Recommend a 'show piece' flower

Hi everyone,

I'm pretty much done with planting most of my garden but I have one area in the middle of the main bed (sunny about 1 metre by 50 cm) that's crying out for a show stopping centre piece. I've been looking online but it's hard to know without actually seeing them in the flesh... by which point it will be summer and too late

Can anyone recommend something unusual? Preferably medium height with either interesting flowers of foliage, might look good in a small drift / row.

Thanks! :D

 

There are lots of flowering plants that look fabulous for a few weeks while they flower but then look undistinguished the rest of the time. So I'd be inclined to have stunning foliage and use other plants around to supply colour. My favourites are ferns, tetrapanax papyrifera, macleaya cordata, melianthus. Some will be too big for you purposes, though.

 

I guess it depends how big you want it.

My neighbour at my last house grew the most amazing thistle type thing. He did tell me its name but unfortunately I can't remember it now. It stood about 6ft tall with the most impressive and distinctive shape. It almost looked like a cartoon cactus.

Or fennel? That's a cracker. I've only seen it in the flesh while on jollies abroad, but I believe it grows fine in the UK.

EDIT: A quick google search suggests that my neighbour's plant might have been a globe artichoke.

 

It could of been a cardoon clue.

 

Picking up on Clueless' suggestion, how about a clump of Bronze Fennel?

Deep red/bronze feathery foliage, topped by handsome yellow flower heads in summer, which you can leave to stand over winter, when they look quite attractive coated in frost or a light dusting of snow.

 

my fave plant ( or plants) that would be great centrepieces are dahlias. They would look great as a centrepiece especially in a small drift. Either the bishop series or some of the dinner plate styles.

 

Once they get going dahlias look good until the frosts start. Bronze fennel also looks good for a long time even when it's going to seed. However cardoons/globe artichoke look terrible when they've gone over although stunning in early growth and flowering.

 

The name rings a bell, and a quick google search suggests you could well be right.

 

Two bulbs for spring;
Fritillaria persica..............


Fritillaria imperialis....................


Summer;
Lobelia tupa has a long flowering period.................


So has Alstromeria psittacina..................


Here are the two together to offer an idea of height...................


Trollius chinensis has these blooms on top of one metre stems for about a month in the summer.................


Digitalis lanata blooms for about six to eight weeks in the summer. One to one and a half metres tall...................

 

Thanks everyone! Lots of food for thought, I'm going to mull on this one for the week before diving in :D

 

I've just been looking into cardoons, I'd love one but it's just a bit too large for my tiny plot at the moment