b. 4 ‘Leopard’ This lungwort, a Mediterranean native, was discovered and named by the late great plantsman Graham Stuart Thomas, who identified it for its vigour and distinct red-pink flowers held above marbled foliage. Elizabeth has many plants from Graham in her garden. 30cm. RHS H6, USDA 3a-8b. 5 The leaves of this beautiful close relative of have an attractive blue flush when they emerge, later revealing white, three-petalled cups, speckled with pink. Elizabeth has a particularly good form with strong speckling. 20cm. RHS H4. 6 ‘George Baker’ An old but particularly good red selection of named for the eminent plantsman and recipient of the RHS Victoria Medal of Honour, who collected many plants. A useful early flowering perennial that will bulk up on a free-draining soil but resents waterlogging. 25cm. AGM. RHS H5. 7 x A vigorous . x . hybrid wood anemone favoured for its pale lemon-yellow flowers. On soils that aren’t too heavy, it will quickly colonise and as long as it gets some spring moisture, will cope with tricky areas in dry shade. In Elizabeth’s garden, it works itself into the tapestry of spring ephemerals. 10cm. RHS H5. 8 ‘Black Sea’ Elizabeth collects epimediums for their hardiness as well as their beauty. This one has exceptional foliage that flushes dark purple as temperatures drop. Its rounded, lemon-coloured sepals are overlaid with red. 40cm. RHS H6, USDA 5a-8b.
