Six Tricky Comeback Plants

When fashion is coming out too quickly

In the high tide, in the ruins of a time when fashion is coming out too quickly, tired and saturated, cutting-edge fashion is rolling in. However, it’s not just clothes and music, as cars, colors, home furnishings and even plants are at the mercy of people who want to keep the popular stuff. Fast forward to the early 2000s and, thanks to television and social media, we can’t get enough of them again, and of course, we’ll be moving forward to revive and love again other plants that have been waiting a long time to make a comeback. These are my favorites, and please share with us any other plants you’d like to see on the road to a comeback.

1. Conifers

Unfortunately, we’ve all imagined the horrors of the monster Leylandia (Cupressus × Leylandia) growing in the mountains. Erase that dream from your memory and make friends with the Japanese cedar, Cryptomeria japonica ‘Little Sonja’. This small conifer, with its 'crocheted' mid-green to pale green tipped fingers, is a ragged, oversized pom-pom, growing to approximately 50cm (1.3ft) in 10 years, and does best in full sun to part shade in most soil types and containers. A cool winter will encourage shiny bronze leaves

2. Hydrangeas

In recent years, I have been hearing that hydrangeas are long overdue for another flourish. The inflated mophead flowers of Hydrangea macrophylla are easy to grow with the soil type determining whether they will be blue, purple or pink, singing from partially shaded borders, standing to approximately 2m (6.5ft) tall in reliably moist soil. I have noticed the sometimes brilliant, strange mophead hydrangeas in the gardens on the Main Avenue of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in recent years, so it won’t be long before they make a comeback in our borders.

The autumn Hydrangea paniculata is leading the way again, with the popular H. ‘Annabel’, ‘Vanilla Fraise’ and my favourite H. ‘Whims Red’ already making valuable contributions to borders across the country. Watch this space and remember who told you this in the first place!

3. Pampas Grass

I was told there was a ‘thing’ associated with this elegant, albeit somewhat large, ornamental grass, which was once very popular in the seventies – but there was nothing of the sort in my observation! Pampas grass, Cordataria sellona, ​​is a stately grass with tall, parchment-coloured, feathery flowers, rising above the short, leafy stems. I have planted Cordataria Tiny Pampas (‘Day1’) in borders and large containers, and it only grows to a height of 0.5-1m (1.6-3.2ft) and is drought tolerant once established.

4. Shasta Daisies

Oxy Daisies, Leucanthemum vulgare, with their delicate, white-edged flowers with a proud golden button nose in the centre, naturalise in stunning displays on lawns and roadsides, resembling a constellation of twinkling stars. Long-flowering, resilient and with a variety of flower types including single, semi-double and full-on-floor ounce double, they also vary in height from 40-150cm (1.3-5ft), allowing for planting from front to back borders and containers.

5. Hollyhocks

In Victorian England, sending someone a hollyhock was a way of symbolizing one’s aspirations and dreams for the future. So, I’m sending you a virtual hollyhock to share my dreams of this statue-like cottage garden once again standing tall on our borders every two years. ‘But what about hollyhock rust?’ I hear you calling. Personally, I’ve never let it bother me, but there are varieties that don’t rust, including the popular Spotlight series.

6. Other comeback contenders

Holding my bets and taking one last deep look into the swirling mists of my crystal ball, call me Mystic Mike if you will, I have two last lovely ‘comeback’ possibilities. The sun-loving Callistemon citrinus 'Splendens', with its stunning red, bottlebrush flowers, is unfortunately rarely seen these days but always attracts a lot of attention, and finally, the Calendula officinalis or pot marigold, which I grow from seed every year. Semi-hardy, beautiful annual flowers in shades of red, orange, yellow and mango. Go ahead, take care of yourself!