Persicaria orientalis, ‘Cerise Pearls’

Prince’s Feather, Kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate

Slightly shorter and more manageable than the type species, this cultivated variety is loaded with flower spikes of many rosy red blooms. Best when direct seeded in the garden. 4½ft (1.4m)

Popular in Victorian times, this beautiful hardy annual is enjoying something of a rediscovery. It is a stately, tall-growing (or, as one author put it,”as high as the fence!”), much branched, hairy plant with large, broad, pointed leaves. Graceful, arching stems of drooping sprays of densely clustered, sugar-pink flowers are borne in late summer/early autumn. Unusual cut flower of the very easiest cultivation and frequently self-sows itself.

Germination Instructions

Sow indoors  or directly. Surface sow onto moist well-drained seed compost. Just cover with soil. Ideal temp. 18-22°C. Germination takes 21-60 days. If germination does not occur cold stratify. Move to 4°C. for 4 weeks and then return to warmth. Transplant seedlings when large enough to handle to 8cm pots and grow on. Acclimatise and plant out once danger of frost has passed with 50cm spacing. For direct sowing sow in autumn, sow into prepared soil, just cover the seeds with a little compost. Natural winter cold should offer ideal conditions for germination to occur in spring as the weather warms. Thin seedlings as required.

Growing Instructions

Prefers any moist soil in full sun or partial shade.

Cultivation Instructions

Cut back after flowering. Propagate via division in spring or autumn.