Smyrnium perfoliatum

This is one of the stars of my garden at the moment. It really is my kind of plant. In all the flower beds, dotted among the solid, reliable perennial plants, is a growing collection of wonderful self-seeding annuals, biennials and highly-fecund short-lived perennials that give a wild character to the garden and provide an oasis for the insects I love. At the moment there are great swathes of forget-me-nots, honesty (purple and white-flowered), a variety of columbines, frilly fennel plants and expectant clumps of foxgloves. Sometimes they threaten to take over and swamp more dainty plants, but then I just grab handfulls and pull them out. The idea of them doing all the hard work of sowing and growing appeals to me - I just weed them out where I don't want them, but always leave enough to produce a new generation of plants.

The Smyrnium is my latest addition to this wild, bohemian community of plants. I had it in a previous garden, many years ago, where it arrived completely unannounced. I grew to love it and was sorry to leave it behind. This plant was sought out, acquired as a small plant pot with no obvious plant in it, but the right name on the label, last year at the magical garden of Great Dixter in Sussex. I'm hoping it will now keep me going with this astounding yellow-green foliage. However, I will have to be patient and careful with weeding as it is effectively a triennial, producing just tiny seedlings next year, followed by small plants the following year, before having another exhuberant display in year three.