As I pottered around the greenhouse this morning, checking the pots, watering where necessary and pulling off mouldy dead bits (like you do on a rainy day) this little flower leapt off the bench and smacked me straight between the eyes, whack! It certainly was a sight for sore eyes on this most dismal of days and reminded me why I spend so much time trudging around covered in mud, coming a very poor second in the relentless battle with brambles/enchanter’s nightshade/docks etc. This is one of those plants that the botanists are squabbling over and it is known as either Ipheion “Jessie” or Tristagma “Jessie”. The nitty-gritty of the disparity over names is either a) over my head or b) beyond my attention span. I have decided that as the RHS Plant Finder are calling it the former (although more tricky to pronounce, what do you do with all those vowels?) I will stick with them. So with the vaguaries over lets get down to some hard facts (probably). It is a seedling from Ipheion “Rolf Fiedler” which originated in Uruguay. It was raised at Kew by Tony Hall and named after his sister. It is in the Alliaceae family and has the tell-tale onion scented foliage although the flower is more pleasantly fragranced. It is a summer dormant alpine plant. It is a great beauty.
Lovely!
Did you know it was his birthday today?
I did indeed! How clever of me to tie it all in, to be appreciated by the discerning customer such as yourself xxx
Not many tricks missed! X