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GINGER GAIRDNER: Here it is, my plant roll of honour

Harry Lauder's walking stick - the twisted stems of the corylus avellana 'contorta' or native hazel.
Harry Lauder's walking stick - the twisted stems of the corylus avellana 'contorta' or native hazel.

It’s great to see a mini series of Beechgrove on our TV screens this autumn.

We’re always quick to knock when things aren’t right, so credit where it’s due to the Beeb for knowing how important to our mental and physical health that gardening and being outdoors is.

With this short winter series they are encouraging us out there, with ideas of jobs we could be doing outdoors in the garden.

At last, recognition

I really do take my hat off to the BBC for this. Am I being naive, or could it be a recognition of a lifestyle change, based around gardening, that came from our  being cooped up during lockdown in the Covid pandemic?

Rhododendron luteum, the yellow azalea.

The garden industry had never seen such an upturn in fortunes. When we were kept at home, we realised our garden was a space to value and not just a hindrance.

It wasn’t unexpected some would drift away as life slowly returned to normal, but thankfully many are still with us and it’s essential organisations such as the BBC recognise how important gardening still is in today’s modern world.

To me anyway, it’s vitally important programmes such as Beechgrove are kept on the air, to pass on the horticultural skills needed for the winter months. It keeps not only our gardens in shape, but our bodies and minds too.

The gift of a plant

Anyway, this time the presenters were asked, if they were to suggest a plant as a gardening gift, what it would be. Jings, where to start!

I wouldn’t be complaining if it was a corkscrew hazel. This is a unique plant discovered coming from our native hazel, Corylus avellana, growing in a hedge down  Gloucestershire way in the mid-1800s.

The flowering catkins of the hazel.

I would be further blown away if it was the variety ‘Red Majestic’ that has red-purple coloured foliage.

Being deciduous, the leaves fall over  winter, revealing the feature that makes this plant earn its spot in the garden. Its the curiously, twisting branches in spirals.

Over winter the purplish-pink, hanging catkins play their part too, making this my top choice as a plant for winter interest.

Harry Lauder’s walking stick

If out hunting for this plant you may also hear it being referred to as a ‘Harry Lauder’s walking stick’.

New leaves on Corylus avellana Red Majestic.

Readers of a certain vintage may recall this Scottish singer and comedian who as part of his act would come on stage using a polished wonky walking stick of the contorted hazel.

I like to get value for my money from a plant, so that means it needs to have more than one season of interest, especially when it’s a shrub that’s going to grow to three metres high and three metres across.

You’re not going to miss it any time you step out to the garden so it needs to be a good one and this plant certainly is.

Breaking up a colour block

Most shrubs generally have green coloured foliage so it’s nice to include one in your garden border that’s different, it just helps to break up that block of green tone.

It then gives us an opportunity to play with different coloured planting schemes to combine with the herbaceous plants and smaller shrubs around your shrub.

Closeup of the catkins of a male hazel Corylus avellana ‘Red Majestic’ in spring.

Whites, creams, yellows, silvers and blues from climbing roses, Perovskia, Iris and Phlox all go well up against reddy-purple foliage.

There’s a bonus too for the florists amongst us. A few stems of the contorted hazel cut for a winter vase make an attractive and unusual talking point in the house over the Christmas period.

Right, that’s it. I’ve decided that I love this plant so much, it’s going to join my own roll of honour. Its one of the best, value-for-money, all year rounders there is.

‘Plants for the tight Scotsman’

I’ve always been told to stick best to what you know, and there’s no doubt I pride myself in being careful with my cash.

One day I’m going to write a book called, “Brian’s top plants for the tight Scotsman” and Corylus avellana ‘Red Majestic’ is going to come in at number three.

It comes in behind the climbing plant Clematis ‘Bill McKenzie’ that produces hanging bells of yellow flowers from June.

Seeds on a Clematis plant, ‘Bill McKenzie’.

The subsequent seed heads are a feature in itself that last over the winter months too. This comes in at number two.

Whilst number one is the deciduous azalea, Rhododendron luteum, again with yellow but also has strongly scented flowers that can fill the whole garden in mid-spring.

Later on in the season it will provides us with good purple and red autumn colour.
I’ve just realised I’m giving you all these great plant choices for free!

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