Everyone should be putting this one plant in their garden this autumn, says gardener

Vernonia arkansana
-Credit: (Image: Getty Images)


A gardening expert claimed that there is one plant everyone should be putting in the ground with October just around the corner.

Speaking on Gardens Illustrated's YouTube channel, Andrea Brunsendorf, who is currently the head gardener at the historic Lowther Castle in Cumbria, England has said that Vernonia arkansana are the plants that everyone should be planting in their gardens this autumn.

Giving a brief history of the eye-catching plant, she said: "It's native to central and northern United States, and it's also known as the great iron bead because it can reach two to three metres. It really enjoys moist, retentive wet soils, even really wet soils it will tolerate and it's a very beautiful, versatile plant for a late flowering border."

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Andrea Brunsendorf
Now is the best time to start growing the plant, the expert claimed -Credit:Lowther Castle

She urged fellow gardeners to act quickly and get their Vernonia arkansana's planted soon: "It comes into bloom in the middle of September and will go all the way through into October. It is really loved and well visited by bees and by and butterflies, at the moment I have a sleeping bumble bee in there."

While admitting that she has used the plant in a very formal setting in Lowther Castle, she added that it wouldn't look out of place in any garden: "I paid attention to the staking. Here at Lowther it sits in a more natural kind of planting but you can also really put it into a rain garden where it will really enjoy the amount of water it has."

Another 'wonderful' thing about he plant is that it is 'one of the toughest perennials I have known, is it's very very hardy, it (can survive) down to minus 20 degrees celsius.'

She added: "It's actually named after an English botanist that found it in Maryland, US in 1698 and the botanist was called William Vernon."