Archive | April, 2008

Cabbage Palm, Torquay Palm

10. April 2008

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Cabbage Palm, Torquay Palm

Latin name: Cordyline australis Description: Striking tree that can get many meters high over the years. Best planted as a single trunked specimen, then after a few years its first flowering will cause it to become multi trunked from the top. If cut to the ground it will become multi-trunked from the ground. The greyish-green, […]

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European Fan Palm

10. April 2008

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European Fan Palm

Latin name: Chamaerops humilis Description: On e of only two indigenous palms native to Europe. Chamaerops humilis can be found on the hot, dry hills and mountains facing the Mediterranean. It is a clump forming, rarely singled stemmed palm. The green fan shaped fronds can be up to 60cm x 60 cm. There is a […]

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Golden Indian Bean Tree

10. April 2008

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Golden Indian Bean Tree

Latin name: Catalpa bignonioides ‘Aurea’ Description: Handsome, exotic looking tree that can grow to a substantial size, up to 25m with time, or it can be pollarded to keep to a more manageable size with bigger leaves. The yellow leaved form ‘Aurea’ is most delightful and much smaller in stature with a height and spread […]

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Black Bamboo

10. April 2008

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Black Bamboo

Latin name: Phyllostachys nigra Description: Highly architectural plants giving stature to the garden as well as flowing form. Clump-forming and normally well behaved bamboo with green canes (culms) when juvenile, turning jet-black with age. Although this is currently the most popular bamboo, there are contless others that are well worth trying. P. bambusoides ‘Allgold’ for […]

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Spotted Laurel

10. April 2008

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Spotted Laurel

Latin name: Aucuba Description: Much used by the Victorians for its toughness and the fact that it looks somewhat like the more tropical Croton (Codiaeum). This is a tough, hardy, evergreen shrub with stout woody stems. ‘Crotonifolia’ has glossy dark green leaves that are heavily mottled and spattered with creamy yellow, giving it a very […]

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Silver Spear

10. April 2008

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Silver Spear

Latin name: Astelia chathamica Description: Often mistaken for a Phormium, this silver speared beauty is a must for its architectural shape and form. It is an evergreen (ever-silver) clump-forming perennial with graceful, arching, deeply furrowed leaves with a striking silver sheen. ‘Silver Spear’ is even more silvery. The flowers are insignificant, but the foliage really […]

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Spanish Reed

10. April 2008

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Spanish Reed

Latin name: Arundo donax Description: This is an enormous grass somewhat redolent of the more tropical sugar cane and the most dramatic grass you can grow in our temperate climate. It is a perennial, clump-forming plant with canes up to 3cm thick and 4m tall. The blue-green leaves are long and narrow up to 60cm […]

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Monkey Puzzle

10. April 2008

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Monkey Puzzle

Latin name: Araucaria araucana Y Description: This very prehistoric looking tree hails from the volcanic slopes of the Andes in southern Chile through to Argentina. It should really only be grown in larger gardens and well away from a house, never-the-less, they are very architectural plants indeed and look good from an early age. It […]

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Century Plant

10. April 2008

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Century Plant

Latin name: Agave Americana Description: Only in resent years has it been considered possible to grow spiky desert plants in our temperate gardens, but now with warmer winters very much in mind, many garden centres are now stocking some of these fabulously spiky plants. Agave americana is one of the most dramatically architectural plants available […]

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