At this time of year when the last autumn leaves are shedding I start to notice some of the more subtle plants around the garden and this is definitely one of them. It is an evergreen perennial or sub-shrub grown basically for its pretty chocolate foliage. The flowers are small and the same colour as …
If there was ever a plant that should be planted under the bedroom window this is it. I would certainly stop anyone from escaping that way! It is a large shrub with almost no foliage but with green winged and seriously spiny branches which have given it the names of Anchor Plant and Crucifix Plant. …
We can never have enough tough shade tolerant shrubs that can also take it dry and with this in mind I imported this bizarre cross between Mahonia aquifolia and Berberis sargentii in 2003, so I thought it about time I promoted it! It will grow to about 1.5metres each way with stems erupting from ground …
I truly love bamboos and this one would have to be close to the top of my admittedly long list of favourites! It grows to about 4metres tall and although classed as a runner my plant in the garden has made a largish clump with after 10 years in the ground no real attempt to …
The Rice paper plant is hardly one of the rarest things in my nursery or my garden but I wouldn’t be without it in either place as a stunning giant foliage plant that for all its tropical look is surprisingly hardy to the cold. It can grow to 4metres tall but I usually cut it …
If you like plants that virtually erupt out of the ground then the Mexican tree daisies could be the plant for you! They grow in much the same way as tree Dahlias putting on metres of growth from ground level in a season so as to be as much as 4metres or more by flowering …
This stunning Asian woodlander is only just making its presence felt in Australia. It was first named in 1915 after Bees Nursery in England but didn’t make it into cultivation in any real way until Bleddyn Wynn-Jones and Dan Hinkley reintroduced it into Western horticulture in 1996 and am I glad they did. It has …
This truly stunning plant has a long history as a garden plant at Mt. Macedon where I live. Nearly all the large gardens have colonies of it and it has certainly been grown here for decades before I was born. It has always been known by local gardeners as Tree Angelica and I only got …
Talk about a plant that does something all year round! This maple that was apparently discovered in New Zealand has so much going for it I feel the nead to take it season by season. In spring its spear head shaped leaves emerge and are white and pink mottled, interestingly the foliage becomes more variegated …
As much as it might be a bit indelicate to talk of sex there isn’t any choice when talking of the butcher’s brooms. Usually both male and female forms need to be present if the girl one are to get the stunning long lasting berries stuck in the middle of the leaf like phyllodes. So …