Honesty

I hadn't met the biennial Honesty until I came here to West Melton. We arrived at the height of the purple honesty flowering season, and the effect around some of the existing borders here was amazing.

Purple and White Honesty

Then a I visited a friend's garden and saw huge drifts of the white flowering variety. I happily scooped up seedlings to try to create my own white patch. Later on a visit to a local garden I saw a border full of variegated honesty with white flowers, and the gardener kindly sent me away with a bag full of plants.

honesty in late spring (Archive)

White and Purple Flowers

Honesty never lets me down. Even if I rake and scrape all the seedlings away by accident new ones will fill the spaces.

My attempts at a solely white woodland patch have been successful, and I'm now waiting to see if the seeds carefully thrown in the Dog-Path garden are variegated like my roughly scribbled label said.

The best thing about Honesty in flower is that is always takes me by surprise. The yellows of spring bulbs like daffodils are expected, but the scattered purple and white Honesty flowers sneak in unnoticed.

Plants will position themselves in the oddest of places (which is a good thing!) and will tolerate the dry conditions of garden areas like the Hump (which has pine and gum trees throughout).

All in all, it's a very honest plant!