More than a few\u00a0garden pundits have decreed that the most sublime and dramatic horticultural effects occur only in all green or mostly green gardens.\u00a0 Flowers, they say, are ephemeral, and therefore superfluous, with gaudy shapes and colors that disrupt the harmony inherent in a plant collection that showcases the many shades and textures of green.\u00a0 Furthermore, say the cognoscenti, an all green garden is cooling, life-affirming, and, above all, supremely tasteful.<\/p>\n
That approach is fine for some people, but not for me.\u00a0 Color is part of the experience of gardening, and green, no matter how many shades you put together, is only one color.\u00a0 That’s why I am always on the lookout for plants that add color in mostly-green, shady situations.\u00a0 Not long ago I rediscovered tradescantia or spiderwort, a native plant that combines color, history, hardiness and healthful qualities–all while producing attractive flowers in the shade.<\/p>\n
Most people would recognize spiderwort, a medium-tall, somewhat leggy plant with long green leaves and clusters of three-petaled flowers that bloom at the tops of the stalks.\u00a0 The individual blossoms, which last only one day each, are roughly triangular in shape and feature prominent golden stamens in the middle.\u00a0 Tradescantia virginiana is the most common native form in the northeast, and is probably a parent of Tradescantia x andersoniana, the hybrid from which most of the widely available cultivars have been bred.<\/p>\n
When it comes to sophistication, you can’t get much more sophisticated than tradescantia’s namesakes, John Tradescant, the Elder (1570-1638), and John Tradescant, the Younger (1608-1662), a father and son pair who were explorers, horticulturists and renowned collectors of curiosities.\u00a0 Serving various noble and royal patrons, including the ill-fated King Charles I and his queen, Henrietta Maria, the elder Tradescant traveled extensively in Europe, Asia Minor and North Africa, collecting plant materials and all kinds of other interesting objects.\u00a0 The former were installed in his botanical garden in the London’s Lambeth Borough, and the latter found their way to Tradescant’s large house, which was nicknamed “The Ark.”\u009d\u00a0 Eventually the contents of “The Ark”\u009d became the core of the collection that is now at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum.<\/p>\n
John Tradescant the Younger ventured even farther afield than his father, making several trips to Colonial Virginia and bringing back all sorts of native American plants and trees, including the tulip tree and the magnolia.\u00a0 In time he succeeded the elder Tradescant as Royal Gardener, managed to survive the English Civil War, and secured the patronage of the restored king, Charles II.<\/p>\n
John Tradescant the Elder received seeds or plants of Tradescantia virginiana from contacts in the young colony around 1629, and installed it in his garden.\u00a0 Linnaeus later named the species in honor of both Tradescants.<\/p>\n
The Tradescants did much for horticulture, but what can tradescantia do for the average gardener?\u00a0 The plants are perfect for busy people, because they are hardy enough to flourish on a diet of shade and neglect.\u00a0 T. virginiana’s flowers are purple-blue, but by picking a selection of Tradescantia hybrids and cultivars, you can lighten dark garden spaces with a mix of pale lilac, blue, blue-purple, red-purple, pink and true purple flowers.<\/p>\n
If you are interested in an extremely floriferous version of the traditional tradescantia, try Purple Profusion, with its purple tinged foliage, or Blue Stone, described by one catalog vendor as “a rampant grower.”\u009d\u00a0 Concord Grape ramps up the color volume with flowers in a bright, fruity shade.\u00a0 For contrast, try the white-flowered “Snowcap”\u009d, or the mauve-flowered Osprey, whose blooms have pale blue central “eyes”\u009d.\u00a0 If your fancy tends towards a reddish-purple flower, consider Red Cloud or Valour.\u00a0 As the name implies, Pink Chablis has pale rosy flowers. Use Blue and Gold or Sweet Kate for their golden-green foliage and Cearulea Plena for its double blue flowers.\u00a0 If your space is limited, plant little blue-flowered Lord Nelson in pots or small beds.<\/p>\n
Tradescantia is not really invasive, but some varieties are quite vigorous and will spread nicely.\u00a0 Soil quality is less important than light; the plant definitely needs at least partial shade or the flowers will shrivel and the leaves will burn.\u00a0 It also helps to mulch tradescantia, especially if your shady space tends to be a bit dry.\u00a0 After the first flush of flowers fades, shear the plants back.\u00a0 You will be rewarded with more blooms at a later date.<\/p>\n
So, stick with the real sophisticates–the John Tradescants–and don’t be embarrassed to fill your garden with the colorful plants that interest you the most.\u00a0 Local garden centers usually carry one or two tradescantia selections in the “Shade Plant”\u009d section.\u00a0 For more choices, try Bluestone Perennials,<\/p>\n
7211 Middle Ridge Rd., Madison, OH<\/p>\n
. 44057; Phone: (800) 852-5243; www.bluestoneperennials.com.\u00a0 Free catalog<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
More than a few\u00a0garden pundits have decreed that the most sublime and dramatic horticultural effects occur only in all green or mostly green gardens.\u00a0 Flowers, they say, are ephemeral, and therefore superfluous, with gaudy shapes and colors that disrupt the harmony inherent in a plant collection that showcases the many shades and textures of green.\u00a0 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-summer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1748,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions\/1748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}