Area 1F – Notes

Area 1F is on the south-east side of the amphitheatre, facing north-west. It slopes very steeply and has a canopy of mature trees, so it gets almost no sunshine. As a result, the plants here are somewhat more rangy and open than in more open areas.

There are two bushes of ‘Blood of China’ (1F-002 & 1F-003) the pictures of which make them look quite different. I think they are the same, the pictures were taken in different seasons.

‘Coccinea’ (1F-029) was labelled ‘Splendens’ and there is such an American variety, but I suspect that this is the much older UK variety ‘Coccinea’, to which it has frequently been applied as a synonym.

‘Feast’s Perfection’ (1F-010) is described as a bicolor; delicate pink with obscure crimson stripes. Another plant of the same variety at 1K-014 has produced an occasional bicolored flower so I think this is the right variety that has sported to solid pink. No such sport appears to have been named in its own right, unsurprising given its lack of merit.

‘Julia Drayton’ (1F-004). This was labelled both ‘Mrs Anne Marie Hovey’ and ‘A.M. Hovey’ (ie it had two different labels) but like the plant at 1G-075 this seems to be wrong because the variety is noted for producing flowers of different colours and on this bush they are all the same shade of pink. It is in the collection record as ‘C M Hovey’. I have come to the conclusion that it is in fact ‘Julia Drayton’ and have relabelled it accordingly. There are several plants of ‘Julia Drayton’ in the collection, under both recognised synonyms (‘Purple Emperor’) and wrong names (‘Flowerwood’, ‘Mrs Anne Marie Hovey’)

(1F-023) was labelled ‘Lasca Beauty’ and flowered for the first time in 2023. It was already obvious it was not ‘Lasca Beauty’ from the foliage and the flowers confirm this. Perhaps it’s the rootstock from a failed graft.