The hardy Chusan palms, this one also in Japan, have been a remarkable feature at Inverewe since first planted in Osgood Mackenzie’s day.
The first three weeks of November were exceptionally mild. This pink-purple Pelargonium brightened up the back corner of South Africa long after most of the summer bedding around it had faded or gone to seed.
Impatiens tinctoria, from North Africa, with its orchid-like petals, white blotched with red, emerged late after the cold winter, but grew 2 metres tall as usual and never stopped once started.
An unusual shrub, Colletia hystrix, from Chile and Argentina, has small, pale-pink, pitcher-shaped flowers which are pleasantly scented. Its viciously sharp-pointed, grey-green spikes give rise to its name of the ‘barbed-wire bush’. There is a good specimen on the raised bed in America.
The last week of November was more seasonal. As the herbaceous plants died back the architectural foliage plants came into their own. This clump of Pampas grass is half way along the Drive.
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In the borders of the Drive annuals such as Salvia leucantha continued to delight throughout the autumn. This aromatic plant is commonly known as the Mexican sage bush. The flowers emerge white from purple calyces along the stem.
At the Peat Bank Pond a confused Calla lily, (Zantedeschia aethiopica), put out new, pure white spathes. This native of southern Africa likes the damp conditions here.
The blooms of most Eucryphias are white but those of Eucryphia lucida ‘Ballerina’ are a clear, pale pink with darker pink stamens. This particular variety was discovered in Western Tasmania in 1986. At Inverewe it has been planted in Bambooselem.
In Japan the mature tree ferns (Dicksonia antarctica) which survived last winter have put on strong, new growth, contributing to the ‘exotic’ effects of this part of the Garden.
Fatsia japonica is well known as an indoor plant but there is an old and sizeable example in the upper reaches of Bambooselem. In a shaded location, its glossy, lobed leaves contrast well with duller foliage.