Spring Froth: Eye-Catching Umbels for the Flower Garden
May can be a challenging time in the flower garden. But spring umbellifers can help unite these early blooms and sometimes provide a punchy moment in the borders, too.
Photograph by Howard Sooley.
Angelica archangelica is a fantastic feature plant that shoots up in early spring from a base of glossy leaves and sends up chunky purple and green stems that are topped by enormous lime green umbels.
Ammi visnaga is a shorter, chunker alternative to the more billowy Ammi majus, growing to around two feet tall.
In Sarah Price’s gold medal winning garden for the Chelsea Flower Show back in 2012, cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) mingled with grasses including Deschampsia cespitosa and umbels of wild valerian.
While the magical froth is an intoxicating sight in early May, beware how readily it will self seed.
Delicate and dramatic, Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’ is a form of cow parsley with dramatic dark stems and foliage topped with pinkish white flowers.
The delicate pink airy umbels of Pimpinella major ‘Rosea’ flower from early June and look beautiful with late flowering tulips and alliums.
They’re not necessarily an umbellifer but some alliums can provide a similar silhouette in the flower border.
Photograph by Britt Willoughby Dyer.
Photograph by Jason Ingram.
Selinium wallichianum is a perennial with lush green, ferny foliage; burgundy stems; and umbels with creamy white flowers.