Resolutions

I don't really make New Year resolutions but this year I am determined to keep up writing a monthly newsletter through the year. What we try to do is grow an interesting range which is not the same as that of other liner producers (yes, really no Heuchera, no Cordylines) but that does mean that it is not easy for you to know what to choose from our offering and so the main purpose of the newsletter is to give you facts to inform your decisions.
The amount of information available on the web has expanded so greatly that you can almost always find something about a variety but is it correct? I mainly write from our experience of the plants and I can point you towards accurate information and images, but please be careful not to infringe copyright if you want to use any images for your own purposes.


Cistus x bornetianus 'Jester' is not a new plant but comes from the same breeding programme as a number of other varieties with names beginning with 'Je.....' (of which we also offer Jessabel which has purple-blotched, pink flowers). Jester bears profuse numbers of pale pink flowers and it scores over similarly coloured plants in its habit which is an attractive rounded bush with silvery leaves - not as spreading or brittle as 'Silver Pink' or as upright as 'Peggy Sammons'. The flowers are bigger than those of C. Grayswood Pink' which is a good choice for a larger planting. For more on Cistus go to the site for former NCCPG collection holder Robert Page, www.cistuspage.co.uk

Lonicera purpusii and L.p. 'Winter Beauty' are well known for perfuming the winter days (when it is not raining). New to our list is another, more delicate looking, winter flowering honeysuckle, Lonicera elisae, which has lovely hanging white tubular flowers. It is hardy and attractive in foliage through the summer also. The story of its introduction can be found on www.bluebellnursery.com.

Nymans Gardens is our nearest National Trust garden and so we are always interested in varieties that were selected there - not that they are customers because of the NT's ill-informed views on peat.  Forsythia suspensa 'Nymans' is a selection with very dark first year wood which contrasts well with the large soft yellow flowers. Although it can be kept to garden size it is purported to be able to grow into a small tree - which I am setting out to prove (or not).

Our range of Figs is, I am sure, the largest in the wholesale trade. Although in the garden fruiting is not always easy to achieve they are also attractive foliage plants, fulfilling the need for large leaves. The size of leaves can be increased by annual hard stooling (but this will reduce the fruiting to nil). 'Brown Turkey' is the most popular variety as it is the most reliable to fruit (it is universally said) but 'Brunswick' is more attractive having deeply lobed leaves. 'Adam' has particularly large leaves (useful for well-endowed men), while the other varieties have different fruiting characteristics. We are very pleased to be finally offering Ficus 'Panachee' which holds its green and yellow striped fruit upright like little hot air balloons. Since the variety pre-dates hot-air balloons and is grown in France did it give the Montgolfier bothers their idea? For reliable information www.readsnursery.co.uk.

Angelica 'Ebony' is a short-lived perennial that will give a striking accent wherever its is planted. Fully herbaceous it grows to 1.5m (RHS say less) with glossy purple leaves and huge heads of pink flowers.  If purple cow-parsley is popular with designers (which it strangely is) then this will have them falling off their drawing-stools.

Over the years we have offered a lot of seed-raised Dierama hybrids but their variability was such that we became too embarrassed to continue and now only grow species from seed. To get the stronger colours we have started propagating by division and Dierama 'Guinevere' is the first to be a available in quantity. It is strong growing with white flowers. 'Miranda' (lilac) will be available later this year and 'Merlin' (wine red) is coming along. We also have a new purple selection of our own.

Just room to say that Aster frikartii 'Flora's Delight' is a pink (in the right light) selection which like the better known A. f. 'Monch' is resistant to mildew.

Cistus Blushing Peggy Sammons

Cistus Blushing Peggy Sammons has flowers of an indescribable and un-photographable shade of pink. I am not sure I like it, but what a colour. Like all the sports of Peggy Sammons it is relatively upright with greyish foliage, and like all Cistus flowers best in poor conditions, as long as it well drained. On our heavy soil most Cistus are short-lived but it appears that Cistus ladanifer types are more able to cope in these conditions which is odd given where they originate from. They could be worth promoting if you are selling in an area with clay soil.

Note's for June Part 1

For the first time we have managed to get Phyllostachus vivax aureocaulis into production and it appears on this list. It is a spectacular bamboo, but slow to increase in terms of the size of the clump in contrast to the size and speed of growth of the individual new shoots, which grow visibly. The mature culms are glossy gold with variable green longitudinal stripes (the sulcus) and will reach 5m on a mature plant. Probably invasive, but not in the short term. The plants we despatch first will be in one litre pots with one new culm and one old one – you can expect another new shoot next spring.

We have been growing bearded Irises for a while and you will notice an increase in the range and availability through the rest of the summer. We do have a full list of descriptions and also photos of most so we can help in the selection of varieties.

It doesn’t look as if we are going to have a hot dry summer, but water conservation is something that the public are having pushed at them all the time. With this in mind it is worth pointing out that silver-leaved plants are adapted for dry conditions and we do have a good range available, including Artemisia, Lavender, Brachyglottis, some Hebes, Lotus, Ozothamnus, and Santolina. Cistus and Tamarix, and Phormiums are also all good plants to promote in this respect.

Notes for May part 2

You may have noticed that we rather like Cistus and just at the moment many are producing their first flush of flower and many flowers have the wrong number of petals in this first flush. Where there should be five there are seven, eight or even nine and this can be very striking in varieties with prominently blotched petals – like Snowfire. Some of the ladanifer varieties are semi double anyway, with ruffled petals and they too are spectacular. As I have said many times in the past Cistus never look as good again as when they first come up to flower and for many varieties this is best achieved by potting under cold cover anytime from July onwards. You won’t have to cut them back and they will be perfect at the right time next year.

In recent years I have become concerned that there was no difference between what we were offering as Phormium Cream Delight and Yellow Wave, and the Cream Delight was not as I remembered it. Therefore we have restocked and now Cream Delight is more cream than yellow.

You may think that we are only just getting used to 2007 but in propagation terms we are into 2008 already. In our catalogue about one in five items are listed as ‘to order only’ and this means that it is unlikely that they will appear on the availability list; we will only set out to produce the numbers that are pre-ordered. This does not mean that they are not worthwhile plants – in fact some are overlooked gems – but we cannot grow everything and this is a way of maintaining the range without cluttering the nursery with free stock which may or may not sell. If you pride yourself on the range you offer then have another look at the catalogue and give it some thought. The cut-off dates vary immensely and it would be a nightmare to set them all out, so assume it is the end of May and get that order to us. For those of you getting this list by e-mail a list of these items is attached; for fax, internet and post recipients please ask if you would like such a list.

We are still taking orders for Clematis armandii as detailed last month.