Cardamine Pentaphylla, (quinquefolia and Heptaphylla)

I’ve been itching to write about Cardamine pentaphylla ever since I bought it at the Great Dixter Plant Fair some weeks ago (on the Beth Chatto stand).

Now I’ve waxed lyrical a couple of times before about Cardamine quinquefolia (above, and you can also see its leaves on the top left hand corner of the first pic). This Cardamine is much smaller and when discussing my gorgeous new find with Kathleen from the nursery at Great Dixter, she described it as C. quiquefolia on steroids. She’s not wrong there. Comparatively, it’s a whopper.

I love growing C. quinquefolia as its delicate lilac flowers are such a welcome sight in February and March, when many other perennials are still underground and my garden can look a tad bare. And then the leaves completely vanish over summer as if it had never been there. In fact, it’s a great spreader and now grows through a large fern. I cut back the old fern leaves in February, C. quinquefolia does it’s thing, then disappears as the fern starts to unfurl. Perfect.

I was recently over in Belfast, and just outside the city is the wonderful Ballyrobert Gardens and nursery . (The website is impressive too, giving great information on the many tempting plants they sell.) In the gardens, I spotted Cardime heptaphylla ‘Big White’ (similar in stature to C. pentaphylla), lighting up the borders where it grew and couldn’t resist. I think it will look rather gorgeous amongst some Leucojum aestivum next year.

And when I was searching for Cardamines on the Beth Chatto website, I realised that they had a few more species to try out: Caramine glanduligera, pratensis ‘Flore Pleno’ and Cardamine trifolia. More pink and white blooms to enliven the garden in early spring. Hurrah!