Old friends reunited

Plants that were part of our education as we discovered the world of horticulture always hold a place in our hearts.  I was reminded of this last Friday as I walked past an old friend.  In the early to mid nineties the annual plant Cerinthe major purpurascens was popular. It may even have been fashionable but being new to the scene I wasn’t aware if it had been strutting around the garden scene for a few years or for many decades.  With its steely blue leaves and sepals -  for I don’t believe they’re classed as petals - it was a stand out plant that proved easy to grow and casually flaunted its photogenic qualities without a care in the world.

It can at times be a little bit moody.  I’ve seen it reluctantly flowering as a spindly stem topped with a single flower or last year as a self seeded behemoth that had placed itself just inside of the rabbit fence.  That individual had almost turned into a shrub.  It was over a metre wide and almost as tall!  There was something about the enclosed position up against the dry stone wall that it particularly liked or perhaps the soil in that vicinity was particularly rich.

Over thirty years it’s been now since we first met and I don't think there's been a year where we’ve been apart.  It always seems to find space to self seed and it came up this week amongst a rash of similarly self seeded Nigella (pictured).  It instantly took me back to the 1990’s and as the sun was just disappearing behind the copse was it my imagination or was that The Cure I heard thumping out ‘Friday I’m in Love’ as a white Ford Escort drove past, roof down, along the country lane?