Category: Autumn colour
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Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Snowflake’
If you are looking for a shrub that pays its way all year round it is hard to beat this form of North American Oak Leafed Hydrangea. It does everything that the species can do and then some. The large handsome leaves look good all year and as the autumn cold sets in they turn
Stephen Ryan
Clerodendrum trichotomum
Alright I know my last post was about a Clerodendrum but I can’t help it I love them! This one can grow to a small tree and like so many others it does sucker so you can end up with a free copse! It is deciduous and will grow to about 4metres or so with
Stephen Ryan
Oemleria cerasiformis
This attractive shrub has never found itself in the limelight here in Australia and in my humble opinion unfairly so. It is hardy, coping with sun and cold well and not fussy about soil types. Its habit is upright to about 3metres and it will make a suckering clump which makes it ideal as a
Stephen Ryan
Quercus dentata
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
Stephen Ryan
Rhus pulvinata ‘Autumn Lace Group’
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
Stephen Ryan
Euonymus europeus
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
Stephen Ryan
Chimonanthus praecox
I know that this isn’t the rarest thing around but of all the scented plants I know Winter sweet has to be my favourite. Forget your Daphnes and Jasmines I would take this plant above all others for perfume and it is tough as they come as well. It is a large deciduous shrub from
Stephen Ryan
Vitis vinifera ‘Purpurea’
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
Stephen Ryan
Ceratostigma griffithii
Blue flowers (and I mean really blue flowers!) are few and far between and lots of nursery people call anything blue that could be lavender, mauve or purple as they know it will sell things. Look at all those things being called “Blue Roses” for instance. In late summer and autumn a small deciduous shrub
Stephen Ryan