Whatever the weather.

The weather is going for four seasons in one hour at the moment but nevermind our availability list has such a wide range of plants that whatever season you're gonna convince yourself we're in there will be something interesting to match. http://bit.ly/13KIFzp

Here's too sunny days and cool nights

Perhaps a little less cool at nights would be nice but the weathers got the right idea, Show the weather its doing the right thing by ordering from our new availability list. Remember if the weather goes bad it means you just didn't order enough.

Availability lists should always come the day after a blog post, don't you think?

Availability lists should always come the day after a blog post, don't you think? Snap it up We also still have a few stock plans available.

Our hard graft with Wisteria's pays dividends

This is the eleventh year we have grafted Wisterias; the range has been increasing all the time, and will continue to do so. Because young plants may not flower this genus has become very mixed in the trade, with even the most "reputable"  sources supplying wrongly named plants. We have flowered all the stock plants that we use and we are as sure as we can be that we are supplying uniform batches, but naming them is still a problem. In general we have followed Peter Vader's book, but some names have been changed since that was written. There are three principal species; the earliest to flower is W. sinensis - identified by twining anti-clockwise. Early flowering is good in that the flowers are borne on leafless plants but it does increase the risk of frost damage. W. brachybotrys is next to flower and has short racemes with intensely coloured flowers. The latest is W. floribunda and the flowers can easily be hidden by the opening foliage - so these are best on a pergola where the flowers will hang down under the canopy rather than against a wall. I am attaching a cribsheet which gives the important features of each variety and this will continue to be updated and available on our website

As a young plant Euonymus fortunei Silver Queen is somewhat similar to Emerald Gaiety but if planted next to a wall it behaves as a wall shrub and we have one that is over three metres tall - growing in amongst an Akebia for support. Many people expect it to be an upright form of E. japonicus but that is correctly called 'Macrophyllus Albus'.

There a number of forms of Akebia quinata which have names that suggest they are cream- flowered but I don't know if they are actually all the same. Ours has cream petals and a purple-red centre, and smells a little chocolatey. There is a completely white form which we don't yet grow

Lonicera caerulea Honeyberry  is one form of L.caerulea of which I think we will be seeing a lot more. It flowers as the leaves open and then bears edible bluish fruits in summer. Rather trendy at the moment but perhaps its popularity will be as fleeting as that of the Goji Berry. We also offer a a wild-collected form simply known as L. caerulea edulis (formerly listed as L.edulis). Both grow to 1.5m.  Another trendy fruit-bearing plant is Ugni molinae which only grows to 80cm and the fruits are small and red, tasting not entirely unlike strawberries. Apparently they can be made into jam but it would as tedious as doing so with wild bilberries.    

Blepharocalyx cruikshankii is an evergreen shrub in the myrtle family with attractive bronzy young growth and white flowers that are slightly scented. It has had the varietal name 'Heaven Scent appended to it but that is not a valid name (and it is misleading). Makes a 15m tree in the wild but as it has not fully hardy that is unlikely here. Tolerant of seaside conditions.

On the other hand Euonymus hamiltonianus is completely hardy forming a large shrub to 3m at least. It has wings on the stems that make the stems appear squarish and is grown for its pink and red fruits and autumn colour. There are a number of selections which we are working on

Two good attributes for the genus come together in Philadelphus Mexican Jewel in that it is a small-leaved and only grows to 1.5m and its fragrant flowers have purple centres. Although they are small there are plenty of them to make a show. The best images I can find are at www.panglobalplants.com.

It is not true that Loropetalum ch.v. rubrum Fire Dance is hardy as I have seen claimed but the species is rated at Z8 which means that it will survive some winters. It has dark red foliage all through the year and bears pink strap-like flowers in the spring. Can be grown to advantage as a standard.  Naturally a woodland plant it should prefer some shade but grows happily in full sun on the  nursery

We have been surprised at the winter tolerance of Osteospermum Lady Leitrim which has come through a cold winter and then a wet one planted in a difficult piece of ground. The large daisy flowers are essentially white although they have a darker reverse to the petal and are sometimes tinged pink. O. jacundum (pink flowers) planted next to it did not thrive and we have yet to test O. Snow Pixie.

Hot, Hot, Hot

Its a gloriously sunny day here in Sussex, so if its nice where you are grab a copy of our new availability list and plonk yourself somewhere sunny with a tall glass of something you fancy and enjoy.