Succession weeds in the shade garden

A few weeks ago I was gazing on euphorbias.  Now it’s the explosion of purple.

These are the biannual lunaria plants. You might know them as honesty.  Or monnaie de pape. The pope’s money.

They start as this mad profusion of purple. And then after a few weeks (if the cabbage moth butterfly don’t lay too many eggs and the offspring don’t strip the plants) the flowers turn green.

The flowers aren’t brilliant in a vase as the petals drop if you so much as breathe near them. But they are fun for a a few days.

But those dear little flat discs of green.  Perfect.  And over the summer (if the cabbage moth blah blah you get the picture) they turn silver.

The plants are in the brassica family which is why the cabbage moth go for them.

I leave them to self seed like mad in the hope the cabbage moth will be glutted with opportunities of egg laying here on these ephemeral plants and not notice the scent of brassicas in the open windows of the potting shed.

Genius, don’t you think?

I could of course thin them out when they are in their early stage. Everything takes two years for the plants to flower.  But I never weed these shade garden beds that carefully.  I’m too busy with my crops in the potting shed.

And I love the riot of colour. Especially from a plant I never have to sow, prick out, plant up or plant out. Oh, and the mole rat isn’t interested. Result.