All-Time Favourites

an excerpt from Saxifrages from Scratch

by Malcolm McGregor

IN THIS CATEGORY the most obvious thing is that there is a great mixture of plants. Old and new rub shoulders as do Porphyrion and Silver saxifrages. Top of the list ‘Winifred’ is a beautiful, but not always simple, old purple-red flowered Porphyrion hybrid and a bit lower down are some others of the same type. There are also four Silver saxifrages in the list which have very different qualities. S. cochlearis ‘Minor’ and S. x burnatii (‘Emile Burnat’) are wonderful free-flowering plants and S. longifolia and S. ‘Tumbling Waters’, are most obviously distinct because of the size of the rosettes - the largest of any saxifrages.

1. Saxifraga ‘Winifred’
Despite all the new plants that have been introduced in recent years it is not surprising that a plant that is more than sixty years old should prove the most popular of the All-Time Favourites. Bred before the War and nearly lost during it, ‘Winifred’, has been used extensively by hybridisers including Winton Harding and Brian Burrow to raise many of the new hybrids which feature elsewhere on lists. On this list alone, ‘Lismore Carmine’, ‘Karel Capek’ and ‘Nancye’, all have it as one parent. The deep coloured flowers are quite distinctive with the heart of the flower more deeply coloured as well as delightfully shaped. The major difficulty with ‘Winifred’ is its tendency to suffer from botrytis in winter but this is a small price to pay for such a classic cultivar.

2. Saxifraga cochlearis ‘Minor’
All forms of S. cochlearis have the same characteristic flower stems, which are usually dark red, setting off the pure white flowers, but this small-rosetted form has long been a favourite. In the wild, in the Maritime Alps, S. cochlearis differs quite a lot in rosette size but much less so in flower. It can be quite spectacular flowering en masse in the wild.

3= Saxifraga longifolia and Saxifraga ‘Tumbling Waters’
It is interesting that these two giant Silver saxifrages should both separately attract such attention. Saxifraga longifolia is grows wild in the Pyrenees. It forms a single rosette of narrow, heavily lime-encrusted leaves; the rosette can develop over a few years to a magnificent one foot (30 cm) across. For most of its life this is its great fascination. It can take up to five years before flowering, however when it does one can understand why, as a great plume of several hundred flowers cover its thick, rather stiff stem, which sometimes reaches a couple of feet in length. This spectacular display is also its swan-song, as after a few weeks nothing but seed remains. If the plant is protected from cross-pollination by insects, sometimes easier said than done, and the flowers self-pollinated by hand (it does not always do this well itself) then large quantities of seed can be obtained. Seedlings should be checked and those developing more than one rosette discarded. Often plants in the trade are wrongly labelled and it is well worth growing from seed, which is frequently offered, and reasonably often correct. Saxifraga 'Tumbling Waters' has Saxifraga longifolia as one of its parents, the other is S. callosa, and it inherits characteristics from both parents. Among those it inherits from S. longifolia are the very large rosettes that it can form, and the habit of dying after flowering. It does however, if well fed, form side rosettes and these should be removed and treated as cuttings to ensure succession. 'Tumbling Waters' has a magnificent arching stem of flowers, which face upward and are pure white. The flower stem of a very large specimen may be up to around 3 feet long (about a metre). To get particularly large specimens, best for flowering and for taking side rosettes, it seems necessary to keep repotting plants every six months or so into fresh compost, or to be far more organised than I am about feeding. Not common in the trade so it is important to try and maintain your own stock once you have the right thing.

5. Saxifraga ‘Lismore Carmine’
This is the newest of the plants to appear in this list of all-time favourites and is also the winner of the Sergio Bacci Cup 2000 . It is hardly surprising that 'Lismore Carmine' has reached such prominence. Flowering easily and well, with the cushion smothered in the deep carmine-red flowers which are well set off against the mid to deep green foliage. The cushion consists of very small rosettes and the plant is suitable for a position in a trough, on tufa or in a pot. Often seen at shows where specimens up to about 12" in diameter are found, it is probably best as a rather smaller specimen up to perhaps 3" or 4" across where the flowers and cushion seem somehow more in scale. Widespread and not difficult as long as it is not exposed to full sun for too long.

6. Saxifraga x burnatii
One of the most charming of the medium sized silvers, combining graceful arching stems, with the pure white flowers of S. cochlearis. The blue-grey rosettes are about one inch across, and increase steadily reaching perhaps about one foot across after eight years. The reddish stems are six to eight inches, arched, and have airy sprays of flowers from about half their length. It is reliable and always a joy. 

7. Saxifraga ‘Karel Capek’
A fairly recent cross from Czechoslovakia and one of the best with large peachy pink flowers deepening slightly in colour towards the centre. The flowers have great delicacy and although it will grow well enough outside the flowers tend to get spoilt by rain. A complex cross involving four species.

8. Saxifraga oppositifolia ‘Theoden’
'Theoden' is a plant that does well in a small trough, looks spectacular in a pot, and can be grown to a show-stopper by the dedicated exhibitor. It always attracts attention and deserves it.

9. Saxifraga ‘Nancye’
The Winner last time in the Sergio Bacci Cup and runner-up this time, 'Nancye' is one of the truly original crosses among the Porphyrion saxifrages. It is wholly distinctive with only its sister seedling `Anne Beddall' in any way like it. The flowers are held high on thin dark red stems but are a strong cerise-pink, with rounded petals, which makes it very unusual. The foliage is nicely grey with lime encrustation. Well worth adding to a collection. 

10. Saxifraga burseriana ‘Gloria’ & Saxifraga ‘Faldonside’
These two old cultivars from section Porphyrion have already been described but it is worth saying that they are both plants that have held their place in enthusiasts' hearts for a long time. Despite the many other large flowered S. burseriana varieties that are available 'Gloria' retains its glamour and 'Faldonside' combines flower shape and colour in a particularly attractive way. Well worth their place.