A new favourite plant…

August 2021

I didn’t have high expectations of the little cobaea seedling given to me in April by a gardening friend but I duly potted it up and put it alongside a row of tomato plants growing against a warm south-east facing wall. The carefully tended tomatoes sadly succumbed to blight before they had ripened but the cobaea, seemingly unaffected by the lack of sunshine quickly outgrew its bamboo canes and a succession of exotic, greeny-white, bell-shaped flowers appeared as it scrambled swiftly up the wall.

Commonly known as the cup and saucer plant, Cobaea scandens f.alba is native to Mexico. It flowers from midsummer right through to the first frosts and although an evergreen perennial it’s tender so is mainly grown in the UK as an annual. In a greenhouse it can flower for almost 12 months of the year and in a sheltered position it may even survive through the winter given a little protection - I intend to try this option.

Seeds are widely available and should be sown indoors from February to May. Chiltern Seeds give detailed germination instructions and advise that once planted outside these are easy to grow plants which I can certainly confirm.

Looking back at photos taken this time last August I can see that the garden is almost a month behind with pictures showing profusely-flowering white cosmos and sun-ripe tomatoes. For me though I am a little ahead as I’ve dug out the compost heap and mulched the borders earlier than usual, both jobs I dread doing in the heat. I’ve still got cosmos flowers to look forward to (and green tomato chutney-making to avoid) so life is sweet but I do have sympathy for all the ‘staycationers’ who spent their holidays wrapped in woollies. 

Thank you for reading:-)