Category: Shrubs
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Griselinia scandens
I first saw this South American arching shrub at the Mt. Tomah Botanic gardens and immediately knew I had to have it. It has elegant long arching branches clothed with stemless glossy apple-green leaves and in winter it produces open clusters of tiny chocolate flowers. It is however its habit and leaves that it should
Stephen Ryan
Maesa montana
This odd shrub came my way quite some time ago and didn’t initially make much impact. The leaves are large and a bright green but not of a particularly interesting shape so I plonked it in the garden to see what if anything interesting it could do. It has now made a shrub of about
Stephen Ryan
Mackaya bella
This South African shrub in the same family as Acanthus (oyster plant) is an unsung garden hero! It will grow in dry shade as well as sun, will quickly get to 3metres each way, is easily pruned to size, has lovely rich deep green foliage and a mass of trumpet flowers that are off white
Stephen Ryan
Ruscus hypoglossum
This is the plant if you need something for the darkest,driest, spot in the garden, you could probably grow it in a cupboard, in fact it won’t like you if you try growing it in a sunny spot! It is actually an evergreen perennial although it looks more like a shrub and it grows to
Stephen Ryan
Neillia thibetica
This deciduous Asian shrub isn’t used anywhere near enough in gardens and anyone who has a copy of my now out of print first book “Exceptional Plants” can look it up and find out everything about it. For those of you silly enough not to have bought this important book I had best give you
Stephen Ryan
Berberis julianae ‘Spring Glory’
I imported this shrub some time back and it didn’t have a recognised name at the time and was called something or other of Hort. There is a picture of this very plant in Michael Dirr’s book and the above is what he calls it. So it will have to do for now. Whatever it
Stephen Ryan
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
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
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