With all the focus on new-release plants and unusual or rare plants across the television shows, magazines and social media, there are so many great reliable garden staples that just get overlooked.
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These are plants that, over the years, have proven themselves time and again to be hardy, useful performers in the garden and still well worth considering when selecting your planting palette.
Here are just a few that you might have a look at on your next visit to the Garden Centre
Abelia grandiflora is a large bushy shrub with foliage from the ground up that will reach about 2.5 metres high and wide. The small glossy dark green leaves form a dense screen that sets a nice background for its clusters of clear white trumpet-shaped flowers that appear over a long period. The graceful arching new growth is a glossy bronze colour adding another feature to the plant over the growing season. Abelias are a good filler in the garden but also can be used as a quick growing hardy hedge or screen.
There are several older varieties on this plant that have proven themselves just as well. Abelia schumannii, a pink flowered form, Francis Mason, a slightly shorter variegated form, and Abelia grandiflora Nana, a dwarf form growing to about one metre high. These plants are often used in public gardens, commercial gardens and car parks due to their reliable, hardy nature.
Philadelphus mexicanus or the Mock Orange plant is a very much under-rated plant for the home garden. Thriving in a full sun to part shade position in the gardens, Mock Orange will grow to about 2m high. They produce beautiful white strongly fragrant flowers from spring through to early summer and sometimes again in autumn. The sweetly fragrant flowers smell like orange blossom and are produced in profusion over the mid green leaves. These plants are tough, and once established will survive periods of dryness and neglect.
Variegated Weigela is an old-fashioned carefree shrub that once established requires little more than a bit of a pruning and an occasional watering. They sit overlooked in the Garden Centre until they come into flower in spring with masses of rose-pink flowers that set off nicely against the green and gold variegated foliage. A deciduous shrub growing just over 2m high, they can be placed deep into the garden to become a real feature when flowering and a nice contrasting foliage in the background when not.
Choisya, commonly known as Mexican Orange Blossom.
Choisya ternata, commonly known as Mexican Orange Blossom, is an attractive evergreen shrub with glossy, aromatic foliage and profusion of fragrant white flowers. The leaves are quite leathery and glossy, giving the plant a lush appearance. In spring, clusters of fragrant white flowers that look like orange blossoms appear, leading to its common name of orange blossom. It thrives in full sun to partial shade, growing to about 1.5m high, but they will not tolerate wet soil.
Golden Diosma.
Golden Diosma is a great old favourite that never seems to go out of demand. The very fine golden foliage over a lime green undergrowth can add a good impact of colour to the garden. The small star-shaped pink flowers, which can appear a few times a year, are really just an added bonus to the colour it adds to the garden. Gently brushing the foliage will release a subtle pleasant fragrance that will linger in the garden for a while. They prefer a reasonable sunny spot in well-drained soil and for best results give them a trim over two or three times a year to keep them neat and compact. Golden Diosma, or Coleonema Aureum as it is more correctly known, will grow to about 1.2m high and around the same in width.
China Pink is a beautiful evergreen shrub.
Loropetalum chinense China Pink is a beautiful evergreen shrub that is known for its vibrant pink fringed flowers and attractive jade green flushed burgundy foliage. The flowers appear in abundance in spring and continue sporadically throughout the year. It forms a large slightly layered bushy shrub that thrives in full sun to partial shade. Often used as feature plant or trimmed as a hedge, they will grow to about 2m and 1.5m wide.
Polygala grandiflora is a fast-growing, hardy evergreen shrub that flowers almost all year round with vibrant purple pea-like flowers. Polygalas are very versatile shrubs or small trees depending on how you trim them when they are young. They can be grown as feature plants, trimmed as hedges, grown as tub plants or pruned into small shade trees. They love full sun to partial shade and quite a varied range of soil types, making them an ideal choice for a wide range of uses in the garden, but still often overlooked.
So next time you are looking for plants for your garden don’t just be led by all the hype, have a wander through the Garden Centre or ask one of our crew to show you some of these old faithful proven performers.
