Category: Plants in focus

Bulbinella Avera Sunset

Spotlight on… Bulbinella frutescens

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. 

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Spotlight on… Nepeta nuda

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,

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Geranium Eureka Blue

Spotlight on… Geranium ‘Eureka Blue’

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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Spotlight on… Melica uniflora alba

We are a traditional grower in the sense that we still adopt many propagation techniques; from seed sowing, cuttings, root cuttings, division and layering. This means we can offer a greater range than the growers that only use bought in plug material. A plant we are continually asked for is Melica altissima alba. This is a very difficult plant to grow and also in our opinion Melica uniflora alba is a better plant. We say better as M. uniflora alba has a slightly shorter habit meaning

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Tiarella Spring Symphony

Spotlight on… Tiarella

A great early season perennial for its colourful display is the Tiarella. This charming woodland plant is now available in many different varieties. A profusion of tiny star-shaped flowers, lend themselves to its common name, Foam Flower. Tiarella are perfect for planting in the border in shady positions and for underplanting around trees. They enjoys moist, well drained soil and do best in partial sun or shade. The two most popular cultivars we offer are ‘Spring Symphony’ (pictured top) and ‘Pink

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Spotlight on… Taxus baccata

We’ve received some wonderful deliveries of Taxus baccata (yew) this week in various shapes and sizes. Taxus has always been popular for its great versatility; tall evergreen hedges, low parterres, and pruned into many topiary shapes. Yew has become ever more popular as a replacement for Buxus (box), which has seen a fair share of horticultural problems in more recent times. It’s a dependable stalwart. Taxus can take a wide range of environmental diversities and will tolerate exposure, dry soils and urban pollution. However, it doesn’t like heavy, wet

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Edgeworthia chrysantha in two pot sizes

Spotlight on… Edgeworthia chrysantha

It’s 1st February, and the splendid Edgeworthia chrysantha, has burst into flower. Commonly known as paperbush, this deciduous, bushy shrub is closely related to the Daphne. The flowers of Edgeworthia chrysantha have a wonderful, heady scent and are very valuable to insects. We have two varieties in stock at the nursery, the popular Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Grandiflora’ is a variety that can grow 1.5m x 1.5m. It has very impressive exotic looking, fragrant, yellow flowers in abundance that nod downwards. We also have

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Helleborus Pretty Ellen Red flowerhead close-up

Spotlight on… Helleborus x hybridus Pretty Ellen series

A very popular late winter/early spring plant is the Hellebore. Along with the Snowdrop, there aren’t that many plants doing their thing in the darkest, coldest months and these Hellebore do it with grace. Hellebores come in a large range of colours and forms, with recent breeding programmes increasing the choice available hugely. One of the new series that we are growing are the Pretty Ellen cultivars. What we love about them is that they have been bred so that

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potted Galanthus elwesii in flower

Spotlight on… Galanthus elwesii

There may have been snow on the ground this week but some of our plants are already waking up. One of the first bulbs to put on a show are our Galanthus elwesii, more commonly known as the Giant Snowdrop. It always amazes us that no matter how cold or dreary the weather is they pop up through the ground to put on a wonderful display. G. elwesii produces some of the largest Snowdrop flowers at up to 2.5cm long, with a beautiful

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