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  • Dianthus

    (Pink, Sweet william, Carnation)
    Caryophyllaceae

    The commonly encountered garden varieties are European plants of garden antiquity grown for their attractive, often perfumed, flowers which pick well. They are on the whole easily grown but demand excellent drainage and plenty of sun and are ideally suited to poor, dryer, well drained, alkaline soils. They are often encountered overgrown and root bound, tucked away in the shade, to which they are intolerant, and once purchased are good naturedly smothered with too much "good" garden practice.


    Pinks are known to all by name, which they lent to the colour, if not in person. Classic perennials of English cottage gardens. They have extensive root systems and most varieties offered are quite hardy in Perth with a good drink once a week over summer. They invariably have narrow, glaucous foliage resistant to dry air and high light intensity.

    Sweet williams (Dianthus barbatus) are biennials that will often persist for several years and typically have tall stems bearing clusters of small fringed flowers. They have broader leaves and require a bit softer conditions than the Pinks. The Nigrescens group seem the hardiest of the bunch and can become quite shrubby, potted colour varieties, often sold by the punnet, are worth growing but usually amount to little more than tender annuals.

    Carnations (Dianthus caryophyllus). Those developed for the cut flower market are mostly ugly plants needing support and are best left to the dedicated enthusiast or florist. Better garden plants are the seldom seen border carnations, they have the same beautiful flowers of the florist types but are less gawky, don't need staking, are often perfumed and are almost as hardy as the pinks.
  • Dimorphotheca
    • sinuata   CAG02862

      (African daisy)
      Height30cmWidth20cmFlowering SeasonSpringWaterLLightFull Sun
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE
      SEEDS

      An easy to grow, very showy, winter annual from our geographically disparate climate cousin Namaqualand. Dark eyed, soft orange to apricot daisy flowers are copiously produced above leafy clumps of light silvery green, narrowly lobed leaves.

      Well adapted to poor sandy soil but happy in anything that is not too wet. In autumn or early winter scratch in or lightly cover seeds where they are to grow in as sunny position as possible and where they will hopefully reseed for coming years. Add an Ostrich or an Oryx or two for extra realism.

      Each pack contains 50+ seeds.

  • Echium
    • candicans   CAG00231
      Height2mWidth2mFlowering SeasonSpringWaterL - MLightFull Sun
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      A medium evergreen shrub tolerant of dry conditions. Rosettes of lance shaped silver-green foliage are produced on woody branches to form a dense mound. In spring fat spikes of brilliant blue flowers appear from the centre of each rosette. Excellent.

    • simplex   CAG02330
      Height3mWidth1mFlowering SeasonSpringWaterLLightSun
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      One of the most exemplary of the genus, from the centre of its huge, solitary rosette of silvery green, lance shaped leaves, erupts a towering spire of densely crowded white flowers. This awe inspiring display proves fatal but self sown seedlings usually appear in bare soil the following winter and which after two or three years growth repeat the performance.

      Native to the island of Tenerife in the Canaries and at home in well drained alkaline soil or even not too damp clay. Summer rainfall/irrigation unnecessary. Easy. Line your drive or verge to create a head turning traffic hazard.

      Mostly resistant to the leaf miners and stem borers introduced to control E. plantagineum (Paterson's curse) and which often mar other species.

  • Eschscholzia
  • Euphorbia
    • characias ‘Portuguese Velvet’   CAG02300
      Height60cmWidth1mFlowering SeasonSpringWaterLLightSun - L. Sh.
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      An evergreen shrub forming a low mound of dark blue-green, velvety in appearance and feel, lance shaped leaves in whorls around succulent red stems. Acid green bracts containing tiny red flowers form compact heads which nod above the foliage in spring. Each branch flowers only once, so when spent remove them just above the point of new growth to keep the plant looking fresh and prime, or wait till after the seed has dropped for a healthy crop of seedlings.

      Needs little if any additional water over summer and is quite happy in some shade, great for hiding the feet of a gawky rose.

      A friendlier feeling plant than typical E. characias being lower, softer and considerably smaller in all it's parts.

  • Ferula
    • communis subsp. glauca   CAG02099

      (Giant fennel)
      Height3mWidth1mFlowering SeasonSp - SuWaterLLightFull Sun
      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).

  • Freesia
    • laxa ‘Joan Evans’   CAG02305
      Height25cmWidth20cmFlowering SeasonSpringWaterL - MLightSun
      Freesia laxa ‘Joan Evans’
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      A charming, small, winter growing South African bulb that makes tight clumps of pale green grass-like leaves and bears a profusion of small orchid like flowers on branching scapes.
      This form has white flowers with scarlet markings.

      Dormant over Summer and then in no need of water all that is demanded is good drainage and it should self seed happily, slowly forming colonies among low ground covers, between rocks, in a pot or used as an edging in no water Mediterranean gardens.

  • Gaura
    • lindheimeri   CAG00250
      Height1.2mWidth90cmFlowering SeasonSp - AuWaterL - MLightFull Sun
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      A tough, hardy, clumping perennial, for full sun. One of the easiest plants to grow. Mounds of narrow, dark green, red spotted leaves produce, throughout the warmer months, tall wands of delicate white butterfly shaped flowers that sway in the slightest breeze.
      After flowering, or any time it's in need of a clean up, cut back to ground level. It will quickly regrow.

      An etremely tough plant tolerating all sorts of physical abuse (eg. being driven over, mowed, poisoned etc.) as well as complete summer dryness.
      Generally self seeds where happy, so cut back before seed fall if you find this undesirable.

    • lindheimeri Pink   CAG00251
      Height80cmWidth80cmFlowering SeasonSp - AuWaterL - MLightFull Sun
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      A tough, hardy, clumping perennial, for full sun. One of the easiest plants to grow. Mounds of narrow, spotted, red to green leaves produce, throughout the warmer months, tall wands of lipstick pink, butterfly shaped flowers that sway in the slightest breeze.
      After flowering, or any time it's in need of a clean up, cut back to ground level. It will quickly regrow.

      An etremely tough plant tolerating all sorts of physical abuse (eg. being driven over, mowed, poisoned etc.) as well as complete summer dryness.
      Generally self seeds where happy, so cut back before seed fall if you find this undesirable.

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