New plants: Adenophora 'White Blaze'
Years after we first glimpsed this exquisite, award-winning new perennial, we can finally grow it
It was expected that it would be available in garden centres and by mail order a year or two later, but the plant proved slow to increase.
Rosy Hardy of Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants revealed: “This was from our own seed of blue-flowered Adenophora pereskiifolia, and this one flowered white.”
“We kept it and propagated it from divisions. It was then given to Fairweather’s [a top commercial grower] to see if they could produce it in larger quantities. They were able to propagate it in the lab by tissue culture, and once it was in good production, we were able to start offering it.”
As Rosy describes on the Hardy’s website: “The distinctive spikes of this brand new Adenophora are packed white bellflowers throughout summer.”
As can be seen in the picture, the elegant bells sometimes develop faint blue-purple tints.
“An ideal ingredient for a ‘white’ garden, it blends harmoniously with cool tones such as pale pinks and blues. Fairly unfussy, it can cope with any reasonable soil but prefers a sunny to partially-shaded site,” says Rosy.
You can order Adenophora ‘White Blaze’ from Crocus, Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants and Barnes Nurseries.
