British gardens are stuffed with plants collected from far-flung places, so it’s quite possible to have plants from South Africa, China, the US, Australia and Asia all in one border. As such, having a world map on the wall of the garden shed, or in the kitchen, along with some panel pins, is a fun exercise for your grandchildren.
My grandson James, aged eight, was touching my pots of agapanthus the other day when he remarked on the thickness of the petals and the rubbery stems. I explained that agapanthus comes from South Africa, which clocks far more sunshine hours than we do. I explained that thin petals would shrivel up under such strong sunshine, so some South African plants have evolved to have rubbery petals packed with lots of pigment. Never shy away from complex vocabulary. Children’s minds and memories are razor-sharp and I faced the fact long ago that my four may well be brighter than I am!
Kniphofias, crocosmias, nerines, dieramas and gladioli also come from the South African Cape, and many of these enjoy summer rainfall. Some kniphofias are pollinated by hummingbirds in the wild and, if you brush against them, nectar showers over you. I had a few sparrows on mine.
China is another great source of garden plants as it has 30,000 species, about an eighth of the world's known flora. Many magnolias, witch hazels, hydrangeas, azaleas, peonies, camellias and chrysanthemums were collected from China at the beginning of the 20th century. They tend to be primitive because certain areas of China escaped glaciation. Magnolia flowers, for instance, are beetle-pollinated because bees hadn’t yet appeared.
The strange thing is many Chinese plants have North American relatives because, before the continents drifted apart, the two were one land mass – a nice detail to inspire children. The Chinese versions are more showier than the American species in almost every case, but when the Asian and American relatives find themselves planted in the same place they produce fabulous hybrids.
One Chinese plant found in almost every British garden is Buddleja davidii, sometimes called the butterfly bush. It can attract 22 species of British butterfly and produces honey-scented nectar in August, when most larger butterflies are about. Peacocks, red admirals and small tortoiseshells adore it, but you might see painted ladies, too, and these migrants will have arrived on a warm wind from the Continent.
In autumn you’re almost bound to have Michaelmas daisies and these plants have a huge range stretching through North America, through Europe, into Asia with some coming from South Africa. If you’re unsure which is which, look up the plant on the internet, adding “native to” in the search wording.
Asters are daisies, corruptions of “day’s eye”, so they need a bright position. September-flowering New England asters, now called Symphyotrichum novae-angliae after a botanical shuffle, come from North America. They are very easy to grow, and their mainly pink and purple flowers, borne on tall, woody stems, are also highly attractive to butterflies. Other North American plants include echinaceas, heleniums, border phloxes, heliopsis and goldenrod.
Plants from South America play a huge role as summer fades because they’ve evolved in parts of South America close to the equator, where days and nights are evenly balanced in length. However temperatures vary greatly there and nights are far colder than days. Many salvias, all dahlias, many penstemons, alstroemerias, fuchsias, heliotrope, morning glory and cosmos all hail from that part of the world and come into their own later in the year.
If you can, also teach your grandchildren colourful stories about the brave, young plant hunters who went into the unknown to collect all these plants. Most died young – the unfortunate David Douglas (1799 -1834) was gored to death by a bull in Hawaii, and Reginald Farrer (1880-1920) died of pneumonia on the Burmese/Chinese frontier. There were tiger attacks and murders, too.
