Quite a few years in the past RHS Chelsea Flower Present was stuffed with a brand new flower, Lysimachia atropurpurea ‘Beaujolais’. Grown amongst grasses, the foliage dissolves with snaking blackcurrant purple and pink spires rising from the froth. Everybody was speaking about it and I used to be hooked, ordering seeds from Chiltern Seeds to sow that spring.
In our personal backyard, shut up, I discover the color extra vibrant. I significantly love the wealthy berry purple buds.
Rising Lysimachia atropurpurea ‘Beaujolais’ from seed is straightforward however they could take a yr to flower. You’ll be able to plant in spring or I’ve additionally develop them efficiently in September, when temperatures begin to cool barely and we’ve extra rain. Sowing the seeds onto the floor of compost into 7cm pots, maybe giving a lightweight dusting of compost. You’ll be able to sow into trays and transfer into greater pots however I discovered they grew pretty rapidly making pot sowing a timesaver. They’re hardy and will be left outdoors over winter with some safety from a chilly body or greenhouse.
Plant them out permitting about 50cm area per plant. They like full solar in wealthy, moisture retentive soil. Not boggy however sufficient water that they by no means dry out. I’m discovering they sprawl across the border in a means that I like, although you may little doubt stake them to maintain them extra upright.
I truly sowed mine in spring 2017. By autumn they have been so massive I planted them into the border and so they have been wonderful, surviving even the Beast from the East and -7C temperatures. The leaves have been scorched by the frost nonetheless.
Down on my allotment (above) I planted one spare plant as I had fairly just a few. This one has completed significantly effectively with the additional area. It’s planted in my reduce flower patch as Lysimachia atropurpurea ‘Beaujolais’ reportedly make good reduce flowers. One thing I’m but to attempt fairly but as a result of it seems to be too fairly to chop however I’ll replace this weblog with outcomes once I do. Will probably be attention-grabbing to see how they react when deadheaded too as I haven’t seen information on this.
A brief-lived perennial, Lysimachia atropurpurea ‘Beaujolais’ died for me a yr or so after flowering. Nevertheless, to my delight, it self sowed gently round my allotment in future years giving me loads of crops totally free.
Lysimachia atropurpurea ‘Beaujolais’ is such a straightforward plant to develop from seed and an attractive one in its first yr as a foliage plant, and much more so in flower the next yr. I’m very glad I grew some, it’s already somewhat star of our backyard.
(This put up is edited from the unique put up written in June 2018 with additional years of rising Lysimachia atropurpurea ‘Beaujolais’).
