Plant of the moment....

This stunning plant is the biennial Angelica "Ebony", the sophisticated dark leaf form of the native angelica.

We have four dotted around the garden and we came by it through a happy accident.

I had ordered some plants from Abriachan Nursery through their mail order service. I had wanted Angelica Gigas  but they didn't have any at the time and Alistair offered me" Ebony" instead. It was an ideal opportunity to try out a new plant that I may not otherwise have chosen. Because it is a  smaller plant only growing to about 90cm instead of the metre and a half of Gigas, I had to change the position from a place at the back of the border to the middle.

 

The first year it produced beautiful deep purple ferny foliage. The second year the leaves were crowned  with deep purple buds that open to sprays of pink flowers. It is an  unusual combination of colours and makes a  striking plant addition to the borders. It contrasts wonderfully with foliage plants such as melianthus or miscanthus.

The purple also looks good with the pinks and purples of the opium poppies, the buddleia and the verbena bonariensis. I'm not quite so sure about the crocosmia "Lucifer" which is striking in it's own right and tends to detract from other plants.

 Of the four plants we have two of them are in sun and two are in more shaded positions. The shaded ones have seem slower to flower but seem to hold their colour better. In spite of the fact that angelica prefers a rich loam they are doing fine in our rather more sandy soil (with the addition of home made compost). I was advised not to move the plant as it is deep rooted and resents disturbance. I've never been successful growing any kind of angelica from seed so I may try again with Ebony or let it self seed.

I also have a photos of wild angelica which is so similar apart from the colour and the setting.