Doronicum plantagineum Excelsum

<strong>Doronicums</strong> produce heads of great fineness, bright with a large orange-yellow centre crowned with fine golden-yellow ligules that sit above lustrous green foliage. <strong>Their flowering, which stretches from March to June</strong> depending on variety, <strong>lightens spring borders</strong> made up of large bulbs of tulips and daffodils. It pairs well with sky-blue forget-me-nots and enhances the orange brilliance of Iceland poppies. <strong><em>Doronicum plantagineum</em></strong> is a robust deciduous perennial found from Portugal, Spain, France and Italy up to Great Britain, where it has naturalised. Its tuberous, creeping, pilous rootstock forms large colonies in prairies, heathland and forests. Its flower stems bear <strong>1 to 3 heads in May–June then plant enters dormancy</strong>. It tolerates sun and shade provided soil remains cool. This species has produced the spectacular cultivar ‘Excelsum’ (syn. ‘Harpur Crewe’) which bears 10 cm heads. The other, more common species, <strong><em>Doronicum orientale</em></strong> (syn. caucasicum), has a distribution centred on south-east Europe: from Italy to Hungary, via Sicily, the Caucasus, Turkey and Lebanon. It is found in woods and thickets, <strong>on dry soil in summer</strong>, between 50 and 1900 m altitude in Turkey. This species is <strong>sensitive to excess moisture and humus</strong> which causes the stump to rot. It has yielded cultivars such as ‘Magnificum’ with large lemon-yellow flowers, ‘Little Leo’ or ‘Frühlingspracht’ with double flowers, ‘Finesse’ with very fine ligules, etc. <strong>These perennials make excellent edging plants</strong> due to compact habit of their foliage <strong>and superb cut flowers</strong> thanks to their long peduncles, to brighten the home at end of winter. Doronicum is a fairly recently introduced plant in our gardens, easy to grow, very hardy, at least down to −15 °C, but lifespan is sometimes short. It requires no special care but, if you bother to cut back faded flowers, it may reward you with a repeat flowering in autumn!