Selected Sun Lovers – Musk and Mimulus
The true musk, Mimulus moschatus, was grown extensively in cottage gardens by our grandparents for its delicious heady fragrance. Indeed, apart from being grown in the open garden it was raised in pots for the window ledge. Without its scent it would never have made any impact, for it is a rather uninspiring character which produces small mounds of greyish-green, pubescent foliage and rather inconspicuous yellow blossoms. Introduced by the plant collector Douglas in 1826 from western North America, it was grown in England, the seed yielding amongst many scentless plants one scented individual. It was this scented variation that was propagated and widely grown. In the early years of this century this fragrance mysteriously disappeared. There are a number of theories about this phenomenon, but one of the most frequently proposed is that the scented form broke down genetically. Although seed collected from the scented form always yielded scentless plants, some botanists believe that it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that by regularly raising M. moschatus from seed, a scented mutation will appear once again. Until that day we will have to rely upon other members of the family to provide us with garden worthy plants.
There are certainly plenty amongst the mimulus, popularly referred to as monkey musks. Especially the various strains and cultivars derived from the complex intercrossing of M. luteus, M. guttatus and M. cupreus. These are numerous, and a detailed account of all that is available would be tedious. However, four selections are outstanding and deserve special mention. The vivid red ‘Bonfire’ and boldly spotted ‘Queen’s Prize’ strains, together with the recently introduced hybrids ‘Royal Velvet’ and ‘Yellow Velvet’. Both M. luteus and the closely allied M. guttatus are old friends, straggling stoloniferous perennials that are never more happy than when spreading around in wet soil at the poolside. Both have bright yellow blossoms, those of M. guttatus being spotted with red, while M. luteus sports golden flowers which are prominently etched with reddish-purple.
Mimulus cupreus is a smaller and more restrained character with orange-red flowers. A stunning contrast, and the parent of the most outstanding mimulus of all, the tiny ‘Whitecroft Scarlet’. This is a little gem with neat mats of bright green foliage and small hooded blossoms of the brightest red.
