Garden Visit : Hermannshof, Weinheim

"Warum in die Ferne schweifen, sieh, das Gute liegt so nah"   - appropriating Goethe, we visited Schau- und Sichtungsgarten Hermannshof, not over in England but on our doorstep, 60 km down south in Weinheim, a German private botanical garden, owned by the Freudenberg family since the 19th century.

This garden has a completely different microclimate, mediterranean and with the ability to grow many exotic and rare plants. Close to the entrance they cultivate plants that neither of us had ever heard of: e.g. Dysosma "China-leaf" in at least four different species. 

Dysosma 

Further down into the garden, we found many more unusual plants or unusual use of plants. 

 Peucedanum officinale looks a bit like fennel, parts of it have been used as medicine since the 17th century. I had never heard of it before. 

something poking up through Angels' Hair

    something familiar: Federmohn "Coral Plume"

the wrong time of year for blue-bells - these are ageratums !

thriving Echinaceae

We came away impressed and with many ideas for our own garden, e.g. the Ageratum underplanting, a yellow flowering Kirengeshoma from the Hydrangea-family to try out and some high growing Bistorta in different colours - and Paul with ideas for exports for his clients in Spain ...

many Bistorta in shades of red, pink and white

Plant of the Month of January

Cyclamen

The tiny Cyclamen coum is this month's favourite. It is a shy plant, not seen in many private gardens in Germany. They love dry undisturbed rather barren soil in the shade and under trees between roots with little direct sunlight where not much else grows. In our garden it grows under a large blue cedar tree (Cedrus atlantica glauca) and I had it under a copper beech in my previous garden. Its corms are best left undisturbed - when you work the soil during the hot summer period of dormancy when you cannot see the plant, the corms' roots will be disturbed and the plant will withdraw. But the timing of leaves and flowers make it a very delightful sight in the garden in the bleak winter times, therefore we work as little as possible in this area. Flowers come up from December and stay until  the end of Februar until it gets warmer. I prefer the pink versions, as they contrast nicely with a snow cover when they peek out their flower heads. Seeds are sticky and distributed freely by ants; we often find young seedlings in the surrounding grassy area.

                                                    Seedlings of Cyclamen coum "Silver leaf"

A more resilient relative is Cyclamen hederifolium - the ivy-leaved Cyclamen. It flowers in autumn from September on, its leaves are bolder, bigger and more dramatic in their markings. In our experience they grow well accompanied and interwoven with ivy.

                                      Leaves of Cyclamen hederifolium in January