Bowles's Mauve Wallflowers

Erysimum Bowles Mauve

If you want value for money from your plants, Erysimum Bowles Mauve is up there with the best, even being shortlisted for the RHS Chelsea Plant of the Centenary for 1973-1982. This perennial wallflower carries fragrant spires of rich purple flowers above a mass of narrow, dark grey-green leaves making it a stand out member of our range of UK grown herbaceous plants.

However, it is the length of time that it flowers that is quite incredible - from February to July is normal, although in favourable sites with sharp drainage and full sun in the south, it can keep flowering year round! It's in these conditions that you'll get the best fragrance, too. It also has the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit, bestowed on plants that perform well repeatedly in ordinary gardens.

Great In Your Garden...

Bowles Mauve is a short-lived perennial but makes a vivid display for months in a sunny border. Try to plan plants around these purple wallflowers from February to July - from early yellow daffodils such as Tete a Tete and Hellebores, moving on to vivid lime-green Euphorbia characias wulfenii in April/May and late-flowering tulips in sunset shades. By early summer, introduce annual Californian poppies and dwarf sunflowers, which will hide any straggliness as the flowers end and after you trim them back. It also looks great teamed up with violas nestled in front for a double blast of perfume?

this is a wonderful plant in raised beds in a sensory garden, where you can really appreciate the tell-tale wallflower fragrance and the plants will love the sharp drainage.

A member of the cabbage family, drought-tolerant and lover of poor soils, Erysimum Bowles Mauve makes an ideal plant for gravel, Mediterranean-style and coastal gardens, along with herbaceous perennials such as Echinops ritro and Eryngium. A note of caution - it will not tolerate cold, wet winters and may need some protection in damp climates and in the north of the UK.

Features

• Colour: Deep purple.
• Flowering: February to July.
• Fragrance: Strong.
• Foliage: Dark grey-green.
• Height: 75cm.
• Spread: 60cm.
• Spacing: 60cm.
• Position: Full sun.
• Soil: Well-drained, alkaline or neutral.
• Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit.

Did You Know...

The plant is named after one of England's greatest amateur gardeners, Edward Augustus Bowles (1865-1954), great-uncle of Andrew Parker-Bowles, first husband of the Duchess of Cornwall.