Author: Stephen Ryan
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Fothergilla ‘Mt. Airy’
This has to be one of my favourite small shrubs for a cool spot with acid soil. It is a hybrid between the two species of the Genus although it is often listed as a form of F. major. It grows slowly to a metre or more and in spring is a mass of fluffy
Stephen Ryan
Disporum sessile ‘Variegatum’
If you want something to brighten up a dark spot and do it fairly quickly this plant could be for you. It runs around and makes sizable drifts but never swamps plants it grows with so it nicely ties any planting together. It gets to about 30cms. tall with arching branched stems and the main
Stephen Ryan
Aristotelia fruticosa
This rarely offered New Zealand ever-bronze shrub should not be ignored by we gardeners and for the following reasons: It is upright and narrow to 3 metres or so making it ideal in narrow beds, between windows or as a narrow eye catching feature plant. The tiny bronze-green leaves make it texturally interesting and although
Stephen Ryan
Kolkwitzia amabilis
This large arching deciduous shrub from China isn’t seen anywhere near enough in Australian gardens. It is cold hardy, reasonably drought tolerant and will grow well in sun or semi-shade. It can easily reach 3 to 4metres tall and in late spring its arching elegant branches are covered with a mass of little pink trumpets
Stephen Ryan
Streptopus amplexifolius
I raised this strange North American woodland plant from seed many years ago and it has great subtle charm. It can send up branched arching slightly zigzaggy stems to 1metre with tiny bells hiding under each leaf on fine bent stems that are followed by shiny red berries that look like they are floating in
Stephen Ryan
Convallaria majalis var. rosea
Lily of the valley is one of those iconic flowers that we all seem to have a soft spot for. It is not always easy to make it happy but a site with good light but no direct sun shine in a moisture retentive soil heavily laced with compost and leaf mould is a good
Stephen Ryan
Symphoricarpos albus
The Snow berry from North America is a tough as guts deciduous shrub to about a metre and a half with rounded leaves and clusters of stunning white berries in late summer and autumn. It does tend to sucker fairly strongly so allow it room or be prepared to extract those that wander too far.
Stephen Ryan
Rubus lineatus
This has to be one of the best foliage plants that I grow. It is a Raspberry (or Blackberries) relative which makes suckering clumps of bamboo like stems up to 3metres tall. Its compound palmate leaves are beautifully pleated with a silvery reverse and evergreen. It likes moist semi-shade and can make large colonies if
Stephen Ryan
Sambucus nigra canadensis ‘Maxima’
Apparently the name of this plant at least for now. I brought it in to Australia without the nigra bit in its name. What ever you call it it is a great hardy suckering deciduous shrub to 3metres with heads of tiny white scented flowers in late spring and early summer that can be over
Stephen Ryan
Actinidia kolomikta
There are some plants out there that will always attract attention and this has to be one! It is a member of the same Genus as those furry little Kiwi fruit that have become indispensable on a pavlova. But it is for its amazing variegated leaves that you grow this plant. The variegation rarely presents
Stephen Ryan