Wishlist: Symphytum x ‘Axminster Gold’
So! Sorry for the blip recently… I’ve been, shall we say, busy? Outdoors? Doing actual gardening for other people, and myself? Did you know it takes a lot of time?
How about a brief entry on a plant? A plant! I know! It starts with an exchange from last summer at Wave Hill in New York, which I visited for the first time ever with our pal Michelle G. To wit:
AK: Wow, what is THAT? [Photo below, click to enlarge.]
MG: It’s gold variegated comfrey.
AK: Cool!
MG: Yeah, I don’t know how I feel about it. It kind of just sits there. Like a mop. Or a wig. I don’t know. *Scrunches up face*
AK: I think I like it. Maybe? I can’t stop looking at it.
I will admit comfrey scares me, but I couldn’t stop thinking about this comfrey. A coaching client from last year who lives in town has an apothecary garden that’s gone to seed a bit, and she’s been working to turn into a cottage garden. Species comfrey grows wild there. WILD, I tell you. Do not mess with that comfrey. That comfrey will cut you. But ‘Axminster Gold’… If comfrey this cool is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
I’ve noticed a trend here, where I draft a wishlist entry, but by the time I publish it, I’ve crossed the plant off the list. Well, I picked up ‘Axminster’ two weeks ago at Variegated Foliage Nursery, who were gracious enough to dig a division for me, even though Michelle G. (who by this time had come over to the dark side) and I showed up not knowing they didn’t open ’til May 3. Oops! So, VFN rocks; please buy stuff from them.
Comfreys, I bet you know, are herbs, and they’re in the family Boraginaceae. Not surprisingly, this family includes another herb you probably know called borage (Borago officinalis). It also includes ornamental plants like forget-me-not (Myosotis), Brunnera, Cerinthe, Virginia bluebells (Mertensia), heliotrope (Heliotropium), Pulmonaria, and those giant, crazy looking plants that grow all over California called Echiums. Gesundheit.
- Posted by AK on 2010 May 06 at 1905
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I’m kind of wishing I’d had her dig one up for me, too. That’s how far over I’ve come to the dark side. I’ll hit you up for a division in a few years! Ha!
I am so very excited that there is a variegated foliage nursery! However, I’m also very afraid that if I actually went there I would need a straightjacket to keep me from going seriously into debt.
@Michelle: You can count on it! By that time it should be big enough I’ll be able to see it from where I’m sitting right now, past some shrubs and a big peony out the kitchen window. Let’s hope it grows like species comfrey!
@Kerry: Yep, and you’d go into debt pretty quickly there, let me tell you. Sought-after stuff priced accordingly! They do give 10% off for all in-person customers.
MAN! I’ve always wanted that- couldn’t find it for mail order last year. Maybe next year I can get a chunk off yours??? Pretty please?
@Amanda: Totally! Let’s hope it’s big enough for dividing next year.
Isn’t comfrey supposed to be the greatest natural fertilizer in the world? I remember reading my Rodale’s guide and it seemed like no self-respecting organic gardener should be without steeping comfrey to make a high-nitrogen fertilizer.
Isn’t that the whole reason to grow comfrey?
Wow! It looks like a watercolor painting. I hope it does well for you. :)
@Susan: A cursory Google search reveals that you are correct! That does give new reason to grow species comfrey, though this comfrey cultivar is sure worth growing for looks.
@Eliza: Thank you! You and me both.
Something about the description “like a mop or a wig” sounds good to me. Any plant fitting that description sounds like a keeper.
@Megan: Haha, it’s true, one man’s mop or wig is another man’s keeper!