My Climate Change Garden

Bull Bay, Southern Magnolia

10. April 2008

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Latin name: Magnolia grandiflora Description: Glorious evergreen shrub and one of the first flowering plants on the planet, making it another plant that was around at the time of the dinosaurs! This impressive magnolia can get rather large, so needs to be positioned well. The oblong, pointed, glossy, dark green leaves are velvety-matt brown on […]

Giant Rubarb

10. April 2008

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Latin name: Gunera manicata Description: If you want a herbaceous plant that’s truly enormous and very jungle-like in appearance, this is the plant for you! It is an extremely large and dramatic, clump-forming herbaceous perennial, with enormous mid-green rhubarb-like leaves, spiny underneath, up to a staggering 2-2.5m wide, on prickly stalks up to 2.5m long. […]

Golden Bamboo

10. April 2008

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Latin name: Phyllostachys aureo-sulcata ‘Aureocaulis’ Description: This is the most popular bamboo at the ‘Exotic Garden’, grown for its bright, sulphur-yellow canes, which occasional have green stripes at their bases. Planted alone, it makes a striking architectural plant, especially in winter when the canes seem to glow in the mist. Although this is one of […]

False Castor Oil Plant, Japanese Aralia

10. April 2008

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Latin name: Fatsia japonica Description: Dramatic, fast growing, dense, rounded shrub with woody stems and large, glossy, palmate, deeply lobed leaves up to 30cm across. In mid autumn dense panicles of small white flowers are bourne followed by small black fruits. ‘Aurea’ has dark green leaves irregularly and heavily marked with white to pale greenish-yellow. […]

Pincushion Flower, Tree Echium

10. April 2008

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Latin name: Echium pininana Description: Giant, imposing plants hailing from La Palma laurel forests in the Canary Islands. These triffids of the garden world are biennial or short lived perennials. They are stunning plants for a sheltered border providing a tropical touch to summer. In its first year Echium pininana forms a low rosette of […]

Common Tree Fern, Soft Tree Fern, Woolly Tree Fern

10. April 2008

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Latin name: Dicksonia antarctica Description: The most famous tree fern in Northern Hemisphere cultivation and a truly majestic and architectural plant to boot! The dense, fibrous, dark brown trunk is covered in overlapping frond stalk bases, giving it a rough texture. From the top issue huge mid-green fronds from 1-3m long depending on location. In […]

Cardoon

10. April 2008

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Latin name: Cynara cardunculus Description: Resembling a giant thistle, this is a very dramatic and statuesque herbaceous perennial. It has enormous, thick, architectural greyish-green leaves up to1.2m across by 60cm wide. The purple thistle-like flower heads are borne in mid-summer and are held well above the foliage. On a hot summer’s day, myriads of bees […]

Japanese Sago Palm

10. April 2008

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Latin name : Cycas revoluta Description: Cycads are an ancient group of plants existing for over 200 million years. They are often mistaken for palms which they are not. Cycas revolute is the most easily obtainable species. It is a slow growing, robustly trunked cycad from Japan, that often suckers and branches with age. The […]

Italian Cypress, Funeral Cypress

10. April 2008

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Latin name: Cupressus sempervirens Description: Exceedingly architectural conifer and a far cry from the dreaded Leylandii. This statuesque conifer is a tall, narrow columnar evergreen, cultivated since ancient times in the Mediterranean region. The dark green ‘exclamation mark’ shape of these trees is a highly characteristic signature of Mediterranean towns and villages, thus giving a […]

Toe-Toe NZ Pampas Grass

10. April 2008

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Latin name: Cortaderia richardii Description: Whether short or tall, grasses give height, stature and form to the garden, many with a strong architectural appearance. Cortaderia richardii is one of the many worth trying and is a good alternative to Pampas grass. It is a handsome, clump-forming grass from New Zealand, with linier, tough, pale olive […]

Archive | April, 2008

Bull Bay, Southern Magnolia

Giant Rubarb

Golden Bamboo

False Castor Oil Plant, Japanese Aralia

Pincushion Flower, Tree Echium

Common Tree Fern, Soft Tree Fern, Woolly Tree Fern

Cardoon

Japanese Sago Palm

Italian Cypress, Funeral Cypress

Toe-Toe NZ Pampas Grass

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