MUST HAVE plants
A winning combination of unusual and architectural long-lasting flowers, plus attractive foliage from spring onwards, gives this hardy perennial top marks says Sue Fisher
Commonly known as burnet, sanguisorba has been around for centuries, though has only come to prominence since the rise in popularity of naturalistic planting styles. Their striking flower shapes really make them stand out from the crowd. Borne in profusion on slender, yet sturdy stems, blooms are either fluffy and bottlebrush-shaped; catkin-like; or ‘bobbly’, in a colour range that includes white, soft pink to darker shades, mauve and dark red. Stems arise from clumps of handsome leaves that are green or bluey-green, divided with serrated edges. They’re easy to grow in decent fertile soil and sun, and are bone-hardy, too.
Sanguisorba species are found throughout the Northern Hemisphere in northern USA; Canada; Japan; Asia; and Europe, with around 15 species available to UK gardeners. The number of cultivars has rocketed in recent years, spurred by a combination of new-found popularity and their natural promiscuity: sanguisorba self-seed freely with resulting wide variation. The Royal Horticultural Society’s trial that ran from 2018-21 had an impressive total of 120 cultivars of sanguisorba. Plants were assessed for overall impact, habit, length of flowering period, flower quality, appearance, and colour, weather resistance, need for support and any pest or disease susceptibility. Six new Award of Garden Merits (AGMs) were given to ‘All Time High’, ‘Pink September’, ‘Sussex Prairie Navaho’, ‘Sussex Prairie Apollo’, ‘Stand Up Comedian’ and ‘Sturdy Guard’.
All these newbies are tall-growing, from 1.4m to 2.2m high, though there are compact cultivars, too. Yet, because sanguisorba has airy ‘see through’ flower stems rising from low clumps of foliage, taller varieties can be planted almost anywhere, rather than the typical grading of short/ medium/tall from front to back of a border. I do love to use the shorter ones such as ‘Tanna’ at border fronts as ‘bobbles’ of flowers make such a lovely contrast to many plants and the foliage looks great from spring to autumn. Taller ones look wonderful woven through a border, repeat planted for impact. Ornamental grasses are perfect partners, but sanguisorbas look good almost anywhere, their airiness contrasting with chunky shrubs and adding informality to mixed borders. Most form neat, non-invasive clumps but watch out for
