Bushel boxes

Any of you lucky enough to far enough away from us to have received orders packed in bushel boxes on pallets should google “bushel boxes” and see just how mad people can be. If you burnt them you will be cross!

robinssalvias.com/

If you want something to while away a dark afternoon in the winter try www.robinssalvias.com. It is a well illustrated mine of information about a group of plants we want to grow more of. If you have no web access then I can’t help you with this one, but I am curious as to how you now cope with the world without this tool (or prop).  

Colocasia ‘Black Magic'

I really should write about something truly hardy at this time of year but I won’t. Colocasia ‘Black Magic' needs to be treated like Cannas or Dahlias but it is a stunning plant in the summer with huge black leaves. www.hardytropicals.co.uk/Aroids/Colocasia/Colocasia_Black%20Magic.php. The species is cultivated for its edible roots so there’s a fall back position.

Holboellias & Stautonia

I have never been quite so confused as when trying to ascertain whether we had our Holboellias and Stautonia correctly named. When I realised the books not only contradicted each other but themselves I gave up; I think we are correct. All (H. latifolia, H.coriacea and S. hexaphylla) are Z9, vigorous, twining climbers with large waxy, white flowers with an overpowering fragrance. The unisexual flowers may be flushed green or purple or may indeed be purple if they are the other sex, and are borne on either the upper or lower parts of the plant, accordingly. Whatever, sometimes you get two-inch long blue fruits that are edible. 

A Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year to all our readers.

A Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year to all our readers. 

Miscanthus ‘Etincelle’

I mentioned before, in passing, Miscanthus ‘Etincelle’ as being a new, golden-banded variety and it has since shown one claim to fame in that it flowers freely which the other banded varieties do not in my experience. 

Sambucus racemosa ‘Sutherland Gold’

Sambucus racemosa ‘Sutherland Gold’ is a real improvement on S. r. ‘Plumosa Aurea’ (which we no longer grow). Both are vigorous, soft, golden-leaved shrubs but ‘Sutherland Gold’ has much more finely divided foliage, and, most importantly, will not scorch in hot sun. It will grow anywhere (well, it is an elder), including shade, and is tolerant of hard pruning when necessary.

Dodonea viscosa ‘Purpurea’ & Olearia macrodonta

Dodonea viscosa  ‘Purpurea’ is hardy for many of you (Z9) and wind tolerant, including salt wind. It is a vigorous evergreen shrub (or even a small tree) with long purplish leaves, inconspicuous flowers followed by attractive, hop-like, pink capsules. Also salt-wind tolerant is Olearia macrodonta which has large, grey, leathery toothed leaves and can be used to make an informal hedge or windbreak. It is a Z8 which means that it is unlikely to succumb to a modern English winter. If you have lost (tut, tut) the hardiness rating cribsheet it is on the website or I can send you a fresh one. 

Stipa ‘Wind Whispers

Stipa ‘Wind Whispers’ is not another marketing name for Stipa tenuissima but a subspecies which is slightly different. It is slightly less smooth to the touch and will grow to 36” while S. tenuissima will never make more than 24”, so it could more suitable for some situations. (By the way if anybody is offering you Stipa tenuissima ‘Pony Tails’ ask them if they are propagating a selected form by division. If they are not, what they are offering is Stipa tenuissima and that is it. Pony Tails is the common name)

New Catalogue

Our new catalogue will be sent out early in the New Year and that shows most of what we are planning to grow next year. There are things in the catalogue that will never appear on the availability list (because they are very popular or so unpopular that we never actually propagate them) and things will appear on the availability list that aren’t in the catalogue. That is just the way it for us, but it does mean that you cannot use just one or the other if you want to take full advantage of the range we offer. 

Communication over the holidays

We are closed for two weeks from after Friday 19^th – starting again on Monday January 5^th, but we will be checking e-mail and fax and making sure that any orders received can be dealt with in rotation when we resume. We don’t have an answering machine on the telephone, so if you want to phone in an order you may or may not get an answer through this period.

The Christmas Availability List

A new Availability list is done. Go to www.jackdawsfield.co.uk to Download it or e-mail nick@jackdawsfield.co.uk and ask to be sent one automatically as soon as a new list is done each week.