Much more availability

A updated Availability list is ready.
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.

New offers

Owing to the sudden retirement of a large customer, for whom we did a lot of bespoke work, quite a number of items appear on the availability list in any quantity for the first time (I think).

They include:

Ampelopsis delvaniana – similar to A. brevipedunculata but darker blue berries.

Anisodonta x hypomadara - Larger in all ways than A.capensis with veined cerise flowers.

Buddleja auriculata – leaves felted white underneath, flowers creamy white with orange centres, sweetly fragrant in autumn and winter. I thought this was an oddity in the young plants, but that is when they are supposed to flower. Z8.

Buddleia farreri – large toothed leaves, white below, velvety above. Lilac-pink flowers in spring. Z9.

Buddleja loricata – narrow grey leaves, rolled downwards. White flowers. Very hardy and a good silver.

Ceanothus ‘Tilden Park’ – small glossy green leaves, indigo blue flowers (reminds me of Italian Skies but a deeper blue)

Ceratostigma abyssinicum –more woody than the more common Cerats. Larger flowers of a beautiful deep blue. Z9

Cistus ladanifer Blanche – the varieties of C. ladanifer are confusing, particularly if you remember the nugget of information that all the purple blotching of Cistus derives from this species. And that is because not all the named forms are blotched, and Blanche is one of these. It is semi-double making a very full flower. (C.l. form sulcatus is not blotched while Pat and Paladin are; Paladin has feathered petals). To add to the confusion there is a named variety of the form sulcatus (called Bicolor) which is blotched, but fortunately we don’t grow it.

Cistus Paper Moon – papery white flowers, upright plant, Sport of Peggy Sammons.

Cytisus kewensis Niki – bright yellow flowers rather than the cream of the species.

Euryops pectinatus – grey pinnately leaved shrub with yellow daisy flowers. Very pretty. Z8.

Ficus Adam – no idea what it’s claim to fame is, but have you noticed that pictures of anybody covering themselves with a fig leaf almost invariably show a vine leaf.

Fuchsia mag Variegata – green and white variegation, typical small magellanica flower. Not such a thug as Versicolor.

Jasminum fruticans – scrambling shrub with fragrant yellow flowers.

Jasminum parkerii - (not new but reappearing). Small mound forming species with small yellow flowers with a ridiculously strong scent.

Lonicera albertii – in the same vein as L. syringantha

Lonicera caprifolium – earliest climbing honeysuckle to flower. Cream coloured and fragrant.

Lonicera involucrata – vigorous shrubby species with red and yellow flowers, around now. Needs a chainsaw to prune it.

Lonicera KR 291 – never found out the origin of this one, but is similar to L. alseuosmides.

Olearia nummularifolia – woody species with tiny leaves and white flowers. Said to be fragrant. Compact grower, hardy.

Olearia paniculata – looks more like a large leaved Pittosporum. Never seen it flower, but said to have fragrant dull white flowers in autumn. Ultimately a small tree. Z8

Persicaria Comptons Form - Leaves are interestingly patterned. Herbaceous, but reaches 1m. Same species as ‘Painters Palette’.

Phlomis chrysophylla - The name means yellow leaves – but it is only the pubescence which is yellow and so are the flowers. Z9 (P. fruticosa is Z7).

Phlomis purpurea – isn’t purple in leaf or flower. Foliage similar to P. fruticosa but pink flowers like P. italica. Z8 as is P .italica which is hardy here.

Salvia Christine Yeo - Small purple flowers. Thin stemmed, woody plant 60cm x 60cm. Hardy.

Salvia Crete Stolze - Form of S. officinaliis but you wouldn’t cook with it as it is pungent rather than aromatic. Blue flowers now 30cm high by twice as wide.

Trachelospermum jasminoides Wilsonii - (re-appearing). I thought this was grown for is veined leaves (besides the flowers) but it also has the strange merit, for an evergreen, of turning red in autumn and then greening up again. The veining also comes and goes.

Trachelosspermum jasminoides Waterwheel - Very narrow leaves and that is all I know. Did it come from the (closed) Waterwheel Nursery?

Viburnum opulus ‘Park Harvest’ -I never have known any supposed differences between this and V.o. Aureum.

Vinca difformis Sardoa - The most blue and the biggest form of this underused species. Always in flower to some extent, peaking in the colder months. All the forms are hardy despite the books denying this. (Z9 is not true)

Vitis vinifera Spetchley Red - Shining red autumn colour and presumably fruit too.

Zauschneria californica Ed Carmen - We gave up on this species years ago because we couldn’t overcome its deathwish., but this form is ok. Rather an untidy grower with deep red trumpet flowers.

Availability

A updated Availability list is ready.
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.

Crinodendron patagua

Crinodendron patagua is not immediately recognisable as a relation of C. hookeranum, having rounder less glossy leaves, but it makes an equally attractive plant, ultimately a very small tree, and has very pretty white lantern flowers followed by white berries. Better in acid soil and can take partial shade.

Credit Card Payments

In response to the very occasional request we do now have the facility to accept payment by credit card through Google Checkout (You will need a Google account which is free). We can e-mail you an invoice which you can pay online, but we cannot accept payments over the phone, as we do not need to do so often enough to get any sort of acceptable deal from the providers.

Cortaderia richardii

Cortaderia richardii is a pampas grass except it comes from New Zealand and is less quintessentially suburban. Arching stems bear drooping heads of white flowers to 3m. Needs moisture. Z8.

Eragrostis

Eragrostis in general produce floaty masses of flowers, but some are not reliably perennial. E. spectabilis (Purple Love Grass) is a perennial, with leaves to 30cm, green in summer turning reddish in autumn before dying down. The flower plumes go to 40 cm and make a reddish-purple cloud of spikelets in late summer, the whole thing becoming tumbleweed if you let it. Full sun, drought tolerant (or not according to what you read), naturally growing on poor sandy soils. Good component for prairie planting.

***Massive increase in Availability***

Owing to a very large cancelled order a considerable amount more plants appear on the list for the first time this week. These include some that have never appeared before and many that we were sold out of for the year; therefore it is worth a little extra time reading the list this time. please go to www.jackdawsfield.co.uk to download it or e-mail nick@jackdawsfield.co.uk and we will send you one automatically each week.

Anomatheca laxa

Anomatheca laxa is probably something we shouldn’t grow as its growth pattern doesn’t fit with anything else and it doesn’t really need potting on. However if you are selling direct to the public then this is one to sell as a P9. They are in full leaf now and will shortly start to show flower buds and the flowers are bright red and pink (except the few plants that are white). After flowering it dies back to corms for the rest of the year.

Bearded Irises

I have never mentioned it before but bearded irises, of which we have a good range (which I have mentioned before), should be potted on the surface, to one side of the pot. As the rhizome grows this fan will move across the pot, so if it starts off central it will end up at one edge, or over it, and the pot will be unstable when the flower stem starts to grow.

Aristotelia chilensis ‘Variegata’

Aristotelia chilensis ‘Variegata’ grows into a 3m high shrub in time, but responds well to pruning making vigorous new growth. Flowers and berries are inconspicuous but the variegation is an uneven mix of green and gold making an attractive specimen or background evergreen. It is hardy, but the old leaves are damaged by winter wind. Any soil or aspect, tolerates maritime exposure.

Helichrysum ‘Dartington’

Helichrysum ‘Dartington’ is, one of many, compact forms of Curry Plant. Very glossy silver foliage and not a lot else one can say.

Sarcococcas

Sarcococcas are slow growing evergreens that have sweetly scented flowers in the winter. They grow best in shade or part shade and will grow in any soil, thriving particularly on chalky soils. S. hookeriana Digyna has long narrow matt leaves, does not produce berries reliably but is the most sweet smelling. S. confusa and S. ruscifolia (presumably ours is the form chinensis) are extremely alike with dark green, glossy, wrinkled leaves and they will berry reliably with S. confusa having black berries while S. ruscifolia ultimately has dark red berries, although they do go through a black stage. Hort Week’s recent feature was wrong on these two. On the nursery shade is essential, as with Skimmias, to avoid producing chlorotic plants.