Few plants make quite such a dramatic statement in the garden as eremurus, commonly known as foxtail lilies or desert candles. Their towering flower spikes bring height, colour and a real sense of theatre to the border. In this week's feature we highlight two of our of our favourites.
Weekly catch up with garden and propagation
POSTED 4th June 2026
This week in propagation
with Rob
It's been a contrasting week here at Beth's, with bright warm mornings swept away by windy, damp afternoons. We might be ending our days a little bedraggled, but our plants are looking spectacular!
Kirsten brought the sunshine in the form of Argyranthemum 'Jamaica Primrose', an open sub-shrub with greyish-green leaves topped with primrose yellow flower heads, sinking into richer, medallion centres. It flowers from May to the first frosts, thriving in full sun and has become a real favourite among our patrons. This beauty works superbly as a patio pot plant.
Angela had her hands full with another full sun favourite, this time Nepeta sibirica. It's become a much valued plant due to its wondering roots, from which, slender spires of vibrant blue flowers create a truly magic display. This is one for adding summer interest into your borders, let it roam, and its presence will help punctuate throughout more foundational planting.
Elsewhere, Emily and Mattie have been seed collecting! Papaver cambricum was one of these treasures, cherished for its pale green leaves and pretty cup-shaped, lemon-yellow to orange flowers. We also received a seed harvest from Pachyphragma macrophyllum, a plant we have always before propagated by division, but last year Emily experimented with growing from seed to great success.
The Cuttings Kitchen has been in full swing, with Debs serving a host of Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, whose flowers have possibly my favourite blue in horticulture. Whereas Richard dished up a tray of Hylotelephium spectabile (Brilliant Group) 'Lisa', a gorgeous plant whose flowers are loved by butterflies in particular.
The rest of the team have been working their waterlogged socks off, picking and packing your orders. Tina especially got stuck in, bracing herself against the torrential downpours we had earlier in the week on our stand off area of plants, which as you can see is looking delicious!
This week in the garden
with Garden Manager Malin
This week we went from extreme heat to some very needed rain. We had more rain this week than we’ve had for the whole of May! Plants like euphorbias, arums and Smyrnium perfoliatum were starting to frazzle after last weeks’ hot weather, so this week we’ve spent a lot of time deadheading perennials and pulling out spent annuals to remove the yellowing leaves and give space for the next generation of plants. We have a big patch of vinca under one of the oaks which tends to romp away this time of year, we got the hedge trimmer out and cut it back to the ground - in a couple of weeks’ time it will be green again, but a bit lower, so that when cyclamen come up in late summer they don’t disappear under a carpet of green.
Lilium martagon
We have also cut back pulmonaria, tellima and Geranium phaeum, all of these can have a second flush of flowers or at least nice new foliage if cut at the right time.
The most exciting happening this week was that our Hesperoyucca whipplei in the Scree Garden suddenly started shooting up a flower spike. We were quick to put up a timelapse camera, it’s been growing about a foot a day and the flowers are just starting to open up! We’ll post another picture next week to show it in its full glory!
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