Fireworks for your garden

We were delighted to receive a photo of a fireball lily (scadoxus) from one of our lovely garden owners. It got us thinking about plants that make us ‘Remember, remember the 5th of November.’ Whether you like a big bang, or prefer the silent type of actual fireworks, I'm sure we're all in agreement that we prefer our plants to be silent!

What in your garden reminds you of fiery explosions? Get in touch via email and we will add you to our monthly prize draw for a voucher to spend at our next event. Congratulations to our October prize draw winner Jan Gale! Here are 10 ‘firework’ inspired plants to consider for your garden.

1. Ligularia ‘The Rocket’ – a handsome perennial bearing tall, black stems of bright yellow flowers. Suitable for a bog garden or pond edge.

2. Dierama ‘Pink Rocket’ – a relatively compact evergreen perennial to around 1m high with fine clumps of narrow, grass-like leaves producing slender wiry stems that resemble a fishing rod. These bear a succession of bell-shaped nodding pink flowers. Requires an open sunny site with humus enriched soil.

3. Tiarella ‘Pink Skyrocket’ – enrich the soil in your shady border for this gem which bears burgundy flushed stems with tight pink buds that open to white star shaped flowers in spring. It makes a beautiful ground cover, particularly when planted en- masse or in drifts. HT 40cm.

4. Hemerocallis ‘Catherine Wheel’ – a summer flowering day lily for a sunny border of pale pink petals with yellow centre.

5. Carex phyllocephala ‘Sparkler’- a bright and dramatic plant with strong green stems with white edges that grow outwards from the core in all directions, at their tips, brightly patterned leaves ‘explode’ into star shapes.

6. Epimedium ‘Sparkler’- a spring flowering evergreen perennial to about 50cm tall with white-yellow flowers. An ideal plant for a dry shady border.

7. Pyracantha ‘Sparkler’- an upright, prickly, evergreen shrub with tiny, dark green and white variegated foliage bearing clusters of small, white flowers in Spring followed by red-orange berries in summer and autumn.

8. From seed why not try Cleomes? The sparkler series grows to about 1m and comes in reds, through pinks to whites and form statuesque flowers for mid to late summer.

9. Agapanthus ‘Fireworks’ – an RHS Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Year Finalist this bi-colour agapanthus has big blooms with strongly contrasting flowers of blue and white. With a compact habit of about 80cms it would suit a position near the front of the border or a pot on the patio.

10. Euphorbia ‘Bonfire’ – a neat clump-forming herbaceous perennial, to 45cm with narrow, blue-green leaves flushed with purple bearing clusters of sulphur yellow flowers in mid to late Spring. The leaves turn bright red in autumn.