Miss Willmott's ghost
By Chelsie Vandaveer
March 7, 2003
Sponsored By: Gurney's Seed and Nursery -$20 off—>Click here.
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Suggested Reading—>Click here.
Assorted Killer Savings Garden Links—>Click here.
Killer Picks: Ellen Wilmott Lilac, Blue Star Sea Holly "Miss Willmotts Ghost"—>Click here.
Miss Ellen Willmott was born in 1858. Independently wealthy, gardening became her passion. She bought Warley Place and when she finished re-modeling the gardens, she bought a château in France and a villa on the Italian Riviera. She filled those gardens, too.
In 1897, she shared the Royal Horticultural Society's Victoria Medal of Honor with Gertrude Jekyll. In 1901, she sponsored an expedition to Central Asia; two newly discovered iris received patronage names: Iris willmottiana and Iris warleyensis. She was a generous benefactor to plant hunters.
In 1903, her name was given to a fragrant, double-flowered white lilac. In 1910, she published the Genus Rosa, still considered the definitive work on species roses. In 1913 or '14, Otto Stapf found a peony growing in her garden at Warley Place. Realizing it had not been scientifically described, he named it Paeonia Willmottiae. In 1936, William Archer named a yellow hybrid tea rose in her memory.
It is said Miss Willmott had 80 gardeners working for her and would not tolerate a single weed. That she seldom shared plants with others and when she did, gardeners feared the plant invasive. In the latter days of her life, Miss Willmott's fortune was gone. She was accused of shoplifting, grew fearful, and booby-trapped her flowers lest they be stolen.
Miss Willmott died in 1934. Her home on Warley Place was demolished; her gardens became rampant with weeds. No money, or gardeners, or family remained after she was gone.
But in her younger days, Miss Willmott had a peculiar habit: she carried seeds of the silvery-blue Eryngium giganteum Bieberstein and scattered them in other people's gardens. (The spiny plant was said to match her personality.) Like a specter, the silvery-blue plant stands out against dark green. After all these years, the plant is still called Miss Willmott's ghost.
The Perennial Gardener, a show on Public Broadcasting Service, has a photograph of a dried Miss Willmott’s ghost. To view the photograph, click on the link:
http://www.pbs.org/perennialgardener/213_list.holly.html
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading:
What does peony have to do with poetry? What's in a Name? - May 2, 2003
How do alligators benefit prairie iris? Renfield's Garden - March 31, 2004
How does this iris walk? Weird Plants - August 23, 2001
Why is this iris called stinking gladwyn? What's in a Name? - October 24, 2003
Why were peonies considered dangerous? Herbal Folklore - April 21, 2003
What is the Apothecary's rose? Herbal Folklore - September 24, 2001
Killer Savings Links:
Breck's Bulbs -$25 off—>Click here.
Gurney's Seed and Nursery -$20 off—>Click here.
Henry Fields Seed and Nursery -$20 off—>Click here.
Spring Hill Nursery -$20 off—>Click here.
Gardens Alive! -$20 off—>Click here.
Michigan Bulb -$20 off—>Click here.
Unique Professionally Designed Gardens
Springhill Nursery®
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Ellen Wilmott Lilac Hybrids (White)
Gurney's Seed and Nursery®
Sweet, Perfume, Stunning Color!
Hybrid vigor produces bigger, better blossoms--and more of them. Exceptionally fragrant, too. The thick, sweet-scented clusters are superb for cutting--the perfume will fill your whole house! Impressive selection of kinds and colors, all 8-12 feet tall with a wide, spreading form. Provides an enticing early spring show.
Best in full sun. 12-18 inches. Zones: 3 - 7 (-30° F.)
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This Item Ships In Both Spring And Fall
Click here - $20 off your first order at Gurneys!
Flowering shrubs are bargains in beauty. They produce a profusion of flowers and foliage- a feast for or senses- and seem equally attractive to birds, butterflies and hummingbirds. Even when they’re not in bloom, many add interest to the landscape. Shrubs grow fast, last nearly forever and require a minimum care.
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Blue Star Sea Holly
Gurney's Seed and Nursery®
European Mountain Flower!
Really fascinating color and form! Egg-shaped sea blue blossoms grow 18-24 inches tall. Dries beautifully for bouquets.
Prefers full to partial sun.
Bareroot.
Zones: 4 - 8 (-20° F.)
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This Item Ships In Both Spring And Fall
Click here - $20 off any order for $50 or more at Gurneys.com!
Comments: This sea holly is thistle-like in appearance and will grow up to 30'' tall on stiff, blue stems. Egg-shaped, metallic blue flower heads (2'' long) are surrounded by a collar of 12-18 attractive, somewhat soft-to-the-touch, finely-divided, blue-gray bracts which extend outward from the base of each flower head. All foliage has a bluish tinge with lower leaves being heart-shaped and spiny-toothed and upper leaves being palmately-divided. A long-lasting cut flower that also dries well.
Perennials and Roses Catalog
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Blue Sea Holly
Breck's®
All parts of this plant are highly ornamental. The intense, icy blue and gray flowers are striking with long, pointed bracts that radiate out beneath the flower heads. Hollylike foliage also has a blue hue, gray markings and blue stems. Dazzling in arrangements and borders. Attractive to butterflies, too. Given full sun and any well-drained soil, it will flourish for years, growing upright to 30" tall and spreading 18-24".
Eryngium alpinum #1 plants. Deer Resistant
Zones: 4-8
Height: 24 - 30"
Bloom Time: Mid Summer, Late Summer
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This Item Ships In The Spring
Click here - Free $25 off any order of $50 or more at Brecks Bulbs
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Hair Allium
Breck's®
Looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss storybook! Whimsical blooms have reddish purple hearts and protruding hair-like greenish yellow flowers-sure to draw attention when planted with more sedate alliums, lilies or iris. Perfect for a ''please touch'' children's garden...or anywhere that the wild things are!
Zones 3-8.
5+ cm bulbs
Allium var 'Hair'
Click here - Free $25 off any order of $50 or more at Brecks Bulbs
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Gladiator Allium
Breck's®
One of the most impressive plants in the early summer garden! Towering, 50-60" stems are crowned with 4-5'' violet-purple flowerheads. Spherical blooms remain attractive for many weeks in the garden or vase, even after their vibrant colour fades. Mixes beautifully with other perennials! Plant in small groups in the middle or back of the border or naturalize.
Zones 4-8.
18-20 cm bulbs.
Click here - Free $25 off any order of $50 or more at Brecks Bulbs
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