Description
Our plants originated from the former Washfield Nursery, in Kent. Originally their stock came from Helen Dillon in Ireland. Her source was the Shackleton family who in turn had it from Canon Ellacombe himself. The Rev. Henry Nicholsen Ellacombe (1821-1916) was a notable Victorian gardener who introduced and spread many wonderful plants via his Cotswold garden and was, perhaps most notably, the man who originally introduced E. A. Bowles to gardening. It seems fitting that this clone therefore is named for the Canon and we have named it thus.
The plant itself is a superb fully doubled clone with a rich blue outer whorl of some 15-20 petals, inside of which is a paler doubled shuttlecock consisting of whorl upon whorl of paler blue segments, that crowd into the centre of the flower, becoming darker blue again as they approach the middle. Like many doubles, the size of the flower and the amount of doubling visible, will depend on vigour and the degree of establishment of the small rhizomes. It needs time and patience to give its best.
