Category: Collector Plants
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Serapias lingua
I don’t grow a lot of orchids as they usually need specific conditions to perform well and I just don’t have time to fiddle unfortunately. However some ground Orchids and this one in particular are easy plants ideal in pots or in a sunny rock garden where they can be allowed to dry out in
Stephen Ryan
Himanobambusa tranquillans ‘Shiroshima’
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
Stephen Ryan
Rubus parviflorus
The Thimbleberry is a suckering deciduous North American raspberry relative with upright thornless stems and huge soft green leaves that would have me planting it if it did nothing else. However in spring it produces large pure white flowers (strangely large for the Genus yet the name parviflorus means small flowered!). When the flowers finish
Stephen Ryan
Tetrapanax papyrifer
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
Stephen Ryan
Tropaeolum speciosum
I well remember this amazing herbaceous climber known as Flame Creeper dripping out of yew hedges in England and couldn’t wait to try it myself. So eventually seed came my way and up they came. It all seemed too easy considering the dire warnings of pundits suggesting it needs a Scottish climate to thrive! Well
Stephen Ryan
Montanoa leucantha var. arborescens
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
Stephen Ryan
Beesia calthifolia
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
Stephen Ryan
Hydrangea seemannii
How many self clinging evergreen cold hardy flowering climbers do you know? There aren’t that many but this Hydrangea has all of those features and is obviously something that we should all considering for our gardens, particularly as it will grow to the height of its support and more or less stop there. If you
Stephen Ryan
Calamagrostis brachytricha
Korean Feather Reed Grass is rarely seen in Australia and I have at last a small batch to sell. It is a summer growing species to 1metre or so tall with a neat clump of foliage which turns yellow before dying down in the autumn. It is how ever the fluffy flower plumes that will
Stephen Ryan
Acer Palmatum ‘Bloodgood’
The japanese maples are looking splendid this spring, so fresh and vibrant and one of my many favourites is this one. Its rich burgundy foliage keeps its colour till autumn far better than almost any other that I have met and then it turns scarlet as the picture shows. It also gets masses of red
Stephen Ryan