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  • Furcraea
    • foetida   CAG01463

      (Mauritias hemp, Giant cabuya)
      $12.00earn 60 points

      A fast growing, sensationally hardy garden sculpture, also useful as a source of low grade fibre for ropes and twine around the home. The single three metre wide symmetrical rosette of stiffly held, sword-like, green, leathery leaves produces, in maturity (typically 3-5 years), a towering seven metre tall many branched flower spike that bears hundreds of pendant, greenish-cream, goblet-like flowers followed by plump bulbils that are easily detached and replanted for large scale greenscaping. As it is monocarpic (it dies after flowering) it can be useful for temporary fill or scale while more permanent plants are still growing or else replace it with one of its progeny for greater dynamics.

      All the glory of a large Agave without the time commitment, sans spines and suckering.

      From South America and the Caribbean and looking equally at home in xeric, mediterranean or tropical styled gardens. Unkillable in any soil that receives at least a few drinks a year. Tolerant of light frosts. Survives shade and/or copious water but will be prone to toppling when in flower.

      A pitiful pot subject unless it can get its roots in the ground.

  • Agave
    • gypsophila   CAG02440
    • vivipara var. marginata   CAG02018
      Agave vivipara var. marginata
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      A quick growing variety, small enough for a large pot but large enough to make a statement, with a stiff almost harsh demeanour, useful for stark architectural style or high contrast with softer forms, especially so in groups.

      Sparse, slightly taller than spherical rosettes of very rigid, long, tapering, glaucous green leaves, generously edged with cream variegation, short, dark, marginal teeth and terminating in a short black spine.

      Spreads moderately by underground stolons and such colonies are particularly attractive but need appropriate space.

      Individual rosettes produce after many (10+) years a spectacular tree like inflorescence, the remains of which are often used in floral art, bearing thousands of erect, yellow green, tubular flowers, in tight clusters, which are much loved by nectar feeding birds and insects, and then rapidly decline and die to be succeeded by younger offsets or bulbils.

  • Echinops
    • bannaticus ‘Taplow Blue’   CAG01749

      (Globe thistle)
      Echinops bannaticus ‘Taplow Blue’
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      Tennis ball sized metallic blue spheres project on frosted stalks from a mound of jagged, rich green, white backed leaves. Geometrically superior to less ambitious plants and every designers dream companion for soft flowing grasses.

      A clump forming perennial from south eastern Europe easily grown in any sunny, well drained soil, preferring some dryness over summer but occasional irrigation is essential for positive growth. The only Globe Thistle that I have so far tested that performs reliably in our climate, even in clay, though light or stony soils are more to its liking.

      Typically winter dormant it will however remain in growth and flower if the opportunity presents.

  • Ferula
    • communis subsp. glauca   CAG02099

      (Giant fennel)
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      A spectacle.
      From a stiff brooding mound of feathery, dark green, waxy leaves, radiating on stout stalks, thrusts a towering asparagus like stem, 3m or more, bearing large globular clusters of tiny, acid yellow flowers followed by clustered whorls of flattened seeds. This startling display requires three or four years of growth, accumulating energy in its fleshy taproot, before it is produced after which the plant, having exhausted itself, typically dies. Adventitious seedlings usually appear the following winter and you once again get to admire the fabulous foliage while anticipating the next hurrah.

      From limestone soils in the Mediterranean, summer dormant and utterly drought loving it tolerates richer and moister garden conditions but is perhaps most enjoyable and spectacular in barren, well drained, exposed sites where other less impressive plants have failed.

      Quite toxic, unlike its less bold but more commonly encountered cousin Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare).

  • Nolina
    • longifolia   CAG02825

      (Mexican grass tree)
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      Essentially a blueish leaved more drought loving version of the familiar Ponytail palm (Beaucarnea recurvata) with a less rotund trunk, fissured of bark and with much longer very pendant, almost linear leaves. A robust yet graceful feature specimen and probably a good subject for the largest of pots, surround with other succulents, chaparral type shrubs or tropicalesque foliage as desired.
      Large upright panicles of creamy white flowers add to the spectacle in maturity.
      br />From central Mexico but at least somewhat frost and drought tolerant. Expect it to be easily grown in any well drained sunny soil with occasional water through summer. Heat tolerance should be exceptional.

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