White plant - Monty Don

TerrysWorld · July 2023

In one of Montys episodes I think last year, he stood alongside a tallish plant with white flowers which he said was one of his favourite. The plant from memory was like a ‘Common Yarrow’, if it was he was talking about.

Any know if it was a ‘Common Yarrow’, something in the back of my memory mentions something with ‘Cow’ ?

steephill · July 2023

Are you thinking of cow parsley?

BenCotto · July 2023

Cow parsley is probably the one you have in mind. There’s a cultivated variety called Ravenswing. Does it look like this?

SalixGold · July 2023

Common yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is also a white umbellifer, but usually shorter

https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/achillea-millefolium/

https://www.countryfile.com/wildlife/trees-plants/umbellifers/

Fairygirl · July 2023

Sounds like cow parsley if you remember him saying cow. It could also be hogweed. It usually follows cow parsley in terms of timing, but the former is far more likely, and I think he does use it in one part of his garden. I do too - there's tons of it round here and it's easy from seed.

Hogweed - not to be confused with giant hogweed of course, which would be taller than him and is a completely different beast altogether

GardenerSuze · July 2023

I understand that Achilleas add nutrients to the soil, helping those plants growing around them. Great' landing pads' for insects too.
I have grown one of the more ornamental forms, A Terracotta it seems to be more short lived than A Moonshine. All Achillea flowers fade as they open, a red becomes pink, worth remembering if you have a colour themed border.

Balgay.Hill · July 2023

@Fairygirl
I think i had an unfortunate encounter with giant hogweed last Sunday.
A huge giant hogweed grew on a bit of waste ground next to my garden last year. I watched it grow and set seed, and it looked beautiful with frost on it over winter.
As i said, i think i met its children last Sunday. I was doing a spot of weeding, and pulled up some larger weeds the grew in amongst a nettle patch i leave for wildlife. I woke up the next day with a hand and lower arm covered in little blister like pustules, full of fluid. They itched like mad, but i managed to resist the urge to scratch. They have almost gone now, but i can still see a few raised bumps.

Fairygirl · July 2023

It's certainly a problem if you get close up and personal with it! Hope it clears soon @Balgay.Hill and you have no ongoing problems. It shows how serious it can be, and I've heard of people having even worse results from getting contact with it, because it would usually be a bigger specimen they'd encounter too. Difficult when you've not seen it well enough to be able to avoid it though.
There's a huge stand of it in Paisley, right in at the edge of the river. I see it when I come back that way [from L. Lomond] but it's beside the one way system, so not a great place to stop and get a photo. I don't think people realise just how huge it gets. That lot is easily 8 to 10 feet.

Balgay.Hill · July 2023

It's a beautiful plant. I just wish i had recognised the youngsters!

Fairygirl · July 2023

Balgay.Hill said:

It's a beautiful plant. I just wish i had recognised the youngsters!

JennyJ · July 2023

I seem to recall Monty having lots of cow parsley in (I think) his Writing Garden, so that's probably what you're thinking of. It's lovely when it's in flower but dies back (and often dies full stop) after flowering and setting seed. It's a biennial or short-lived perennial, so let it set seed for the next year's plants and flowers.

White plant - Monty Don

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