Uvularia grandiflora 'Lynda Windsor'

Merrybells Colchicaceae

A wonderfully elegant North American woodland perennial, and one that has rather cleverly improved upon the standard Uvularia grandiflora by turning up the brightness of its foliage. ‘Lynda Windsor’ forms graceful, arching stems clothed in yellow-green leaves, giving the plant a particularly luminous appearance in spring woodland conditions. Beneath them hang the characteristic pendant, bell-shaped soft yellow flowers, appearing in April and May.

The flowers are carried beneath the arching stems, as though the plant is deliberately trying to make you bend down to inspect them. Once established, the rhizomatous clumps slowly increase to form handsome colonies, but never with the enthusiasm of a plant that has mistaken your garden for a nature reserve.

The yellow-green foliage is the principal distinction from the usual dark-green form of U. grandiflora. Frank Rhodes, writing in The Rock Garden, specifically notes the yellow-to-green leaves of ‘Lynda Windsor’, contrasting it with ‘Wisley Variety’, which has taller stems and dark-green foliage. 

It is an excellent plant for light or dappled woodland shade, particularly beneath deciduous trees where it can make the most of spring light before the canopy closes. Give it a moisture-retentive, humus-rich soil and it will gradually form a substantial clump. Avoid allowing it to become excessively dry in summer.

Nomenclature & introduction: The accepted name is Uvularia grandiflora ‘Lynda Windsor’; the RHS lists this as an accepted cultivar. Uvularia is a small North American genus of rhizomatous woodland perennials in the Colchicaceae, characterised by arching stems, alternate leaves and nodding yellow flowers. 

The cultivar name ‘Lynda Windsor’ appears to commemorate Lynda Windsor, the Devon plantswoman associated with RD Plants and well known for her work with Rodney Davey and their celebrated hellebore breeding programme. 

The cultivar has subsequently entered specialist cultivation and is now offered under both Uvularia grandiflora ‘Lynda Windsor’ and the shortened horticultural form _Uvularia ‘Lynda Windsor’. 

Height: 40–50cm
Spread: 40–60cm
Flowering: April–May
Aspect: Light or dappled shade
Soil: Moist, humus-rich, preferably neutral to slightly acid
Hardiness: Fully hardy in Britain

A refined woodland plant with pendulous yellow bells and foliage that lights up the shade. The sort of plant that quietly gets on with being beautiful while the showier woodlanders are busy making a fuss.