Achillea

‘Antarctica’ - A new Yarrow from ECP combining deep green foliage and masses of fairly large pure white flowers. A succession of upward facing discs from mid spring until its first cut-back near the end of January. Our most floriferous Yarrow, easily visible at a distance, with each new round of flowers just overtopping the last thus handily obscuring the older ones’ gradual decline. (40cm)
**$7.00

‘Hella Glashof’ - Another of the pale yellow Yarrows , this has distinguished itself by its persistence in the garden, where it flowers annually without much attention from me and without regular division. Thickly filled plate flowers on tallish stems. The foliage is dark green. (70cm)
**$7.00

‘Sulphuretta’ - A seedling we have had here from ‘Terracotta’, with the same bold metal-grey foliage but in this case with bright sulphur yellow flowers that do not fade until they are almost finished. This is the brightest yellow that we grow here. (65cm)
**$7.00

‘Summerwine’ - This one’s name suits rather well, the flowers are a bright but quite deep winy-crimson, each with a small sparkle of white in the centre. Smaller flower heads than some, but a colour not otherwise available in a clumping form. Dark foliage. (40cm)
*$7.00

potatorum ‘Kichiokan’ Dwarf Butterfly Agave - This is a moderately slow growing, evilly- spined and extremely attractive succulent, a flattened hemisphere in outline. The edges of the flat leaves are beautifully shaped and the colourful end spines have kinks! Originally from the semi-arid highlands of Mexico, (although this cultivar is Japanese). (30cm) Limit 1 per customer.
***$10.00
SOLD OUT

victoria-reginae - One of those wonders of mathematical regularity from the plant world, achieving a fascinatingly regular circular ball shape in time, set off by the decorative white imprint markings on the hard dark leaves with their fearsome black spine-tips. Not for where small children play, but a runaway success at keeping my dogs from cutting corners to the side door! (If you have short-legged pets remember to site low spiky plants like this where they can’t hurt their eyes on them). Hails from Mexico, (where it is now a protected species), and is fully frost hardy. (45cm)
***$12.00 SOLD OUT

Aloe

brevifolia - Toothed, but not really sharp at all, the long regularly tapered leaves of this Aloe form a regular and neat star-shaped hemisphere that is added to in time by offsets round the base. Quite frost hardy for an Aloe, (I shelter it here though), and tolerates wet winters well, so good in the open garden where it forms a small jade-grey hummock . Flesh pink flowers in season. (20cm)
***$7.00
SOLD OUT

Allium

ampeloprasum - Russian Garlic. A giant garlic, growing up to 1.25m or so, with wide grey-green leaves and spherical heads of mauve flowers. Buds, flowers and seedheads can all be very decorative in floral arrangements and the garden, and the bulbs may be eaten as normal garlic (but are best in cooked dishes). An excellent bug-repellant companion for fruit trees.
***$5.00 for 3 SOLD OUT

chinense ‘Rakkyo’ - This is not only very, very pretty, but you can eat it too. The leaves are very similar to ordinary garden chives but sturdier, brighter green and a bit stronger in flavour. The flowers are held above them and consist of heads of semi-pendant rounded bells (each like a Boronia blossom), in a lovely warm rose-mauve. They are out in early autumn, but the buds stage a long lead up through summer and are decorative in themselves in starbursts of pink, white and green. Highly recommended. Sun and reasonable drainage. (40cm)
**$7.00

togashii - A rare tiny but tough rock garden gem from Japan. At only 15cm tall with fine grey-green foliage, this lovely thing demands a spot (or a pot), where it won’t get lost amongst its neighbours, but otherwise easy. It covers itself with a fluffy cloud of palest lilac flowerheads in mid-summer, and, most unusually for an onion, it is strongly and deliciously honey scented, a lovely surprise.
$7.00

Arachnoides

aristata - Frost hardy ferns are at a premium, so additions to the list are valuable. This one is from Japan, and is fully hardy. The fronds are finely dissected, strong textured and very deep green and shiny. They are triangular in shape, held on relatively long stalks, (stipes in fern talk), and form slowly increasing evergreen clumps. (60cm, often less).
*$6.50

Artemisia

Artemisia is one of the few silver foliaged plant genera that provide reliable members for us here. They almost all prefer bright sun and good drainage and are longest lived in poor soil. Beware of the sorts that run wildly underground, some are weeds of the highest order. We list only those that are perfectly safe.

camphorata - Finest filigree foliage in a soft light green with an intense odour of camphor when brushed or cut. (No doubt it would make an excellent moth repellent dried and bagged for the wardrobe). This is only quite a small plant and very elegant. The flowers are not of particular interest and they and the plant in general can be cut back whenever needed to generate more of the lovely foliage. (65cm)
**$7.00

Aster

cordifolius ‘Little Carlow’ - AGM. An absolutely excellent bushy upright Aster introduced from the UK by David Glenn. Deep green willowy foliage (of immaculate health) and bright lavender-purple daisies, (large for this species), which cover the plant in massive clouds for many weeks in late summer. (1m)
*$7.00

cordifolius ‘Silver Spray’ - Masses of small silvery-mauve, ruby-centred daisies in upright airy sprays, and a very long (spring to autumn) flowering season combine to make this old variety an outstanding plant. Hardy, non-suckering and absolutely mildew resistant. (1m)
**$7.00
SOLD OUT

ericoides ‘Pink Star’ - This provides a wonderful big splash of soft pink, starting here quite early in summer and going through to the start of autumn. The stems are ultra stiff and the heads of flowers big and branchy, going well down the stem and in maturity forming a bush as wide as it is high. (80cm)
**$7.00

novae-belgii ‘Royal Ruby’ - A bit of uncertainty with the naming of this one, I thought at first that it was the same as ‘Crimson Glory’ but its flowering season is very much longer, the cream centre not as pronounced and the colour just a touch brighter. It is low growing, seems always to be in flower and stands up to humidity well for a novae-belgii type. It came to me from the Perennial Poppies group in SE Queensland where it is a proven performer. (35cm)
*$7.00

tongolensis ‘Napsbury’ - This used to be known as an A. yunnanensis and is indeed from southern China which explains why it does well for us here. These Asters are not borne in sprays, but held singly on sturdy stalks above the soft foliage mats, deep violet-mauve with stunning orange centres, flat-faced and fully 50cm across. They come in early summer. Full sun or almost so. (20cm)
*$7.00

Boltonia

latisquamata - In autumn, tall stems rise from summer’s pointed cos lettuce like leaves, carrying big sprays of elegant pale silken-lavender 5cm daisies in large panicles. This Boltonia will creep about a little at the root, making it perfect among shrubs, and copes well with adverse conditions while still giving a lovely show of flowers. Dormant in winter. Sun or part shade - it will slowly migrate to where it wants to be. We have it in front of the big Gleditsia ‘Sunburst’ with an Agapanthus border, Miscanthus ‘Zebrinus’, Viburnum plicatum and Salvia ‘Black Knight’, all big robust things that assort well together in purple, lavender and yellow. (1.5m)
**$8.00
SOLD OUT

Buddleja

salvifolia - Sagewood or Orange-eye Butterfly Bush. I have admired this for years - a Buddleja of substance, growing eventually to a small tree form if sensitively pruned. (Do not hack wildly as for the others). Flowering in long arching panicles twice in the season, so of major usefulness, and in the softest lavender to go with its long sage-green foliage. Lovely. (3.25m)
***$7.50

‘White Ball’ - David D. Stuart, author of the first comprehensive book on Buddlejas, rates this as the best dwarf cultivar of them all. Neat and compact, to 1.5m high each season and somewhat wider. It’s the bush rather than the flowers that is the ball-like bit, the fat spikes are long and nicely tapered, pure white with small gold eyes. This has a long season, helped by an occasional clip-over to remove the spent flowers. The foliage is silvery-grey.
*$7.00

Bulbine

species - So useful for spring, this native plant forms clumps of quite erect succulent grey-green tapered leaves and scads of tall elegant lemon flowerheads, chiefly early in the season but with some repeats later. (Most of the Bulbine are semi-poisonous to stock, so keep this one away from your paddock fence). (65cm)
***$7.00