Subtlety is all very well in a garden, but every now and then it’s good to have a shot in the arm, a blast of colour or scent that really does cause you – or a visitor – to say ‘Wow!’ Now you’re never going to get the wow factor from those stalwarts of the border – the groundcover plants and the grasses that are invaluable fillers – although on a winter’s morning even those grasses can be unusually impressive when sun glints on the frost-rimed seedheads.
But let’s look at some plants that might not suit every taste but that even the mostsummer – especially if they’re a vibrant shade of blue, such as the rich, deep ‘Faust’ or, my own favourite, ‘Pandora’, which is almost electric blue. I’ve tried the red varieties but find them less robust and often unreliable at coming through the winter unscathed. You’ll have to keep the slugs off them when their shoots are emerging in spring, and stake the stems as they extend, but your reward will be the admiring glances from passers-by.
