Plants that have gone out of fashion….and are due a revival

[BarkingUpTheWrongRoseBush]

Inspired by another thread about Kerri-a Japonica.

I also wonder about plants going out of fashion.

I love a lilac and remember them everywhere in my childhood …I’m planting a new dwarf one in my front garden. Also laburnum, they are everywhere but I don’t see new ones.

A plant I miss - had a lovely specimen in a previous garden - Pampas grass - yes I know when used for decoration in the house it sheds - but in the right windy location it is lovely.

I have 2 old apple trees in my current garden - the blossom this year was lovely - but it does litter the grass with windfalls.
I have mock orange, buddlia, lilac, wild roses, paulownia and lots of standard roses. I do feel so sad when people have a massively paved, bedding plants in harsh colouers, striped grass type of garden - surrounded by a conifer hedge .

Conifers get a bad press but are fine if they are a single specimen (not a hedge).

I have reverted to the traditional plants after having so many failures. I am in a wet and not very sunny area with poor fast draining soil - so depending on the weather can suffer from every problem through a summer.
When I moved in 20 years ago to an overgrown garden there were a lovely bright blue viola which I still have everywhere , pale pink geranium which seems to flower all summer, white lilac, forsythia, kerria japonica pompom type (though some have died back from some disease which might be why it isn't seen much), azaleas, buddleia globosa, deutzia , kolkwitzia which I am taking cuttings from as the old ones die off. Eupotrium Cannabinum I have just reintroduced, I lost it somehow but the butterflies seemed to love it so have bought some plants - not very exciting but grows in the wild some places so should survive - see pic.
Veronica gentianoides is very pretty in the spring but doesn't flower again.

My favourite crocosmia are the old ones with paler flowers, yellow/orange, and pale green leaves. Much prettier than the strong coloured ones imv.

I love Dahlias - they flower in late summer when everything else is past it’s best and just flourish - they remind me of my late dad.
Marigolds are lovely too - they give and give.

Dahlias are having a fashionable moment again. My 20 something year old allotment neighbour grows them to show.

I love them in late summer too.

@GreatAuntEmily

My favourite crocosmia are the old ones with paler flowers, yellow/orange, and pale green leaves. Much prettier than the strong coloured ones imv.

I thought the yellow ones were newer varieties? The only ones I remember from my youth are the bright orange ones

Yes, perhaps they are a paler orange than yellow.

I think yellow w flowers and shrubs are very 20th century, i dont like yellow flowers much and have grubbed out all the kerria japonica and am happy that my laburnum is dying and will be removed soon! Yellow climbing roses and potentilla used to be everywhere but are only grown in old people's gardens round here. I really love white flowers and dusky colours and bright yellow is hard to blend with them.

@AntiWorkBrigade

I think the best books about gardens are written by people who have developed their own gardens, the problem with most books on gardening history is that they seems to focus on grand and rather generic gardens.

My favourites, and they have the advantage of writing well, are

Christopher Lloyd

Marjory Fish ( I have to grit my teeth when she describes her husband, I would have buried him under the patio)

Beth Chatto

Rosemary Verey

The best thing is that you can visit the gardens they worked in and describe , they have changed a bit but are still essentially the same.

(I am not including the Sissinghurst garden, I find the garden lovely but can’t stand Vita Sackville West’s smug writing style.)

I love lots of colour and fragrance. We only moved into our current home last year so it's still a work in progress.
The front garden already had various roses alongside the driveway which we've kept, and a cherry blossom tree. I've planted some rhododendron bushes which are doing well and a hydrangea.

Other plants I like :
Lavender, dahlias, sweet peas, snapdragons, peonies - mine get attacked by ants though, and giant sunflowers which DS and I grew this year along the back garden fence. I also love red hot pokers which used to be common but now I rarely see.

What a lovely thread! Yes it's great to see the popularity of the old fashioned plants now. (though some of us have never removed the 'older' styled flowers) . No one has mentioned phlox, I LOVE them, the scent and the look plus wallflowers. That scent takes me right back!!

I love sages (all types) they grow well in our garden, plus lavender oh and not forgetting honeysuckles, the scent in the warm evenings is wonderful!!! I've planted about 15 !

Ah we saw honesty in a garden this week and were talking about it as I didn't know its name.

I would think of marigolds and regimented bedding plants being old fashioned.

I planted three flowering currant shrubs recently, I adore the smell.

The main idea now seems to be go with your garden soil and plant as many flowers\shrubs which are happy and that the insects love. I like that because it means an easier life for the gardener!

Ooh, I’ve got a kerria japonica!! Just got it this spring. It’s on its second flowering now. Right next to some crocosmia lucifer. I’m clearly very old fashioned or very forward thinking. Both are lovely.

Another flower that I heard is old fashioned is the pelargonium. I've ALWAYS had them flowering happily on the terrace every summer. I know they're not insect friendly.

TBH i don't give a shit about "fashion" !! I have what I like !! Oh and I change them over for daffs, tulips and hyacinths in the winter

I do overwinter them though. I try not to buy them every year

An old-fashioned plant in Victoria is the aspidistra, once very popular outdoors. It's a really good in dry ground and shade, excellent ground cover. Same for clivia.

Aspidestra were popular indoors in the UK before we had central heating. Didn't need much water and thrived in shady living rooms.

BTW Gracie Fields had a hit with 'The Biggest Aspidestra in the World' in 1938.

My mums regular flowerbed choice in the 60s was alternate blue lobelia, white alyssums around yellow tagetes which are marigolds I think.

Until recently FIL grew trays of dahlias, marigolds, french marigolds etc every year for us to plant out.

We have a few hydrangeas and fuchsias which have taken a while to establish but are glorious.

yellow tagetes which are marigolds I think.

French marigolds = Tagetes patula
African marigolds - Tagetes erecta - like French but much bigger flowers. Look like those rubber pompom flowers that adorned swimming caps in the 1960s, but in orange. (you can tell I don't like them)
Pot marigolds = Calendula officianalis
Corn marigold = Glebionis segetum, often found in "wildflower" seed mixes.

All of them are colloquially referred to as simply "marigolds".

I do love a calendula especially the pinkish ones, they self seed too.

Also like a tagete in the green house

And I’m quite fond of a pom-poms calendula in the right spot.

I love the pot marigolds but they don't love me! They grow everywhere here all summer but not in MY garden

Has anyone mentioned nasturtium yet? I love them and there are so many different sorts. Also geraniums - just lovely standard bright red ones are gorgeous I think and the smell reminds me of being a child as we overwintered them in our house (unheated room!)