This rather quirky-named Pulmonaria ‘Shrimps on the Barbie’ is a new cultivar and arguably the best pink Pulmonaria there is. Highly floriferous, it produces bright shrimp pink flowers above beautiful silver-spotted foliage. Brilliant for early pollinators and ideal in a shady border. 25cm height x 50cm spread.
We grew Saruma henryi for the first time last year, for one of our Chelsea gardens and were immediately taken with it. Commonly known as Upright Wild Ginger, it’s a shade-loving woodlander with lovely heart-shaped foliage. This is followed by beautiful, fragrant, three-petalled yellow flowers in Spring. To use a technical term, tough as old boots, grows to around 45cm height x 100cm spread. Plant in part shade and humous rich soil.
Our Daphnes are looking splendid at the moment, with many in bud or flower. We have four varieties to choose from, Daphne ‘Spring Beauty’, ‘Perfume Princess’, ‘Jacqueline Postill’ and ‘Summer Ice’. In 4.5 litre pots, they are all superb specimens at around 65-75cm tall.
Fritillaria raddeana is a very rare and unusual crown imperial featuring beautiful soft cream blooms, with a hint of lime as the flowers mature. It is fully hardy and can be used for naturalising in grass or borders. Growing to a height of 75cm, they look spectacular. Plant in part shade in well-drained soil.
Our Hamamelis are looking fantastic right now with some large specimens in 25 litre pots. Hamamelis ‘Arnold Promise’ has beautiful fragrant, spidery yellow flowers. A lovely shrub that can grow to 4m x 4m, it is suited to the border or woodland setting. The Autumn colour is also wonderful with vibrant shades of orange and yellow. We also have Hamamelis ‘Diane’ with its sweetly scented, deep red flowers.
Pittosporum are a very popular line here at the nursery, understandably so. There are so many different varieties now and they are versatile. Pittosporum grow very quickly and are a cost-effective solution compared to slower growing Ilex or Taxus. Use as stand-alone specimen, create hedging, or topiarise, ball shape being the most popular. We stumbled across this relatively new cultivar Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Midget’ last year and have added it to our growing programme. It’s a wonderfully compact evergreen shrub with a dense, rounded habit that will naturally keep its shape, even without pruning.
As you can see from the photo it does exactly what it says on the tin! This variety is a very rare and long-flowering variety, with the narrow petalled star-shaped white flowers fading to pale pink and held over lovely, pewter-flushed, green leaves. Flowering from December-April. Ideally planted in part-shade in the border and equally as good in a container. Ht. 35cm x Spr. 45cm.
We highly recommend the wonderful Bulbinella frutescens Avera Sunset Orange (pictured top) and Bulbinella frutescensAvera Sunrise Yellow (below). Such brilliant plants for their extended flowering range. Ours have been flowering since February and will go on to October. Bulbinella frutescens carries star-shaped flowers on long racemes of up to 50cm and the plant thrives in full sun and well-drained soil. Great for helping achieve a tropical look, either in containers or the border.
We think it is such an underrated plant. Our Nepeta nuda ‘Annes Choice’ (left) and Nepeta nuda ‘Purple Cat’ (right) are looking splendid at the nursery at the moment. Why underrated? Is there any other Nepeta that grows to 120cm with rigid stems that don’t fall over? This could be your find of 2024. Just brilliant as a mid to back of border plant. Originating from Iran, plant it in full sun and watch it flower from June to September, with regular deadheading. It creates a haze of delicate,
One of the plants we grew for Chelsea was the rather splendid Geranium ‘Eureka Blue’. A natural sport of Geranium ‘Orion’, it has a wonderful, strong habit and much larger flowers that bloom for longer. In summer, large single flowers of deep blue smother mounds of foliage that tint red in autumn. It grows to a height of around 50cm with a spread of 80cm. Plant in full sun/part shade in the border, or can go in a container.
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