Umbellifers

[Tim Ingram]

I put the following on the NARGS website because of my great interest in umbellifers and the very large number of species that are hardly known of in gardens. It would be really interesting to hear from any SRGC members who have a strong interest in the family, either in the garden or the wild.

When I first became interested in these plants I was persuaded by the Hardy Plant Society to write one of their booklets on the family. Umbellifers have always been of interest to knowledgeable gardeners in the UK (such as Graham Stuart Thomas and Alan Bloom, both of whom wrote about them). Recently though they have been grown a lot more widely, especially in more naturalistic gardens, and they must always have an appeal even to non-gardeners because they are so recognisable. Even so it is only the very few that are grown in gardens. Looking back through this thread (NARGS), and with the host of amazing North American umbels which are hardly grown anywhere, I am keen to learn a lot more about them and hopefully put this together in a more comprehensive book on the family (a bit of a tall order since it is such a large family!). There are quite a few nurserypeople I know with a fascination in the family - for example Marina Christopher who used to work with John Coke at Green Farm Plants, and who values them especially for the very wide range of pollinators they attract, and Graham Gough at Marchants Nursery and John-Pierre Jolivot in France.

I would be very grateful for any information from members of the NARGS and SRGC who grow umbels (there is quite bit already on the NARGS thread already which is really helpful and stimulating) or even more who have experience of seeing them in the wild. I aim to try more of the North American species from seed since these are virtually unknown in cultivation. There are also quite a few alpine species in particular that have been introduced from South America.

I think the diversity of the family would surprise many even botanically minded gardeners and the long historical uses of umbels in medicine and as foods have given them such enduring interest. It may be quite a long project but there has been very little written on the family from a gardening perspective. Many thanks in advance.

[Maggi Young]

I think you forgot the link to the NARGS thread, Tim.....
Amazing Apiaceae (the umbellifers)
 http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=666.0   

[fleurbleue]

I have grown for some years, and loved, Cenolophium denudatum, annual Orlaya grandiflora which reseeds well and bisannual Angelica gigas, Corinne Tremaine and Vicar's Maid. Still rather rare in trade is Mathiasella bupleuroides which has not yet got flowers for me, so no seeds... with a nice bleuish foliage.

[Tim Ingram]

Thanks Maggi - I'm not very good at remembering to put the links. I will aim to put pictures of umbels on this thread as and when they start flowering next year.

Nicole - many thanks for your experience in France. The Cenolophium denudatum seems to have a lot of followers in the UK. I think it all came originally from the amateur botanist Mervyn Southam, who kindly gave me some plants many years ago and we distributed them from the nursery. It is a good example of how little known many of the family are to gardeners and how they can rapidly become popular.

[Paul T]

Tim,

I love things like Anthryscus 'Raven's Wing', although I really need to get it again as it died out where I had it (too dry I think).  I just love the colour.  There's a few other umbellifers I grow, but to be honest not a lot.  Nothing like those lovely little gems shown in the link (which would probably hate my heat here in summer I would imagine  ).  Some beauties in there, that is for sure.

[fleurbleue]

I have forgotten I grow too Laserpitium siler and Anthriscus Ravenswing, and Daucus carota Dara, Selinum wallichianum   

[mark smyth]

I like them also but only grow Pimpinella Rosea, Anthryscus Raven's Wing and used to have Orlaya

[zephirine]

Apart from those already mentioned (Mathiasella bupleuroides, still bloomless too..., Cenolophium denudatum, Laserpitium siler), two other umbels reported here in France: Molospermum peloponnesiacum (just as floriferous as Mathiasella   ), and Chaerophyllum hirsutum roseum.
In my heavy and wet soil, Orlaya disappeared in a wink, and I gave up on Anthriscus, which didn't do anything interesting in the garden, alas...

[Tim Ingram]

Zephirine - give your Molopospermum a few more years and it will be magnificent. Like a lot of umbels it is late to come into growth and has a relatively short growing season, but when it does start growing it really erupts through the ground! Anthriscus is pretty drought tolerant but not too long lived. Self-seeding plants are much more likely to do well, but I try to weed out any with greener foliage - 'Ravenswing' is a stunning plant and associates so well with so many other plants.

I had Laserpitium siler from the Belgian landscape architect Denis Dujardin; very slow from seed but ultimately a strong and very long lived plant with distinct form.

Just a few photos to show why I like these plants so much (there are also very many really choice alpine species like the New Zealand aciphyllas which probably grow much better in the north than down here in Kent).

[Tim Ingram]

Paul - you would probably find many of the American umbels would do well with you. They are very early flowering and die down during the summer and autumn, just lke bulbs, starting into growth again in the early winter. I must say I find their foliage irresistable even without any flowers. I need to persevere to discover how to grow them better here but we have Lomatium columbianum on a dry raised bed and it has the most beautiful soft silver-grey foliage and pink flowers; it set seed well this year so I have hopes of growing on a batch of plants.