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Postage : Seeds only $4 / Plants $20

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  • Nemophila
    • maculata   CAG02448

      (Fivespot)
      Nemophila maculata
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE
      SEEDS

      A lovely self seeding Californian annual with clumps of scalloped, pale green, ferny leaves. Bearing throughout spring a profusion of white, saucer shaped flowers, of which each of five petals proudly wears a purple spot near it's tip. The apt moniker of Fivespot needs no explanation at the sight of a single flower.

      Scratch seeds into bare sunny soil during autumn or early winter.

      Light shade is tolerated and may lengthen flowering.

      Excellent in pots as an alternative to, or in combination with, Pansies and Violas.

      Each packet contains 50+ seeds minimum.

    • menziesii   CAG02519

      (Baby blue eyes)
      Nemophila menziesii
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE
      SEEDS

      A dainty looking garden treasure, easily grown and self seeding. A winter growing Californian annual well suited to life in Perth gardens. The baby blue, white throated, saucer shaped flowers are borne abundantly over soft green rosettes of pinnate leaves.

      While undeniably pretty it is perhaps at its very best in combination with other hardy Californian annuals, Eschscholzia, Limnanthes, Collinsia, Phacelia etc. either in the garden or in pots.

      Scratch into bare, well drained soil in autumn or early winter where they should self sow in following years.

      Each pack contains, at the bare minimum, 50+ seeds.

  • Phacelia
  • Salvia

    (Sage)
    Lamiaceae

    A genus whose popularity has risen exponentially in recent times. Offering a diverse range of form and colour there is a Salvia for nearly every garden situation with more and more being discovered and described all the time. The count now stands somewhere in excess of 1000, including subspecies, according to The Plant List. They are found on every continent except Antarctica.

    From a gardeners perspective they can not all be treated the same, they come from many different climates after all, but as a rule of thumb can be grouped into winter rainfall and summer rainfall species and with few exceptions they all prefer well drained soil.

    Soft leaved species from Central and South America are usually autumn and winter flowering. Coming from summer rainfall areas they typically need protection from dry heat and the accompanying high light intensity and they vary in their tolerance of winter damp. As with most plants the larger the leaves the more water they require, this also dictates how fast they grow with many growing several metres in a single season.

    Species from south western North America, South Africa, the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands are all winter growers and are tolerant or demanding of dry heat and summer drought. Slower growing but usually longer lived these all tend to have small, densely haired, silver or grey leaves or a combination of these traits which help them conserve moisture. Most of these require no additional water in Perth and are well adapted to our climate. They tend tend to flower from spring into summer.


    Prune back to where vigorous new basal growth is seen, never to dead wood, they appear to store little food in their stems and without leaves stand a chance of starving to death or at least struggle to regenerate. The exception is those few that are tuberous or clump forming, these can be cut to ground level once the stems start dying back in late autumn.
    • apiana   CAG02005

      (White sage)
      Salvia apiana
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      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.

    • dorrii var. pilosa   CAG02627

      (purple sage, Desert sage)
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      Pungently scented, silver spoon shaped leaves clothe the cork barked branches of this low growing shrub, adaptations that no doubt help it survive the harsh environment of its home in the deserts of south west North America. In spring slender spikes bear tiered whorls of sapphire blue flowers emerging from rosy bracts.

      A plant of rare beauty it is intolerant of wet feet and summer humidity, much preferring extremes heat, drought and cold preferably in sand or other poor sharply drained soil. Moist coastal gardens will invariable prove fatal as will mulch and soil improver.

    • pachyphylla   CAG02284

      (Mountain desert sage, Blue sage, Rose sage, Purple sage)
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      Luminous blue-mauve tubular flowers emerge from whorls of rich rosy pink bracts tiered on erect spikes atop a low mound of, highly aromatic, silvery white spoon shaped leaves crowding stiff woody stems.

      One of the most spectacular members of the genus, from the high semi-deserts of California and surrounds and so strictly for drier inland gardens, with their more favourable extremes of heat and cold, where it will prove exceptionally hardy and very long lived. Excellent drainage is essential, with constant moisture, warmth and humidity tolerated only briefly. An occasional summer drink is appreciated but perhaps no more than once a month.

  • Yucca
    • brevifolia   CAG01987

      (Joshua tree)
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      As seen on TV and so synonymous with the wild west and deserts in general to perhaps be considered little more than a cliché among those unfamiliar with its grandeur and natural habitat in the Mojave Desert.

      Rigid, blue-green, lance-like leaves encircle a thick trunk, becoming bare and fissured with age, eventually branching to form a tree like canopy increasing in splendour with passing centuries to appear prehistoric or alien-like. In maturity dense panicles of creamy-white flowers are borne from the tips of its branches.

      Seemingly quite growable given rapidly draining, lean soil and the occasional drink. The indulgent conditions of cultivation should see a decent sized specimen within a lifetime though with a large root system it is likely to amount to no more than a bonsai if kept potted too long. We'll collaborate success stories in a few decades.

      Ultimately hardy to heat, cold and drought, if it dies you smothered a family heirloom with inappropriate love.

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