Marble effect

THE marbled leaves of Arum italicum 'Pictum' have popped up around the garden. Although they come up in autumn, they are most noticeable after Christmas, when the beds begin to be cleared and they are revealed growing through the damp earth and decaying autumn leaves.

This plant has been growing in our garden for several years but I was surprised to see how far the seedlings had spread. Its original spot was paved over last year and, although I tried to move some of the tubers, they haven't grown at all in their new place.

Arum italicum 'Pictum', a relative of the wild Arum maculatum, is probably more recognisable from its common names of lords and ladies or cuckoopint.

Although it used to be commonly seen under hedgerows and in woodland, it is now increasingly rare in northern England but is still fairly common in Wales and southern England.

The foliage of Ai 'Pictum' appears earlier than that of A.maculatum and lasts well into spring its large arrow shaped leaves strongly marked with white veins.

As the creamy flower spathes appear, the leaves die back and won't appear again until autumn, just after the clusters of bright orange-red berries held at the top of sturdy stems.

These are usually borne in September and look good grown through low leafy ground cover which hides the missing foliage of the arum.

Beth Chatto, in her book The Green Tapestry, has two wonderful photographs of this arum, the first in its berried state growing with the spotted leaves of Pulmonaria saccharata.

These two plants are surrounded by differently textured and shaped foliage, including that of the evergreen Iris foetidissima and yellow-spotted laurel.

This late summer photograph is followed over the page by an early spring one. Here it is the leaves of Ai 'Pictum' that are important growing with clumps of small-flowered blue primrose, through which push through the bright new growth of Milium effusum 'Aureum'.

Arums will grow in sun or shade but do best in a cool leafy soil that retains moisture yet doesn't become water logged. The tubers need to be planted in August or September about 15cm deep although pot grown plants can be planted most of the year.

It will self-seed easily once established but doesn't seem to be invasive. It can be used as winter ground cover, although it should be remembered the foliage will die back in late spring and not reappear until the following autumn.

Offsets from congested clumps can be removed in summer or when the leaves turn yellow and replanted 15-23cm/6-9ins apart.

NB. In the interests of accuracy, I looked up Arum italicum 'Pictum' in the Plant Finder to check its availability, only to find it seems to have been renamed and now may be lengthily labelled Arum italicum subspecies italicum 'Marmoratum'. However, to sugar the pill of change it does have an RHS Award of Garden Merit, is hardy through the British Isles and should be available from garden centres and nurseries.

Sarah Raven's cutting garden catalogue for spring 2005 is now available and is full of delights. It is such a beautifully composed booklet that even the most hesitant of mail order gardeners may find it hard to resist putting together an order. Sarah Raven is a gardener, cook and author and has also appeared on BBC2's Gardeners World.

On the cover is pictured Dahlia 'Bishop of Lancaster' (one tuber £3.25/3 tubers £8.50), a wonderful dark-flowered plant that came top in the cutting garden's black dahlia trial last year.

The open flower is similar to that of the popular 'Bishop of Llandaff' (one tuber £3.25/3 tubers £8.50) but both the blooms and foliage are darker than this plant.

Other dahlias include pink 'Fascination' with crimson foliage, long-stemmed deep red 'Chat Noir' a spiky cactus type dahlia good for cutting, burnt orange petalled 'Jescot Julie' and 'White Star' described as 'spiny and spiky and mad'. All are £3.25 for one tuber or £8.50 for three tubers.

The catalogue also suggest ideas for themed gardens such as a black and green garden or green and white garden with a range of interesting plants to choose from.

These include a new long flowering summer euphorbia called 'Efanthia' (five rooted cuttings £7.50) which has purple tinged leaves and acid green flowers from June to September and Euphorbia oblongata (five seedlings £9.50).

A black and green garden collection of 96 plants costs £120 and includes dark dahlias, cosmos, perilla and scabiosa and green euphorbias, gladiolus and zinnia. This and the other colour themed garden collections include a mix of hardy perennials, tender perennials and annuals.

For a copy of Sarah Raven's cutting garden catalogue spring 2005 ring 0845 0504848 or log onto www.thecuttinggarden.com

Updated: 11:17 Saturday, February 19, 2005