Postage : Seeds only $4 / Plants $20
Rosettes of paddle shaped, waxy looking leaves, spicily fragrant when crushed, slowly form large colonies from which arise slender stemmed, pure white, cone centred flowers that stain red with age and vaguely resemble an Anemone or Echinacea.
Both beautiful and seemingly delicate, it is native to seeps and springs in the deserts of the North American South West and is perfectly at home with blistering heat, frost, salinity and periodic drying out. Practically indestructible, "the" pond/dam plant for gardens where lesser aquatics fail and a beautiful addition to water gardens everywhere else. For shallow water or even a moist spot in the garden.
Cut to ground level once the foliage has died back in autumn to make way for the new seasons growth..
Not to be confused with Anemonopsis the delicate woodland plant.
A vigorous, clumping, Winter dormant perennial. Strong, square, stiffly erect stems, bear pairs of dark green, softly textured, sharply toothed, broadly lance shaped leaves which are strongly scented of licorice. All Summer and Autumn fat spikes of purple, tubular flowers are borne in great profusion to the delight of many nectar feeding insects.
Cut to the ground in Autumn or enjoy the seed heads over Winter.
Great for the tall border, or the back of a shorter one, perhaps with Salvia azurea and Monarda fistulosa.
The fast growing mounds of leaves in Spring are alone, enough to make it worthy of garden space.
Not quite as vigorous as the species the chartreuse coloured leaves of this variety make it all the more valuable as a foliage plant.
Try a few in a bed of Delphinium ‘Blue Butterfly’ and Nepeta subsessilis for cool effect, add a backdrop of Humulus lupulus ‘Aureus’ (Golden hop) and Ipomoea ‘Scarlett O'Hara’ for a little more oomph.
A culinary herb grown throughout Europe and much of Asia the fresh leaves, flowers and stems are typically used to flavour fish and vegetables, in soups and of course to flavour Dill pickles. The dried seeds can be used in a similar fashion, store well and so are available for use year round.
A very hardy, winter growing annual in Perth and best scratched in directly where it is to grow in autumn or early winter when the weather has cooled down, irrigation is unnecessary. Colder regions may have to resort to spring sowing. The rosette of soft, feathery, glaucous leaves elongates on a stiff hollow stem over the course of the growing season to be topped in spring by branching, flat, umbrella-like heads of soft sulphur yellow flowers. Attractive and lends a little whimsy to any garden.
The dried seed heads can remain attractive long after the seeds have fallen or been collected.
Self sows freely in any bare soil that receives copious sunshine. If you can resist eating it all you too can have a self sustaining population.
A stiff mounding shrub with lacy, grey-green leaves surrounding reddish stems. Upright when young becoming denser and shrubbier with annual pruning to remove the wand-like stems of pale sulphur, button-like flowers which offer little interest other than than seasonally pleasing vertical accent. Found wild through much of southern Europe and the Mediterranean.
Quite dark in active growth during the cooler months, greyer in summer, it can make a stunning counterpoint to silver leaved plants and offers potential for clipping into fuzzy balls, low informal hedges or parterre.
Perfectly hardy to heat, drought and frost in any well drained soil with maximum sun. Too much shade, moisture or rich soil turns it into a pointless green thing.
Might actually be A. camphorata if such a thing exists.
Seemingly not very exciting this evergreen from Chile forms a semi-lax shrub whose stiff, slender branches are loosely clothed with small, wavy, elliptic, satiny, green leaves and carry short panicles of small, tubular, white flowers. Though quietly appealing it is the fallen foliage that emits a pleasing curry like aroma when crushed or walked on that makes it an attractive low input candidate for planting besides paths or seating areas in formal or informal gardens.
Easily grown in any well drained but not too rich or moist soil in all but the most exposed sites. Appreciates a little summer water in Perth but in cooler regions should be fine with none. Prunes well and could even make an informal hedge but is otherwise happy to be left alone for many years.
A mound forming, densely clumping, woody rootstocked, evergreen perennial, extremely tolerant of dry soils and exposure. Whorls of rich blue-mauve flowers, held along slender stems, are borne profusely throughout the warmer months. Cut to the ground anytime it is looking tatty and you will quickly be rewarded with a new crop of the heart shaped, toothed, grey green leaves.
A superior plant, of better colour and habit than the generic seed raised N. faassenii commonly encountered and which regrettably seem to have ruined the reputation of Catmints in this country.
A garden staple.
(Gold Rosemary) An evergreen, woody shrub. Linear, glossy, gold and green, silver backed, highly aromatic, leaves, surround erect woody, branching stems. Throughout the year tubular, pale blue flowers are produced. Tolerant of most soil, provide good drainage. Leaves are used in cooking. Slow growing, but a nice change from the regular Rosemary.
A handsome sage demanding a hot, dry, exposed position where it will form a long lived, low woody shrub, clothed in intense silvery white lance shaped leaves. In spring thousands of small white flowers in dense tapering heads tower over the foliage on sturdy stems up to 2m high. The entire plant is highly aromatic, some might say pungent, smelling to me not unlike burnt rubber but considered lovely by many, especially bees who find the flowers irresistible.
Easily among the best silver foliaged plants of all time, although it really is more white than silver.
Try an un-irrigated super silver garden with others such as Centaurea cineraria, Epilobium canum subsp. canum and Salvia dorrii.
Superb on road verges or against rammed earth walls where it looks right at home.
Water until established and then at your own risk, an occasional summer watering is beneficial. Otherwise tolerant of any well drained soil.
Best on the west coast. Not suitable for areas with high summer humidity (coastal Sydney northwards) but should fair well in the less humid interior.