Pleasing Combinations: Lavender and Agapanthus

I was talking about lavender in an article recently, and mentioned Agapanthus: and then I saw this, and thought it was so nice that I wanted to share it.

A lot of people plant Agapanthus, and a lot of people buy the expensive white ones: and are then disappointed, either because they come up blue instead of white (oh, these mis-labelling nurseries!), or because the white ones, being less hardy than the common old blue ones, don't survive for very long.

However, there's nothing wrong with enjoying the blue ones: and here they are, planted behind and above a row of Lavender, in an irrigated but very well drained bank.

Looks good, doesn't it?

I thought the white Hydrangea Annabelle (my favourite hydrangea) behind them were a particularly nice part of the presentation, as they "pull the eye in", as the garden designers say. 

Blue is a colour that tends to fade into the background, so it's always better to have blue at the front, white at the back, otherwise you lose the impact of the blue ones.  So this planting combination works particularly well, with the white backdrop.

Interestingly, I have always read (in gardening books and on the internet) that Agapanthus should always be grown in a pot, with restricted roots - ie, lots of bulbs, crammed into a pot, and never repotted no matter how crowded they get.

This, allegedly, makes them flower more extravagantly.

But these ones - in my photo - are just planted out in the soil, not crammed together in a pot at all. They don't seem to be suffering any loss of flowering, and they seem perfectly happy there - to the point where they are seeding themselves all over the bed!  

I have wondered if the story about keeping Agapanthus locked up in pots is more to do with their hardiness, because you can move the pots inside over the winter, to protect them: I know that several of my Clients do exactly that, the pots get shuffled into the garage or the greenhouse over the winter.

And again, going back to those white ones, maybe it's because the white ones are, generally speaking, less hardy than the blue ones?

Either way, these particular blue ones are as hardy as they come, and they are looking fab!

 

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