Category: Shrubs
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Watsonia aletroides
This has to be the most elegant species I have grown in this Genus of hard to kill South African corms. It shows no sign of weediness with me and yet will grow in any well drained sunny site. It grows to about 30cms. tall with tubular coral flowers with a paler tip in late
Stephen Ryan
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
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
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
Melanoselinum decipiens
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
Stephen Ryan
Schizophragma integrifolium var. fauriei
The self clinging climbers in the Hydrangea family are unique and indispensable as garden plants. What other self clinging shade tolerant showily flowering climbers that are cold tolerant are there? If you know of any let me know as I’ll won’t to grow them as well. The Genus Schizophragma only differes from true Hydrangeas in
Stephen Ryan
Acer ‘Esk Flamingo’
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
Stephen Ryan