#Shrubs And #Perennials To Look Out For This May

Gardening is a confusing mind field of new plants introduced every year. I would liken it to the launch of a new album. Some stay on the shelf but some get forgotten and dusty.

A beautiful magnolia in the coffee courtyard

The magnolias have been gorgeous this year. This is Magnolia Leonard Messel.

We find with some new plants they are not hugely different from the original. I am referring to the vast array of Viburnum tinus varieties. 'Eve Price', 'Spirit', 'Gwendolin' and now 'Lisarose' which has recently appeared.


I presume them to more more compact in habit and slight variations in when they begin flowering. Lisarose is reputed to have a longer winter spring flowering period and  the buds are tinged with a deeper pink.

 

Viburnum tinus 'Lisarose'

All are great large evergreen shrubs or hedge plants with good spring blossom.

A new outstanding small evergreen new to us this year is Euonymus 'Paloma Blanca. A number of  euronymus have really striking white fresh growth just as the Photinia 'Red Robin has striking red shoots. This is the most outstanding I have seen.

Euonymus 'Paloma Blanca.

 It grows to about 50-70cm so it could make a very pretty little low hedge like we create with plants like box or sarcococca.

Just recently another new photina has appeared. Photina serratifolia 'Pink Crispy'

Photina 'Pink Crispy'

Vibrant red shoots on marbled foliage make it really stand out. It should make a reasonably large evergreen at 1.75m but as with all evergreens I would keep this pruned to a comfortable size and encourage compact growth. Photinias do have a habit of getting too large and its so much better to regularly prune them back and it will encourage the lovely colourful juvenile shoots with hold the rich colour.

We are all familiar with  Erysimumn Bowles Mauve a perennial wall flower developed by a relative a Camilla Parker Bowles. This is one of the most profusely flowering perennials. I find it  flowers almost continually for about three years and then its exhausted. It has no special requirement surviving really well in my heavy clay soil. I feel for that much colour its worth replacing and have done so on mass.

Erysimum Apricot Twist

 Suffice to say there are more perennial wall flowers not as yet as profuse as the purple but they are interesting and very colourful I feel worth a try as breeding is constantly improving.

Erysimum Red Jep

 Erysimum Red Jep and Apricot Twist are dwarf forms of about 30cm and require well drained soil and dead heading. The reviews are good.

Whilst we love flowers the unsung heroes of the plant world are the magnificent green ferns, frothy grasses, and study conifers.These tend to be overlooked when they are crucial to a good garden in my opion.

Catching my eye at the moment are some amazing conifers that I would just love in my garden. Take a little look at these two lollipop specimens in a range of grafted sizes starting about 4ft.

Pinus nigra Pierrich bregeon Brepo

Two of these either side of a door or path would make wonderful definite statement plants as an alternative to box, bay or olive. Scruffy formally! They plant beautifully near acer palmatum which is probably not surprising as they are important in Japanese planting schemes.I would class them as plants with character and they will become anchor plants in any garden.

Thuja plicata Whipchord

To some this thuja may just remind them of  a bad hair day! Its so tactile you have to touch its stringy form.

New to us this year you may have found our  pond and marginal plants departments. We have also set up beds for shade and scented plants and hope this is helpful. The fresh range of Herbs are out on new beds close to the shrub beds and you may have noticed we have some beautiful cloud trees. In case you have not come accross these before they are large evergreen shrubs shaped in the form of clouds, its a form of large topiary.

Osmanthus Cloud Tree

 They look incredibly dramatic in an architectural sense and can be planted in a container or in the garden just like any other shrub. We also have a substantial range of larger grown shrubs.

Whether your looking for summer bedding, vegetable plants, fruit trees,hedging, shrubs, ornamental trees, or beautiful perennial hopefully we've got it covered and you will not be disappointed and the coffee is good too!