S2 Episode 12 Janet’s Saxifraga “London Pride”
Janet’s Saxifraga
This episode is dedicated to Janet’s mum Margaret, who you can see in the photographs below. Herself the child of Victorian parents, Margaret had learned the names of flowers and plants even though she wasn’t living in the countryside but in the town of Burton on Trent. She passed this knowledge onto her children by taking them out on regular bus trips to parks and fields where she would teach them to recognise the flora and fauna, giving what we might now call lessons in biodiversity. The small plant Saxifraga x urbium “London Pride” reminds Janet of her mum. The plant may be small but the story it led to in this episode was much bigger and the question: how are we passing knowledge about nature down through the generations?
Janet Hickenbottom trained as a teacher but spent over 20 years working with the agricultural industry, first with FACE and then with LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) to help children understand where their food comes from and to plant up gardens in schools. She was awarded an MBE for her work. In this episode she shares her experience with Lee Connelly also known as the Skinny Jean Gardener, who stared his media career on the Blue Peter garden. Lee is passionate about parents and children spending time together, planting seeds, growing plants, creating memories. He fears that there is a lost generation of parents who didn’t grow up gardening with parents or grandparents so they now need to learn those skills alongside their children. Both Janet and Lee have found themselves spending time visiting parliament, trying to convince MPs to make changes to make it easier to integrate some of the things that gardening can teach us, into our schools. It’s clearly a long hard slog to make changes but Janet pointed us to one success; the Countryside Classroom. It’s an online resource for teachers and schools. Lee has devised School Garden Success as a resource for schools wanting to get children gardening. He also hosts the Skinny Jean Gardener Podcast - it’s a great listen for parents and children wanted to learn about gardening.
Of course we always learn how to grow the plant in the story. It seems that the Saxifraga “London Pride” has rather gone out of fashion. Perhaps its ability to spread is less cherished. It was found surviving in amongst the rubble of the streets of London during the second world war and Noel Coward even wrote a song about it during the Blitz. If you don’t know someone who has some and you can’t find it in a garden centre - I have looked in a few and not seen it, well then you can grow it from seed.
At the Malvern Spring show I came across a lovely couple Debi and Mark Padgett of Skerne Nurseries who were taking such care to explain to buyers how to look after alpines. Thanks to Mark Padgett for this advice.
How to Grow Saxifraga x urbium “London Pride”
It's one of the most easiest Saxifragas to grow, to be honest. And it's classed as a non-invasive species, but it does tend to self-seed. And because we kept moving it around the nursery, we ended up with it all under our benches. So we've stopped growing it. It has gone out of fashion as well, to be honest. I think it's because there are a lot more interesting varieties come out, to be honest. It is one of the older generation plants. People like it because it was their granny had it basically. It is quite a lovely, interesting plant. It grows about 12 inches tall with the flower spike.
Can I grow it in a pot?
You can, it just needs very free draining soil and don't overwater it. This is the problem. It is actually one of the Saxifragas which are classed as alpines. But this one does like growing under the tree cover as well, it prefers shade and semi-shade.
What kind of soil do I need?
A well-drained soil such as an alpine compost, don't get the expensive stuff. There's no need. Alpines are cheap and cheerful. They like very cheap compost, either a seed compost or John Innes one, and then mix that with more sharp sand and agricultural grit, about 50-50. Layer of gravel over the top to protect the roots from the cold and wet and direct sunlight, because they don't like heat.
Where can I get the seed?
You can get them from most reputable seed companies, to be honest. We normally do our sowings when it's cold and cool outside, because alpines don't need heat. So we sow our seeds any time from late September, early October, right through to the end of February. They will take a while to germinate. It could be four to six weeks for germination depending on conditions. And then they will need potting on, growing on and then planting out in your garden. But once it's planted out in the garden, it will flower in its first season if you sow the seed at the right time of year. If you plant later in the year, then it will flower the following year.
Post-script
It is often the way that once you start researching a plant story you come across other stories related to the same genus and I found this rather beautiful one this week - the rosy saxifraga last seen in the wild in 1962, being returned to a secret location, back in the wild.