How could I ever live without Viburnums and this one has to be close to the top of the list of must have forms. I well remember seeing it for the first time at the Chelsea Flower Show in full bloom and it blew me away. But why is it so good? Its lace cape …
This Genus has almost everything! Some are scented some and deciduous,some are evergreen,some have huge flower clusters, some have great berries. In fact if you ever wanted to collect a Genus without it dominating your garden then this could be it! My selected species is a rarely seen one from China and its assets are …
This plant has to be elegance personified so obviously you need one! I grew it some years ago from imported seed having never seen it but I was already in love with the Genus as I already stock S. praecox, S. himalaicus, and S.yunnanensis. This plant grows to about 2metres with long arching stems clothed with evergreen …
This showy epiphytic shrub comes from Thailand and is amazingly hardy considering it will grow well for me in less that tropical Mt. Macedon. It even belongs in the usually less than cold hardy African Violet family. I find that it will grow well in a semi-shaded border amongst Azaleas and Rhododendrons as well as …
I love the flora from South America and having had the chance to visit Peru, Argentina and Chile over the years has only stimulated this interest. I have however been growing this evergreen shrub for about 35 years and never loose interest in it. The leaves could easily be mistaken for those of a holly …
I love plants with bold gutsy foliage particularly if they grow well in the shade and this evergreen shrub which obviously hails from China certainly does. It will grow to about 3metres tall and has glossy heavily veined leaves that can get to about 30cms. long and that at least for the time being is …
There can’t be a cheerier plant in my garden than this hardy scandent shrub nor one that pays its way more. If grown without support it will arch over and make a mound of spotty golden variegated foliage with yellow petalled flowers with dark stamens and a red calyx. However as the flowers hang down …
This Genus commonly called St. Johns Wort is far better than its common name might suggest. The specific cultivar I’m talking about was a self sown seedling at the famous garden of Hidcote in England and is obviously worth having if Lawrence Johnston said so! This is a hardy evergreen shrub to 1.5 metres each …
One hell of a name for a small deciduous shrub from Yakushima in Japan at least I hope that is what I am growing under this name! However what ever it is I am growing it is certainly a Hydrangea and one that we should all be growing in our gardens. It is deciduous and …
Attractive and interesting multipurpose evergreen shrubs are not that easy to find hence the proliferation of such abominations as the James Stirling Pittosporum grown in the thousands to annoy good gardeners everywhere. Were I looking for a quick growing shrub to 4 metres or so to hide my strange behaviour from them next door I …