What's the frequency?

It has always been our intention to try and strike a balance between not sending the list so often as to be a nuisance, but sufficiently often so that you are kept up to date. In practice this has meant sending every four weeks, but some customers (well, two) have asked to have the list every week. If this appeals to you then please let me know. Sorry there is no newsletter - I have things to say but not enough time to write them.

Foeniculum Giant Bronze

Foeniculum Giant Bronze if a plant of our times. It is at its most attractive when the fronds are unfurling and at its worst when it starts to set seed (and it can become a weed). However it tolerates the hardest of pruning so you can always have it at the attractive stage

Dieramas

Dieramas are propagated from seed, and therefore have the potential to be variable. However we have found the variability to be excessive in the named forms, particularly Blackbird, and have stopped growing these. To meet the demand for large darker coloured flowers we have added two species D. robustum and D. jacundum which both meet this requirement and are a good substitute for the most popular D. pulcherrimum. Again there is a cribsheet.

Centaurea cineraria

Centaurea cineraria is most often seen as a dot plant in bedding schemes or planters because of it's attractive silvery feather foliage. It doesn't naturally fit with our range except for the fact that it unexpectedly hardy being rated at Z6

Wisterias

We have increased our range of Wisterias again, but still concentrating on the two most popular which are "Black Dragon" and "Macrobotrys" (double and long racemes respectively), but this doesn't mean that they are the best or most attractive varieties. The full Wisteria cribsheet is available at www.jackdawsfield.co.uk

Vitis coignetiae

In our stock ground we have acquired a collection of different forms of Vitis coignetiae; it wasn't planned like that, but different acquisitions have turned out to be different forms of a variable species.

We only propagate two of them currently (even we have some limits); the "traditional" form with a large, matt leaves and autumn colour which can be red, orange or yellow and V.c. 'Sunningdale' which has glossier leaves, which are more toothed, bronzy when young and reliably turn scarlet in autumn. Its downside from our point of view is that it is harder to propagate. This species in general is only grown for the leaf colour, but last year it, and all our other ornamental vines, produced a lot of grapes.

Skimmia Red Riding Hood

Skimmia Red Riding Hood returns to our list after a very long break. It is a compact form with leaves about half the size of S. Rubella, branching freely to make a wide spreading mound to about 60cm. The flowers are fragrant and it does indeed have red berries Like all Skimmias it needs to be grown in shade, on the nursery and when planted, to keep a good colour to the leaves.

Rhamnus Argenteovariegata

Rhamnus Argenteovariegata did not enjoy the weight of snow we had, but it is completely hardy and wind resistant, despite not giving that impression. As a an individual plant or an informal barrier it always looks bright and is a good background for plants with showy flowers

Callistemon glaucus

This winter has been a test for the hardiness of plants, and doubtless some unexpected losses will become apparent while others with dubious reputations have come through unscathed. Callistemon glaucus is one of these which has thrived with us in the ground for many years. It is a reliable flowerer - bright red bottle-brushes - and has attractive foliage at all times.