Staphylea holocarpa ‘Rosea’ and Clematis armandii

20 April 2010

It is now 30 years old, this shrub, and still only 12 feet high, but each year, and sheltered from the east by the workshop wall, it puts on a better and better show.

This year its full expansion has coincided perfectly with Clematis armandii, which has taken leaps in all directions, even bounding into the branches of the walnut tree above. The two flowers seem to me to be perfectly complementary.

I love Staphyleas (or ‘bladdernuts’) anyway. S. colchica is superbly creamy and scented in June. Wilson brought S. holocarpa from China in1908; whether he saw the pink form there I don’t know. Its leaves, just showing with the pink-to-white flowers, are what Bean calls ‘chocolate-bronze’ as they come out, then turn green.

Apart from being without scent this is a model April shrub – rapidly followed here, and invaded by Viburnum carlesii in the same colour scheme, adding its glorious carnation smell.

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