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.
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