24-Sept Shrubs, Trees & September Colour

Chinese privet Ligustrum lucidum, especially its variegated form, gets noticed in parks and more recently in streets as do the lantern fruits of the golden rain tree Koelreuteria paniculata. Occasionally a eucalyptus or two can be found in flower and possibly an enormous creamy flower on an old bull magnolia Magnolia grandiflora. In London these magnolias don’t aspire to the thirty metre high specimens that exist in their native Florida. Instead we tend to plant them against houses hoping their enormous lily of the valley scented flowers will open beside our windows. There is a rarely seen ‘Goliath’ variety which has stupendous 30 cm wide flowers like large creamy-yellow dinner plates. Eucryphias also provide a display in September but we see few of them in London, but recently brightly coloured silk trees e.g. Albizia julibrissin are starting to be planted more. They produce outrageous pink powder puff flowers. Other showy but uncommon shrubs are Hoheria and Clerodendrum.

Hoherias can produce dense clusters of white cherry-like flowers but Clerodendrums, with just their strange blue fruits, are always the ones that get noticed. Almost all blue cherry-like fruit seem to catch our eye but the shiny turquoise-blue berries set in crimson sepals on Clerodendrum trichotomum always demand our attention. These large shrubs or small trees have leaves which leave an unpleasant foetid smell on our hands but have far more pleasantly scented flowers. Kew is a place to see them and it is worth looking for C. bungei with its rosy mauve flowers and C. trichototum var fargesii with its even more peculiar paler creamy-blue berries. Recently they are starting to be seen more in gardens.

We also now see more of the relatively uninspiring Hebes, Olearias and Senecios as well as a small number of shrubs still producing pea flowers such as Spartium Genista and Colutea. Ceratostigma willmottianea has electric blue flowers which will continue until the first frosts and deserve a wider planting. Abutilons and Hibiscus spp. provide brighter colour combinations and Escallonias form good, solid wind resistant hedges which are always reliably covered in flowers and shiny resinous leaves. Rarely seen myrtles are among the most interesting September shrubs. Wild myrtle Myrtus communis arrived from southern Europe in 1585 courtesy of Sir Thomas Carew who grew it in his garden at Beddington. To the ancient Greeks it was a symbol of love, youth, beauty and immortality. The Romans made wreaths and garlands out of it and the Egyptians wore it in their hair.

Persians even believed the shrub to be holy. Its flowers produce the legendary scent of myrrh and eating a single berry was believed to change the scent of urine into violets in less than fifteen minutes. Many other legends are associated with it. It was the myrtle nymph who taught the Greeks how to cultivate olives. When the lovelorn Phaedra was rejected by her stepson Hippolytus she hung herself from a myrtle tree. He was then killed later when his chariot reins got caught in a myrtle bush and he was dragged to his death.

Many other shrubs have even richer histories and provided great excitement for Londoners when they first arrived not too long ago. They often arrived here from all over the temperate world via sailors, missionaries and plant hunters. Many an intrepid plant hunter had more than their fair share of problems getting their seeds or plants home. Alan Cunningham, who died in Sydney botanic garden in 1839, has been called a martyr to botanical exploration. His brother Robert, whilst looking for new plants in Australia, got lost but luckily was found by aborigines. Unfortunately, when he became delirious, they took fright and killed him.

He was responsible for introducing the silky oak Grevillea robusta. Abelias are also common enough in September e.g. Abelia grandiflora, A. schumannii and A. chinensis. These are all named after the unfortunate Dr Abel who accompanied Lord Amherst of pheasant fame on his disastrous expedition to China. When ushered into the presence of the emperor Lord Amherst refused to prostrate himself so both of them were immediately thrown out of the country.

Lagerstroemeria indica, the crepe myrtle, with its unusual crepe paperlike flowers, deserves to be better known considering its collector was found washed up unconscious after being shipwrecked, still lashed to a piece of wood along with his specimens still intact. As ever, Kew and Wisley are places to look for rarer shrubs in flower this month e.g. Heimia myrtifolia, Pileostegia viburnoides, Itea ilicifolia and various Clethra and Lomatia spp.