Angelica

 Beautifully shiny.
Angelica Leaves

Angelica, the common garden variety, is one of my most favourite foliage plants. It has form, texture, and above all, a strong shiny green colour. And a beautiful name! These plants are easy to pull out when they're too old, or if they're squashing anything less robust.

I always have Angelica growing in the house gardens. They first appear when the blue forget-me-nots and the lavenders are flowering.

Self Seeders

I love their shiny green foliage, their contorted stems, and their lovely seed heads. I know that Angelica self seeds - that's how I get all the new plants I need.

So it is with interest that I await to see what effect planting just one plant and allowing it to seed freely will have in my little rockery. This is a labour-saving way for me to get new seedlings, and I can easily scoop them out for transplanting. The slight worry is that there are so many of them, and I have a poor concept of rockery scale. Oops!

 With blue Forget-Me-Nots.
Angelica Seed-Head

If conditions under my greedy trees (gums, wattles) were just a little wetter I'm sure that Angelica would make a brilliant ground cover. Next autumn I'll really try to get some seeds watered in and ready for spring.

 A stunning combination for late spring.
Angelica with Lavender