In My Garden

Philip Duly

My favourite month of the year has always been June. The long days, light evenings, warm temperatures and glorious gardens are just some of the reasons I treasure every one of its thirty uplifting days.

For gardeners, there is however some solace when June gives way to July. That’s because, despite the roses, lupins, peonies and foxgloves being well past their best, our gardens are about to become more exciting still with the onset of the peak flowering season for delphiniums, monardas, salvias and heleniums. Moreover, the rapid growth that aconitums have quietly been making during May and June has probably gone unnoticed.

These beautiful, breathtaking herbaceous perennials are this month’s star plant. They are stunning, long-flowering and reliably hardy but, unfortunately, perhaps the most poisonous plant in your garden. It is for this reason that many gardeners refuse to grow them. They are missing something special.

I think the solution is to grow them in the back of a border where they are unlikely to come into contact with any part of your body.

The most common summer flowering aconitum napellus, common name monkshood, have dark blue, dense panicles of hooded flowers atop rigid, leafy stems. The upper sepal of each flower develops into a large, helmet-like structure that resembles the hood worn by medieval monks. Aconitum napellus blooms mid-summer and is supposed to be native to Europe but probably isn't since most aconitums are found in Asia. Aconitum carmichaelii is an equally attractive variety with violet blue flowers in late summer to early autumn. If grown carefully in the right position, they each deserve some space.