Plant given to Adrian by Len, pictured at Foggy Bottom

Len worked as a volunteer at Foggy Bottom for a number of years and was a valued member of the gardening team. He was a knowledgeable plantsman and as we all know had an enthusiasm for all plants, but particularly for Japanese maples, of which he had a considerable collection at his home in Wymondham. 

Len brought a plant of a seedling Lamium he had found in his garden three or four years ago and it was planted up in Foggy Bottom to see how it would perform and if it was different to others on the market. It turned out to be a good ground cover with attractive foliage and very free-flowering in spring with pale pink flowers. Sadly Len died after an operation on 23rd December 2016 and as a contributor to Foggy Bottom, and of course as a  valued member of the Hardy Plant Society, it would seem fitting to name this plant Lamium ‘Len Speller’. There are plans to have plants available from spring 2019 in the Bressingham Gardens catalogue but in the short term it needs to be verified that this is indeed a cultivar that is different to others presently available to the public. There is nothing quite like its variegation with the combination of flowers in existing cultivars (on a sunny spring morning the flowers look much lighter than the soft pink they exhibit during most of the flowering period) but it would be good if other members of the society were able to also look into this question of identity. There appears to be no National Collection of Lamiums, but if any HPS member is interested in researching this or making any comments with regards to its uniqueness, please could they send their findings to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. as soon as possible. 

As an addenda - HPS members who knew Len might be interested to know that several Japanese maples from Len’s collection were purchased last year and at least one of them will be planted in the new Japanese-style garden at Bressingham before its opening in 2019. 

HPS member, Geoff Hinchliffe, donated some pots of seedlings of this plant, also known as Anomotheca, and Freesia laxa to our plant stall at the Summer Social 2018. Other members showed no signs of knowing the plants, although I believe that Sally Smith might grow them.

At present, I still have 5 of Geoff’s pots of these, @ £2/ pot of about 6 seedlings.

Geoff’s source describes them as follows:-“From a flat fan of tiny iris-like leaves arise thin stems carrying large, brilliant carmine, star-shaped flowers.These lovely flowers are very long lived and hardy in a sheltered spot and I a well-drained rockery they will self-seed and make fabulous drifts.”  

They will develop corms. The foliage grows to about 8”. They need sun, good drainage and shelter from Winter wet and cold.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED CONTACT ME:- This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 01362 668784

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If you have any queries please contact Linda Hall on 01379 641519.

John & Brenda receiving an award at the weekend from John Plumtre of the NGS [Suffolk] following 40 years of opening their garden for charity.