Do you have plants that you’ve longed for, ever since your early days of gardening, but you’ve never acquired? Stuff that you think you should have grown out of, but haven’t, given that the longing has remained unfulfilled?
Right at this moment, my Prunus ‘Ukon’ is flowering for the first time. I’ve loved and longed for this extraordinary plant since my apprenticeship days at Rippon Lea in the mid 80’s. Embodied in it are layers of romance, of deep longing (that kind that resides in partnership with Joy), of the wonder and mystery of my life ahead (as I saw it back then) of constant discovery of new, wonderful plants. The beauty of the flower is as subtle and elusive as these feelings - green suffused with a faded rose, carrying a kind of antique patina unique in the plant world.
Why, then, has it taken me nearly 40 years of gardening to finally get hold of one? The most poetic part of the answer is that I’m a little suspicious of ownership. I can just as easily enjoy yours as having a plant of my own. The more prosaic answer is that my garden needs have been at the very bottom of a financial priority list that has been as endless as anyone else’s in full-on family mode. We’re just nearing the end of that now. Hence the relatively recent acquisition.
What plants you have you been longing for, for years?
Unfulfilled plant longing
Discussion
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There was a time when I would almost have sold my soul to obtain a Morus platanifolia, Plane-leafed or Parasol Mulberry. A fruitless tree and a fruitless pursuit in the end. Apparently a dear old man, now passed on, somewhere in WA had some stock but it’s all now lost. Planted a Morus alba instead. Trimmed, coaxed and did all I could to make it look a little like a platanifolia. Tied garden stakes horizontally across the tree crown. Hung upturned terracotta pots from the long arms of top growth to keep them as brolly-like as I could … thought I had measured the strings properly. Then we had a windstorm and my quaint terracotta bells turned into clay gongs and smashed against each other so hard that the next morning all was left were strings with knots in the tree and earthenware littered all around. Conceded defeat now but still have that unfulfilled longing 🙁
Over my whole gardening life, I have always had an affinity for “wild-looking” plants and stayed away from “over-engineered” cultivars such as fluffy double English roses. Until about 15 years ago when I came face to face at Chelsea Garden Show with a Harkness rose called “Jacqueline Du Pré”, and it was a “coup de foudre” as we say in French.
Beautiful semi double flowers with cream petals slightly tinted with pink at their edges, surrounding a glorious tuft of pink stamen in the middle, not to mention the strong fresh musk scent.
At the time I was living in Hong Kong where the summer humidity and heat would kill just about any rose except good old Rosa mutabilis which I enjoyed in my small garden, so growing “Jacqueline du Pré” was out of question, so the next best thing I could do is get one for my mother who planted it in front of her patio in the south of France where I could enjoy it every summer when we would come and visit.
When my partner and I moved to Australia two years ago and settled in our new home, the first thing I did was to look for that rose which was still at the back of my mind.
To my surprise, it was not listed in any of the big rose nurseries’ catalogues! I must have emailed just about every rose nursery in the country, and finally one got back to me saying that they did grow it, but that they did not usually propagate it.
However, they did agree to bud one for me the following season. After more than a year I finally got my hand on the elusive rose. After a few months it flowered, and those gorgeous fragrant flowers took me back to the day I first saw it on the other side of the world.
It is funny how one can develop such a strong bond with some of our plants, or how they can bring back memories or emotion.
For me it is banksias. I can’t tell you how many I have killed ! When I visit my sister in WA I drool over her banksia coccinea, then turn green at her prionotes. Serious plant envy! But I am happy to report I have managed to keep a banksia ericifolia alive for 4 years now and it has already sported a solitary bloom. My pride and joy! Fingers crossed I can keep it going to see multiple blooms.