Plectranthus 'Cape Angel Pink'

Plectranthus 'Cape Angel' with a pale pink Malvaviscus penduliflorus

The 'Cape Angel' Plectranthus, of which there are white, purple and pink flowering forms as well as the dark foliaged 'Mona Lavender' variety, have been around in the garden scene for over ten years now and have become a real highlight of the autumn garden scene. Long flowering and tolerant of drier shade locations they can be grown in pots or garden beds and reach a height of about a metre. Their 'shelf life' is only around five years however as they can become woody with age and lose vigour and they are susceptible to being disfigured by the dreaded flea beetle which damage the foliage leaving it permanently pock marked. I find the use of a granular systemic insecticide breaks the life cycle of this pest if caught when the first sign of damage occurs. Replacement plants are fairly easy to produce by cuttings and the old method of sticking a stem in the ground where required may suffice such is the ease of propagation of this plant

'Cape Angel' a hybrid between two South African species, P. saccatus and P. hilliardiae, the former which is also in flower now has delightful flowers resembling the Jacaranda.

 

Lan Xue Hua

Ceratostigma sp. 'Blue Snow Flower' or Chinese Plumbago

This has to be my flower of the week.

I have forgotten what species this is and I have just one plant of it with only two branches hanging on for dear life which are producing these intensely dark blue flowers. 

This Ceratostigma is dreaming of a better life in a cool temperate garden away from the coast where it can reach its full potential as a hardy small shrub in a sunny or part shade position. The Chinese name 'Lan Xue Hua' means 'Blue Snow Flower' .

Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue'

             Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue'

This is said to be a smaller growing cultivar of the species which I have written about before as being a bit of a garden thug spreading far and wide with a thick tuberous root system.

I am keeping it in a large pot where it can be more easily managed. That said it would make a great addition to a garden position in the light shade of trees where shrubs may be difficult to establish as it is not fussed as to soil and water requirements. 

  

 

Salvia 'Amistad', The Friendship Sage

                                  Salvia 'Amistad'

This is a very dark purple Salvia which I planted last year in front of a giant orange sun loving Bromeliad Aechmea blanchetiana. I am hoping for a good colour contrast when 'Amistad reaches the 2 metres it is said to. So far it is a well behaved small shrub with bright green foliage and masses of flowers. No damage to the branches from nectar feeding birds either.

The story goes that this plant was found in a market in Argentina and released to the garden scene in Australia in 2013. Plant Breeders Rights apply to this plant.

Salvia 'Black Knight'

     Salvia 'Black Knight' above Salvia leucantha

This Salvia is thought to be a hybrid of S. guaranitica x S. gesneriiflora and has been on the garden scene for a number of years.

It forms a scruffy shrub to just under two metres high with flowers so dark you have to be up close to really notice them. From a distance they appear as a dark smudge above pale green foliage. That said it is a hardy shrub which requires no special attention to do well. Perhaps with some judicious pruning in spring a well shaped shrub could be achieved.

The birds love it !

Abelia x grandiflora

                   Abelia x grandiflora

 Abelia has come to my notice because it is flowering so late this year. Normally it is covered in sweetly scented flowers at the end of January but this year it waited for some good soaking rain to perform at its best, though the rain has diminished the scent somewhat. I really like Abelia because it behaves as a near perfect shrub. Undemanding as to growing conditions it eventually forms a naturally rounded shaped bush to 2 metres, despite an infancy of throwing out lax and arching branches. Lightly pruned specimens may resemble a shaggy plum pudding with the bunches of flowers loosely covering the end of stems. 

I leave mine unpruned and growing up close to some big Yuccas which are noted for their extensive hungry root system. Abelia is not fazed by this competition. There are some interesting forms of this shrub such as the dwarf 'Nana', one with variegated foliage and a burnished leaf one called 'Keat's Gold'.

 

Jasminum officinale, 'Poets Jasmine'

       Jasminum officinale, 'Poet's Jasmine'

This has always been my favourite species of Jasmine and it took me awhile to locate a plant of it to start propagating it again as it has almost disappeared from the nursery trade. A gardening friend from the Sydney suburb of Paddington had it growing along a wall mixed in with Jasminum nitidum and old roses. She also showed me where a giant plant of it was cascading over a local lane way wall so perhaps it is an inner urban plant of yesteryear.

Overall it is an untidy lax shrub and not strictly a climber as it rambles and scrambles its way over things flowering almost non-stop in a mild frost free climate. Training it as a single trunked specimen against a sturdy metal post is often the way I have seen it growing in the gardens of Italian-Australians where it holds special significance. In Italy the flowers were entwined with orange blossom to form a bridal headdress assuring the bride of constancy and love; a tradition derived from the country expression of 'she who is worthy of being decorated in jasmine is rich enough for any husband'.

 I currently have plants available in 100mm / 4 inch pots at $7.50.

Salvia greggii 'Crimson and Black'

               Salvia greggii 'Crimson and Black'

The greggii salvias grow from a central stem with branches topped with flowers emerging from quite low down. Herein lies a problem, as some of the bigger nectar feeding birds such as Wattle birds are liable to snap off the somewhat brittle stems during their quest for food. 

Several weeks ago I sheared off all the flowers from this batch to stop the bird damage but to no avail as the flowers reappeared in no time.

This crimson and black flowered variety is quite a striking colour combination and really stands out in a garden. The shrub grows to about 60cm and is hardy over a range of conditions and climates.

 

Acalypha wilkesiana cv.

             Acalypha wilkesiana cv. (Euphorbiaceae)

This is a new one for me which I bought last week and as it came unlabelled I could take a wild guess and say this is the variety 'Sunset Hue' which it matches from photos I have looked at.

As coloured foliage plants go Acalyphas are more hardy than Crotons for growing outside the sub-tropic regions. Being in the Euphorbia family they have all the requirements for adapting to low water and less favourable growing conditions including windy salt spray coastal ones. 

This one adds to my small collection of varieties some of which I will have available for sale in the near future. 

Ceratostigma willmottianum, Chinese Plumbago

Ceratostigma willmottianum  
Chinese Plumbago
  (Plumbaginaceae)

 This small hardy shrub is named to honor Miss Ellen Willmott (1858-1934) who in her day was called 'the greatest living woman gardener'. She was fabulously wealthy and during her glittering and spectacular career she sponsored plant hunter Ernest 'Chinese' Wilson who brought back this plant from China in 1910. The electric blue flowers cover the bush during summer and these are followed by bristly "shaving brush" heads of seeds. The leaves are attractively quilted and turn brilliant shades of orange and red during autumn and winter. It is hardy over a range of climates except the very hot and does well in shade under trees.
Dawn Macleod calls it 'that blue-eyed darling' in her book Down to Earth Women (Those who care for the soil) Edinburgh, 1982. Germaine Greer has a soft spot for it as well and gives an interesting insight into the life of Ellen Willmott in the following article:

Country notebook: Ellen Willmott - Telegraph

Osmanthus fragrans

 Osmanthus fragrans (Oleaceae)

This shrub from China and southern Japan scrapes into the top twenty best perfumed plants for the delicious intense ripe apricot scent which is released from the very small brownish white flowers. It can be elusive though as when I stuck my nose up close one afternoon last week I could barely detect a fragrant note. No doubt it is timed to deal with the appearance or not of a suitable pollinator. When not in flower it can be a bit of an unappealing and straggly shrub with tough leathery olive green leaves and growing from 3 to 5 metres; so the suggestion would be to plant it in groups of 3 or more or merge it with other shrubs in a border. It would be useful to plant in one of those narrow corridors between buildings which get zero sun in winter as it will tolerate some shade though I have seen specimens grown in exposed windy positions suffering dreadful leaf scorch. Most plants available in the nursery trade are sold in 140mm/6inch pots as it can be slow growing.The common name for it of 'Sweet Olive' is just too confusing as some punters may imagine that it belongs in a martini glass.

Jasminum sambac 'Grand Duke of Tuscany'

 Jasminum sambac 'Grand Duke of Tuscany' (Oleaceae)

'Gardenia Jasmine'

How sweet it is...This is the Italian form of the Arabian jasmine which has button-hole perfect white flowers like mini Gardenias which become stained with purple on the outer petals as they age. The flowers are scattered through straggly angular stems embraced with quilted oval leaves and the resulting bush of a metre or more will never win a prize for being neat, clipped and tidy. It makes a good pot plant and table centre piece when in flower and growth is generally quite slow. The flower buds of the single form are used to make jasmine tea especially in the Philippines.

 I bought this one from the Growing Friends Nursery at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney earlier last year.

Hibiscus boryanus

 Hibiscus boryanus (Malvaceae)

Native to the Mascarene Islands of Mauritius, La Reunion and Rodrigues this tall shrub is an endangered and protected plant as it succumbs to habitat loss from the invasion of weed species such as Hiptage benghalensis, a plant on the 100 'Global Invasive Species' list.

I bought this Hibiscus earlier in the year from the Growing Friends Nursery at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney and it has just started to flower. Flowers can be red or orange and this one looks like a combination of the two. The common names for it are fairly awful and make no sense to me as to their meaning : Le foulsapate marron or 'brown foulsapate'

and 'bastard mahot'. While the common name for Hibiscus on the islands is 'mandrinette', this is normally associated with other species such as H. liliflorus and H. fragilis.

Much of the plant conservation work associated with this and other plants is carried out by the organisation 'Conservatoire Botanique National de Mascarin'

Fancy leaf Geraniums

Fancy-Leaf Geraniums

My interest in growing these goes back to the late 1990's when a small nursery called Pelargonium Place run by Marjorie Edwards at 40 Mistletoe street, Golden Square in Victoria became famous in the Geranium world for producing the 'Edwards' cultivars, with some even making their way back to Europe to the prestigious German nursery Pelargonien Fischer and perhaps eventually adorning a window-box in Munich or Zurich.

The fancy leaf ones, which often have insignificant flowers, provide year round colour and are ideal for balcony gardeners who want to brighten up a space which does not receive the sun all day. They are undemanding when it comes to watering and in fact may rot if given too much or when grown in too rich a potting soil. I just tidy mine up from time to time, removing spent leaves and take cuttings when they get too tall and leggy.

Miniature Regal Pelargonium

 Miniature Regal Pelargonium or 'Martha Washington'

Regal Pelargoniums are a classic "impulse buy" plant at a Nursery or Garden Centre and if you wait a few weeks as they finish the peak of their flowering there will be lots of discounted ones on offer.I picked up this miniature one last year and I have to admit it was fairly neglected, even kicked over on its side with snapped branches a few months back. I prefer these smaller compact varieties as the larger sorts often become quite straggly in the garden. Amongst the larger ones there are some fabulous colours available including near black and pure white as well as lots of rich purples, pinks, red and mauve. They make good seaside garden plants and grow happily in sandy soils with low water availability. Pruning by a third after flowering is recommended. If you prune them too hard into old wood they may not recover and re-shoot.

 The miniature varieties are also sometimes called 'Angel' or 'Pansy' Pelargoniums and the small crinkled leaves resemble P. crispum,from which they are thought to be derived in the early 19th Century; later re-developed in London in the 1930's and 1940's by a Mr Langley Smith. Unfortunately, without a proper label I can't be sure of the correct name for this little beauty.

Eranthemum pulchellum

 Eranthemum pulchellum (Acanthaceae)

Another old fashioned shrub about to be relegated to the horticultural dustbin of history? Well probably.This hardy and naturally well shaped shrub originates from India and grows to about 1.5 metres. It is happy to grow in spots such as dry shade under trees or in average to poor soil in sun. It starts to flower in late winter and is reaching its peak right now. Unfortunately it does not present well in a pot for the nursery trade and ends up looking a bit straggly and a bit dull, such is my experience. The small batch I have grown may have to be cut back and potted on to a large size pot, one where the cool blue flowers will be its selling point. Eranthemum is hardy across a range of climates and will tolerate light frost. Pruning after flowering helps maintain a compact shape. It was once known as Daedalacanthus nervosus.
2017 update: will propagate on request only.

Pelargonium 'Snowflake'

 Pelargonium 'Snowflake'

Just to confuse everyone,there are three or probably more scented leaf Pelargoniums which have the 'Snowflake' title. This is the Australian version which was bred by the late Mr Ted Both of South Australia who was a horticulturist and plant breeder of some renown by all accounts. It is a small shrubby plant and has large 'trilobed crenate' leaves which are well marked and flecked with creamy white. They have a fresh minty rose scent when crushed.

The American, Logee's Snowflake' is more of a spreading plant as it has the groundcover species capitatum as a parent, while 'Atomic Snowfake', also from the USA, has leaves edged with cream or yellow. It originated in Camden, Maine at the famous Merry Gardens Nursery of Mary Ellen Ross who specialized in scented Geraniums and herbs.

Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost'

 Euphorbia hypericifolia 'Diamond Frost'

photo:Cornell University School of Horticulture

'Diamond Frost' has become something of a garden classic in recent years. It ticks all the right boxes for general hardiness and sustainability and is long flowering in mild climates.

I admire its use in a garden I drive past from time to time. It is planted to great effect in some planter boxes near the entrance to a house which was built a few years ago in a fairly modern style. Perhaps I notice it more because it has been mass planted and you see a lovely sea of frothy white flowers against the hard edges of the building.

'Pendent Glorybower', Clerodendrum wallichi

 Clerodendrum wallichi syn C nutans (Verbenaceae)

A shrub 'designed' for a tropical downpour somewhere in India or Pakistan. Rain flowing down the channel of the linear-lanceolate leaves and out over the curved 'drip tip' while the enchanting flowers are floating free in a loose panicle protected individually by a sturdy calyx which changes colour from lime to coral as it ages. It's the 'Foot-long Sub' of flowering plants and these creamy white five petaled butterfly 'fans' have whiskery stamens which make them even more alluring. Phew!

 And now for the bad news. This is not a particularly hardy shrub outside the tropics. I have never grown it in the ground as from my past experience of growing it as a pot plant, it forgets to awake from a winter hibernation and remains leafless till early summer. During this dormancy it is vulnerable to root rot especially if it gets cold and wet, or if a wind chill factor brings the temperature very low. It requires a warm sheltered garden spot with moderately moist fertile soil which has been enriched with compost and kept free of weeds with thick mulch or leaf litter.

Pittosporum tenuifolium 'James Stirling'

 Pittosporum tenuifolium 'James Stirling' (Pittosporaceae)

The down side of a quick growing screening plant like this one is that it may end up being short lived and you are back to square one after just a few years. This plant has the reputation of suddenly turning up its toes especially in warm humid climates or when grown in heavy soils. One by one in a row they will go down without a fight. Of course the appeal of this shrub is the very fine foliage of silvery green clothing the black stems, though this is best when the plants are just a couple of metres tall, as mature specimens, of five metres or more, often become sparse of leaves and reveal a grey trunk and a tarnished sheen. 

A newer cultivar called 'Golf Ball', with its self explanatory name, is worth growing for those who like that touch of glossy silver in the garden on a neat compact plant. It makes an ideal container specimen or as a substitute for Buxus as a low border hedge, though, again, in warm climates it is probably better planted in a raised garden bed or planter box.
2017 update: Evidence suggests that cultivar 'Golf Ball' may revert to being a tall grower.