By the time Francis Cadell, the Scottish colourist painter, painted this potted Aspidistra, framed against his famous red chair in the mid 20s, the poor old Aspidistra was pretty much regarded as ‘very old hat’ by anyone in the know. From being the houseplant of choice in any home that had a houseplant, the Aspidistra was firmly out of fashion, George Orwell mocked it, Gracie Fields laughed about it in a song, and it has never recovered it’s pole position since then. Staying at a friend’s house in Nottingham about 6 years ago, I saw a strong and healthy collection of interesting plants thriving in a dark and shady passageway to the back of the house, and wondered what they were. Aspidistras.
The Aspidistra was first recorded in the ‘Botanic Register’ in 1822 by John Bellenden Ker and is thought to have been found in China, but the plant that appeared a decade or so later was the Aspidistra elatior from Japan, and this became the dominant plant of the Victorian era, because of it’s tolerance of gas lighting fumes, cold and darkness. The Cadell painting captures the elegant fall of the big leaves and what I think is a very dramatic presence as a plant, whether in a pot indoors or planted in the garden. I was so struck by the Nottingham planting that I bought two which I initially grew in pots near our house in Tostat. When we moved to Oloron, I reckoned it was worth a shot to plant them straight into the Barn Garden, which is wet in the winter and dry in the summer, with semi-shade beneath the overhang of neighbouring trees. We don’t get really cold nights in winter, so far anyway, down to about -4C max, and they are planted in the lea of a 3m old wall on both sides.
I’m with James Wong on Aspidistra, they may be slow-growing but they are seriously tough, even in colder temperatures than we experience in Oloron, and in my view, really attractive. There are so many great new varieties, with spots, with variegation and slim, elegant leaves as well. Right now, there are good amateur growers on ebay too, I have just bought 2 bareroot plants of ‘Asahi’ to extend the planting in the Barn Garden.
Seeing them in the rain really brings out the glossiness and elegance of the leaves too. In the photographs taken this morning in a shower, I love the strong white streak on ‘Asahi’, and this years leaves on ‘Elatior’ also show a slight cream variegation, which is more subtle but attractive too. Both my plants are just shy of a metre tall and wide and will continue to broaden out. ’Asahi’ is also planted right next to the stump of the Paulonia tomentosa. This was not a good idea probably, but they seem to be fine together, and as the Paulonia is practically felled each early winter, this may be why.
Another evergreen favourite is Aucuba japonica salicifolia longiflora, which has been slowly settling into the Barn Garden since Autumn 2022. Slim, elegant leaves are glossily green and it holds itself well even as a relatively young plant. It’s a far cry from my childhood memories of spotted laurel hedges surrounding big old houses in Bristol, which I always thought to be very sinister, the Sherlock Holmes fan that I was. Not that I am averse to a spotted laurel now, I had three vibrantly yellow/cream spotted laurels in the Stumpery in Tostat, which I grew very fond of.
Against the stone wall in the Barn Garden there were various established clumps of Calla Lilies, Zantedeschia aethiopia, which I initally left in on the ‘why not’ principle. But they really love it there, and whilst their big floppy leaves and white flowers are good value, they have become quite thuggish and were shoving other plants out of the way. So they are all out now, with some recycled to the front garden.
And, in the quite a big space once occupied by the Callas, I have planted my two 2.5 year old Euphorbia mellifera babies and an unusual Berberis that I fell for, Berberis insolita, bought from a great shade nursery here in France, Pepiniere Aoba. But being small, there is quite a bit of open ground which I would like to cover in a shortish, interesting groundcover, whilst they get going. So I am trying out two plants, Ophiopogon japonicus and Chrysogonum virginianum. Both should provide tufty groundcover and allow the main plants to have some neighbours without being overpowered. Not to mention a couple of ebay Aspidistra ‘Ashai’ to give a bit of presence…we will see!
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