Aquilegia
Featured plant of September 2005 |
This hardy perennial with fern like mid green leaves, has bi-coloured flowers at the end of long stems that make excellent cut flowers.
Excellent wild flower or for cottage gardens, especially when planted en masse.
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Balloon flower
Featured plant of May 2005 |
This summer perennial is so named because its buds swell up like a balloon before opening.
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Begonia |
This is a large genus of plants growing on the forrest floor.
Tuberous begonias are grown for their showy flowers but most of the other are grown for their attractive foliage.
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Bird of Paradise |
The unusual looking flowers of this South African perennial earned it the name Bird of Paradise.
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California poppy |
This annual from California produces brightly coloured cup-shapped flowers in the spring.
The flowers only open in full sun.
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Campanula |
Campanula is a varied genus of annual, biennial and perennial plants.
Most have bell or turbular flowers with 5 petals.
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Cape Primrose |
Streptocarpus is a large genus of plants, found in South Africa.
The rosette forming perennial species are the parents of the modern day hybrids.
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Cleome |
This annual produces lots of flowers at the end of tall stems.
The buds and young flowers are dark pink, fading to almost white as the flower ages.
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Crinum |
A large perennial from Japan, this crinum grows bunches of white spidery flowers.
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English Wallflower |
This short lived perennial produces fragrant flowers with yellow, orange, pink, red or purple hues.
A very easy to grow hardy plant, it will self seed and is for the border, cottage, or wildflower garden.
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Forget Me Not |
This dainty short lived wetland perennial produces masses of flowers in the Spring.
The flowers can be pink, blue or white.
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Foxglove
Featured plant of January 2006 |
In the Spring, Foxglove grows a tall spike, with bell shapped flowers that have markings to guide landing bees.
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Geum - yellow |
This relative of the strawberry flowers all year long.
The yellow flowers are produced in a short racemes from the crown.
It is a very good ground cover, with time spreading to a large area, but is not overly invasive.
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Giant Geranium
Featured plant of November 2004 |
This half-hardy aromatic biennial with deeply cut snowflake shapped leaves is the largest geranium.
In spring, the flower head grows to 150cm tall and 80 cm across, with hundreds of pinky-purple flowers.
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Giant Taro |
This arum grows the world's largest undivided leaf, up to 3 metres in length, and the stems grow to 2 metres.
Cream coloured flowers appear in the Summer, followed by green "fruits" with bright red berries.
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Lily of the Valley |
Deciduous perennial that produces fragrant, delicate, white, bell shaped flowers in the spring.
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Linaria |
Linaria is group of annuals and perennials related to snapdragons and have flowers with the characteristic snapdragon spur.
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Lipstick Plant |
This trailing indoor plant is so named because when its flower bud is growing out of the bract, it looks like a lipstick being pushed out of its case.
An easy to grow indoor plant, the succulent leaves store water and the plant can withstand drying out.
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Lobelia |
A large genus of small and giant annuals and perennials.
Commonly grown are bedding lobelia and the cardinal flower.
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Lupins |
Russell lupins is a perennial bred by George Russell for colour.
Tall stately spikes of bi-coloured flowers appear in the spring.
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Nemesia |
An annual that produces masses of flowers in many different colours.
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Pelargonium |
Pelargonium is a genus of shrubby plants that is grown for their scented leaves.
Zonal pelargoniums are grown for their flowers and have been bred to produce different forms and colours.
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Penstemon |
This easy to grow plant requires minimal maintenance.
The tubular flowers are normally white, blue, violet, purple, pink, magenta, red and very rarely, yellow.
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Poached Egg Flower
Featured plant of January 2007 |
This soggy ground tolerant annual is ideal for filling in space or as a general ground cover.
The flowers are white with a dark yellow centre, and hence the common name.
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Pulmonaria |
This pretty little perennial has leaves spotted white and is suitable for the darker corners of the garden.
From Spring through Summer, it produces small bell-shaped blue flowers that start out as pink buds.
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Red Hot Poker |
This hardy perennial is a favourite of old gardens.
Its yellow/orange flower spikes appear in the Spring and Summer and looks like a "red hot poker".
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Salvia (Sage) |
Salvia is a large genus of annual and perennial plants belonging to the mint family.
Most have fragrant leaves, and a few, such as Sage (Salvia officinalis) and Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans) are used as herbs.
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Sisyrinchium californicum |
This hardy perennial is a primitive iris that grows to only 20cm tall.
It produces masses of star shapped yellow flowers in late Spring and Summer.
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Snapdragon |
Snapdragons are so named because the flowers resemble the face of a dragon and the "mouth" opens and closes as the flower is squeezed.
They come in a variety of colours and sizes, from dwarf cultivars, eg. Tom Thumb, to full sized originals.
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Spathiphyllum |
Spathiphyllum is a very easy to grow indoor plant that is also very forgiving.
It tolerates very dark conditions, but flowering will decrease.
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Sweet Williams |
This hardy biennial / short-lived perennial grows as small compact plants, suitable for containers.
The white / pink / red bi-coloured flowers appear to cover most of the plant.
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Tillandsia cyanea |
This epiphyte from Ecuador is one of the most popular commercial Tillandsias.
Every year thousands of plants are produced for the pot plant trade.
It is a relatively easy to grow indoor plant, requiring the occassional watering when the plant is dry.
Good light is needed for flowering.
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Venus Fly Trap |
This carnivorous plant grows in swamps that are poor in nutrients and needs to trap insects for supplemental nitrogen.
The insects are caught in a trap (actually a modified leaf) that quickly springs shut when trigger hairs are touched.
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Verbascum |
Verbascum arcturus comes from the island of Crete in the Mediterranean.
It grows as a rosette of leaves which sends up a flower spike in the spring.
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