What are your current plant obsessions?

[IdaPolly]

I've recently started a slight obsession with dianthus/pinks flowers. They smell so nice and there are some really pretty varieties. What are your plant obsessions? I like seeing the people on Gardeners World who have an obsession with a flower. I remember people with peony, iris, Sweet pea and daffodil obsessions.

@Zebracat I love phlomis too, those whorls are amazing and it looks so good in death!

I think it’s something like a ukigumo
a nursery local to me has them every year but very early in the season. March/April max before they sell out!

thanks! off to hunt...I assume they need complete shade?

Shade/dappled/partial sun.

On the soft fruit side here: I picked up a honeyberry plant on a whim at B&M (a bit like blueberries but don't need fussy soil) the other week, then read that you need two different varieties for them to pollinate properly.

So I went to a local garden centre that sells two varieties in one pot (and bought that). But I worried that wasn't enough. Now I've ordered another two that hopefully are compatible with the twin set I got, and one is supposed to be better at self-pollinating, but these will probably go in the back garden for space reasons, which means they probably won't impact each other anyway!

I did not set out to buy this many honeyberry plants...

My obsession is currently this rhododendron in a pot on our patio.

Also roses. Love peonies but don’t currently have any. Will get some though as deer apparently don’t like them. Have had roses nibbled but hoping they will survive this year. They are all in pots right by the house.

Sweet peas and phlox.

I'm a nooby, have no garden but started growing in large pots on my window sill from seed and with some positive results first time.

When they flower, I'll post some pics.

Geums! I feel like I never heard of them before this year, and now they’re everywhere I look and I must have them all. I just planted geum mai tai in my new border and keep going out to watch it/cajole it. They’re so pretty!

My acers are looking fantastic

Blossoms have retreated now. Roses are slow for some reason

I’m currently obsessed with buying seeds and going from there, they are hope in tiny form.

Himalayan balsam, toad lilies and anemones in my own shady garden. There's a derelict house near me, and the garden is just mind-blowing. Rubber plants that produce fruit (inedible), tree peonies, herbaceous peonies, and the most spectacular wisteria I've ever seen/smelled. Huge magnolia trees, they must be so old. And don't get me started on the rhododendrons... There's even a pair each of resident hares and buzzards. And a woodpecker!

Himalayan balsam

Hm, having done some conservation volunteering it's sort of a plant obsession of mine... happy days balsam bashing, wielding a thing a bit like a cutlass and then trampling them (only occasionally crying out 'die green alien scum'. Highly recommended as stress relief.)
If I see a few seedlings by a watercourse, I'll take them out.
I know they're attractive in small quantities and bees like them in late summer (one of the reasons they were introduced) but they can form such vast areas of monoculture with no native control species that I wouldn't want them in my garden - or at least, be vigilant to take them out before they set seed.

Received my dianthus Cranmere Pool today from ebay. It looks nice and healthy. It should look like this when it blooms

We have an area where we grow Himalayan Balsam. It's a beautiful plant but must be kept under control.

We harvest the seeds to regrow and we also eat them, similar to sesame seeds.

The leaves when the plant is young can also be eaten. The older leaves become bitter.

As per my pp, we are in Noirmoutier at the moment and there are enormous fragrant bushes of salvia Hot Lips everywhere. They look stunning, even in the perpetual rain. I need to get some more when we get home 😍😍

I like the purple version too.

Foxgloves. I love how hardy they are. They provide height, colour and interest. I wish they smelled nice but I have parosmia since covid anyway and can barely smell so it's fine. I love that when they flower, your garden is instantly recognisable as a cottage garden rather than a mishmash - in my opinion. I like that they're poisonous. It's the weirdo in me. I'm already growing various varieties for flowering next year now. They seem to be the only thing that wants to grow in my shady front garden. Plus my nan, who I grew up with and was like a mum to me, lived on 'Foxglove Drive'. I think they're my favourite plant now.

I’ve started growing some of the other Digitalis species. A couple which both have small pale yellow flowers, and another with large pale yellow flowers. Next on the list is the one with lovely rusty flowers. Sorry, names are escaping me this morning.

@Hagbard that derelict garden sounds magical!

Digitalis lutea?

Digitalis lutea, D. mertonensis, D.feruginea 'Gigantea', D. parviflora to name a few!!😍😍

The Botanic Nursery.. for digitalis seed.. fabulous...

My obsession is hostas. Only in pots as we're moving shortly. Apart from the battle of slugs and snails I love how they go from nothing to glorious orderly leaves that look fresh and last from April to October. There's so many varieties. Then the flowers shoot up too. Quite magnificent to me!

Have you been to Sissinghurst ? the white garden is utter perfection. they aren't overplaying it when people say Sissinghurst is the most beautiful garden in England.
to prepare for a trip you could enjoy Sue Limb's Gloomsbury with Alison Steadman and Miriam Margoyles as Ginny Fox and Vera Sackcloth Vest 😀

Yes, and D fontanesi. They’re the two small flowered ones. D. grandiflora has the larger flowers and D. ferruginosa is the rusty coloured one.

D mertonensis is the hybrid between D purpurea and D grandiflora