Fragrant Climbers

A little while ago, one of the members was kind enough to supply the name of a particularly fragrant climber (Lonicera Periclymenum Abelia).

Armed with this information, I recently attempted to acquire the said item at a well known Garden Centre.Two rather unhelpful assitants made me feel totally inadequate when I was unable to supply particular species, using the analogy," we are both homo-sapiens, but we look totally different don't we?"!

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Many Thanks.

 

Go to a different garden centre!! Seriously, that's a complete turn-off for anyone - glad you didn't let it do that.

All honeysuckles (as far as I'm aware) have a nice scent - so anything called lonicera would be fine. But there are all sorts of climbers that would fit the bil, from roses to jasmine! have a look around a we-site about plants, like the RHS one http://www.rhs.org.uk - and look up "plant-seeker", or the BBC gardening pages - just google BBC, follow TV progs, and choose gardening, and that will take you there. They have a "plant-finder". In both cases, type in a name of a plant, and it will describe it, and generally give a picture, and how to care for it. Armed with that, you can go to any garden centre, see what they've got (and will generally grow well in the area) - and smell them for yourself! Good Luck!

 

Morris28, that is aweful. They should be helping you, telling you what would be a really nice plant to have. If I want an answer I usually seek out the oldest person, or the one that seems to be in charge.

It doesn't always work. Nothing irritates me more than asking an assistant a question, who then picks up the packet I am looking at and reads to me what's on the packet.

 

What idiots Morris28 - first priority find the plants and to do that follow dendrobium's suggestion of using the RHS Plantfinder - on their website, to find a supplier. Its a really good tool.

Second priority - contact the manager of the garden centre and suggest that he/she teaches the staff what to do and how to help when as most customers do, customers come requesting a plant that they have been recommended. Their response about homo sapiens, shows singularly little understanding, or indeed knowledge of plant nomenclature.Suggest he educate them, in that:

Lonicera (honeysuckle) - is the genus - the equivelant to homo sapiens.

Periclymenum (common honeysuckle) is the botanic name for the plant

Abelia is the variety

I think I got that right. Such ignorant twits - they could have been forgiven if they had owned their ignorance and referred to a text book - but not passing it onto the customer .

Sorry you just hit my hot button - I'll be quiet now.

 

I made me really angry too - but all those years as a teacher makes me try to hide that! Very bad for you, suppressing anger - so .... That feels much better!

Hope we've helped, Morris28

 

Sureley, the whole point of latin names; genus, botanical name, variety, is to specifically identify the plant? It is used worldwide so whether you are in America, Russia, UK, Spain, Japan or Australia you have a means of uniquely labelling the plant - unlike common names which can mean totally different things in different countries.

I normally try and make the effort to find latin names for this reason, its not pretentious and it does avoid any confusion.

Please do as suggested, write to the GC manager and also copy head office if it's a large national one. Absolutely no excuse for any rudeness on the part of staff. Even in a DIY store I would expect a polite, "I'm sorry I don't know but I'll try to find out for you or get someone else to help".

 

I grow early and late dutch honeysuckle and they do as they say, one comes out early the other late so I have a continued succession. Not sure of names, but I think Belgica and americana. Henrii is an evergreen one, but I don't like the flower or scent so much.

I like to use a nursery rather than a garden centre, they are usually chaper too. I think your episode can be seen in several walks of life, the customer does not seem to come first anymore!

 

Forgive the delay, I have been away on a break. No! A pre-existing committment, not necessitated by those "idiot" /"twits" .The event could quite understandably have given rise to apoplexy,but was avoided through experience gained over recent years in a Banking environment! Even in this arena, we depatched standard complaint response letters and drafted responses on behalf of our Head Office.Staff have to be committed and willing to learn from training given in such circumstances .To often they have an eye to moving on.You know when you're "flogging a dead horse" and such a letter with it's platitudes did not seem worth the effort. This Corner's responses have been far more worthwhile.

RHS & BBC's websites have been extremely useful and I am certain that I can find something suitable. Still haven't been able to locate Abelia which an earlier reader described as resistant to mildew.

Any help gratefully accepted. Thanks.

 

I bought an Abelia at a country fair years ago it was a little thing and the perfume exquisite took a bit of time to get going don't think it liked the clay soil. I bought another for my Dorset garden it has taken off like a rocket on the sandy soil, persevere.. it is one of the goodies and well worth sourcing.

 

morris, I just did a search on the word Abelia.
It seems that when you posted for a fragrant honeysuckle, someome suggested you tried an Abelia.
Its not a variety of honeysuckle, but a different fragrant plant altogether.

 

Hi,

Thanks, this explains my difficulty in locating!
Out of interest and in view of Geenfingers comments, I will try both Honeysuckle and Abelia.

 

You could buy a copy of the RHS Plant Finder book which lists all manner of plants and nurseries who stock them - usually available in Oxfam's wonderful secondhand bookshops as they poduce a new one every year or so.

Best of luck in your searches........

 

http://www.crocus.co.uk/search/results/?ContentType=Plant_Card&ClassID=3&CategoryID=

and
http://www.crocus.co.uk/search/results/?ContentType=Plant_Card&ClassID=6&CategoryID=

here's one place you can get some! Sound nice! :D

 

Thanks Denrobium for the links.

My Abelia x grandiflora is on the way.