FOR THE LOVE OF FRANCOAS

- Everything you ever needed to know about these old-fashioned blooms.

Acouple of years ago, when Denis Hughes first told me he was determined to breed better francoas, I couldn’t help but ask, “Why?”. After all, most gardeners have never heard of this old-fashioned perennial with its graceful wands of pink or white flowers, let alone lusted after an improved version of it.

But as an inveterate nurseryman who has been playing around with plants for 70 years, Denis didn’t need a reason. “Why not?” he shrugged. “No-one else was having a go.”

As a francoa fan, Denis is in good company. This refined summer-flowering perennial is cherished by collectors the world over, appearing at Great Dixter and Beth Chatto’s garden in Britain, in prize-winning Chelsea Flower Show designs, at Lotusland in California and, closer to home, at Tikorangi, the Jury garden in Taranaki, where Abbie Jury says it is “easy and obliging with summer flowers”.

I’d never heard of francoa until a garden visitor gifted me a plant several years ago. It wasn’t in bloom at the time, but the foliage reminded me of a gerbera. “You’ll love it,” she said, so I dutifully planted it in a gap at the foot of my sloping rose garden, where the sun doesn’t quite reach.

Love would be laying it on a little thick but I’ve certainly come to admire francoas. My original plant flourished in spite of my indifference, so two years ago I bought a few more from Denis, tucking them in between the hellebores and bluebells in our silver birch grove. Their late summer flowers rise up on slender stems, lending them the same semi-wild prettiness of gaura, persicaria and thalictrum.

Native to Chile, francoas are named for Francisco Franco (a 16th century Spanish physician who encouraged the study of botany, not the military dictator of the same name.) Depending on which botanist you believe, there’s either

one “highly variable” form or three recognised species: Francoa appendiculata (upright with pale pink flowers),

F. ramosa (dainty with white flowers) and F. sonchifolia (two-toned pink flowers). The latter two branch reliably.

When Denis started breeding francoa, his objective was to bolster their frost tolerance. He already had a soft spot for them, thanks to memories of his nurseryman father Stan picking the flowers for his mum, but he also recalled how his father’s best plants were routinely knocked off by frost. (Frosts were heavier and more frequent back then, says Denis. He recalls ice skating on frozen ponds, whereas these days only the puddles at the family nursery freeze over.)

Denis observed that Francoa ramosa was hardier, but a bit drab with smaller, off-white flowers, than Francoa appendiculata, which despite being more frost-tender, was bigger and bolder in pink – so why not cross the two?

Fifteen years ago, he raised 10,000 seedlings and left them out in the cold the following winter. Two-thirds died. Of the survivors, he selected the best flowering specimens and moved them into close proximity with each other, like an arranged marriage. Then he let the bees work their magic on the flower spikes before saving the seed and starting all over again: sowing, selecting, crossing.

Five generations down the track, not only has Denis widened the colour range, with francoas in pure white, hot pink, lavender and dark reddish-pink, he’s selected fuller flowers, packed tightly together, on upright stems that range in height from 50cm to over 1m. All are splendid for picking. Ten varieties are now on the go. “It’s a thrill to see each new flower spike open,” he says.

Francoas used to be fashionable, especially in bridal bouquets. They’ve been grown in New Zealand since at least 1908, when florists first offered plants for sale.

In the early 1900s, Dunedin horticultural columnist J. Gebbie gave francoas their fair share of press in the Otago Witness, repeatedly extolling their virtues for attracting “a good deal of attention” at flower shows, in wedding bouquets, greenhouses, window boxes and rockeries. “Francoa is one of the easiest plants to grow, and a most continuous bloomer, and yet comparatively few grow it.”

More than a century on, while it’s still true to say that comparatively few gardeners grow francoas, Denis Hughes is doing his darnedest to ensure they wave their magical wands in the faces of a new generation of gardeners.

• Order online from Blue Mountain Nurseries, bmn.co.nz.

Francoa were historically popular in summer wedding arrangements, earning the common name of bridal wreath or maiden’s wreath. My mother’s 1969 bouquet featured sprigs of francoa with white roses and chrysanthemums.