French Willow

from the Victorian Gardener

French Willow (Epilobium) - Few of these plants are worthy of cultivation, but some are important, and the best perhaps is the showy crimson native E. angustifolium, of which there is a pure white variety. This plant runs in a border so quickly as soon to become a troublesome weed, but is fine when allowed to run wild in a rough shrubbery or copse, where it may bloom with the Foxglove. It is a native of Europe and many parts of Britain. Division. Other kinds somewhat less vigorous are E. angustissimum, E. Dodonaei, and E. rosmarini-folium. The common native E. hirsutum is stouter than the French Willow, and is only useful by the margins of streams and ponds, associated with the Loosestrife and such plants. There is a variegated form. The Rocky Mountain Willow Herb (E. obcordatum) is a beautiful rock plant. The Willow Herbs of our own latitudes are very tall and vigorous, but on the dreary summits of the Rocky Mountains and the Californian Sierras one species has succeeded in contending against the elements by reason of its very dwarf stature; it has imitated the Phloxes and Pentstemons of the same region; though not more than 3 inches high, it has retained the size and beauty of flower of the finest species, the color being rosy-crimson. It is hardy, and thrives in ordinary sandy soil in the rock garden. Some of the small New Zealand species, such as glabellum, nummulariaefolium, and longipes, are very useful for draping stones on rock gardens.

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