This dainty little woodland perennial from North America is surprisingly hardy in a slightly shaded aspect,coping with some dry in summer and in my garden it will burn off and come again when the soil is remoistened if I inadvertently miss watering it, not that I recommend such slack behaviour! It has pale green foliage …
This small shrub or even perhaps sub-shrub is a great asset to any garden. It will grow in almost any sunny well drained site and can be used as an individual or as a low border hedge that is a great alternative to lavender. The foliage is deciduous and from spring to autumn is a …
This woodland perennial has become one of my favourites. In late winter and spring its newly erupting leaves surround the clusters of pristine white flowers and as it builds into sizable drifts via self-seeding it is very telling in the deciduous tree shade afforded it in my garden. The rounded wrinkly foliage gets larger during …
Oaks have for some years now proved their worth in our southern Australian climate. Almost without exception they have dealt with years of drought with aplomb, wet summers as well, have proven to be fire retardant and in most cases have virtually no weed potential so what more could you want? I hear many of …
This amazing plant has a lot of bad press to get over so I see it as my job to do so! For a start it isn’t going to give you a rash, the species that people are allergic to is now not even a Rhus but appropriately called Toxicodendron. It does however sucker strongly …
These stunning North American bulbs are called Trout Lilies amongst other common names due to the lovely mottled leaves. The only European species E. dens-canis is known as a Dog toothed Violet due to its bulbs looking somewhat like a dogs canine tooth(they however look nothing like a violet to me!) all the species of …
The Kauri trees of the Southern Hemisphere aren’t usually the first things that come to mind when looking for interesting plants for the garden after all they are usually very tall growing trees. Although they are conifers their large leaves would suggest that they are something else. So why bother? Well many of the species …
The European Spindle berry, so called because its hard wood was used to make spindles for spinning wheels and it apparently was also used for rolling pins as well, how useful! It is however for its hardiness and ornamental values that I plant and recommend this small tree. It is a deciduous plant to 4metres …
This form of lesser Celandine was discovered by Christopher Lloyd and his head gardener of the time in a nearby wood and what a find it was! This varies from the wild form in that its heart shaped ground hugging leaves are a rich deep brown almost black which in early spring set off the …
This stunning ornamental Grape is rarely offered in Australia and I find it hard to understand why. It is far less rampant that the classical one and its leaves start to turn burgundy as soon as they get to full size so that right throughout late spring summer and autumn you get burgungy foliage which …