Interesting Foliage

With cascading tassels of the most wonderful coral-pink. Amaranthus 'Coral Fountain' is a great addition to the garden and a superb filler for the vase. With generous treatment, specimens three or four feet or more with enormous drooping tassels of flowers can be obtained.

The blooms of Amaranthus caudatus 'Mira' have a unique ombre colour that transitions from light sage green, to lilac, to deep purple. The trailing locks are like jeweled necklaces, thick, pendulous tassels that extend 60 to 90cm long. They add exceptional texture and visual interest to gardens and floral designs alike.

Amaranthus 'Hot Biscuits' is a rather splendid ornamental addition to the garden and the vase. This gorgeous and graceful amaranth feature bold spikes of coppery-bronze branching plumes. They make an excellent cut flower and make exciting vase material that hold their colour longer than other amaranths.

Amaranthus tricolour is grown for its beautiful foliage. 'Summer Poinsettia Mix' is a colourful mix of tropical splendors. Juicy colour combinations: deep green leaves topped with creamy chartreuse, vivid yellow, purple with red, and a tricolor mix of red, green and gold.

With a range of interesting colours, heights and textures, annual ornamental grasses are very easy to grow. Many have graceful, pendant, nodding flowers which are extremely useful in the garden and are a dream for flower arrangers.

Bergenia cordifolia is one of the most useful of all plants and worthy of a place in any garden. No other plant offers such quality, glossy, evergreen foliage at ground level. This sturdy plant can be planted in groups as ground cover, for edging borders or to provide a foil for delicate foliage plants.

Canna 'Large Flowered Hybrids' create an undeniably tropical look, producing large flowers in hot colours in yellow, gold, fiery orange and red. With their lush tropical foliage and showy flowers they make borders and beds come alive with their bright colours all summer long until first frosts.

Amazon Mist is a graceful ornamental grass with arching silver white evergreen foliage, each ending with a slight curl. The flowing mounds of fine textured are lovely spilling over slopes and walls. It adds colour and texture to both summer and autumn displays.

Carex pendula is a woodland plant of considerable charm with long arching leaves and erect stems that bear long drooping green flowers. Suitable for full sun, in shade, wet or dry, it is a great plant for tough conditions, it will even tolerate heavy soil and permanently wet soil.

Carex Prairie Fire is an outstanding specimen plant. A very ornamental grass, in full sun the fine leaved foliage erupts into colour like burning embers. In late summer, panicles of rosy flowers appear just above the foliage. For glorious colour, plant in full sun to partial shade.

Over the past few years, the new breeding of Coleus has exploded them into hundreds of wild and crazy types of colours and forms. Overwhelmingly the favourite is the Kong series for its sheer presence, each leaf is easily as big as your palm, and probably twice as large as the next biggest Coleus you can buy.

This wonderful Victorian type coleus ‘Black Dragon’ forms a riot of rumpled leaves in velvety purplish black leaves, each bordered by frilly edges. The ruby red centres are sometimes flecked with violet or pink. Easy to grow from seed, they will show their first colours in as little as two weeks.

Coleus have been perfected, the new varieties have colours that intensify in sun, but can also thrive in shade. “Coral Sunrise” is an excellent example of the new developments, The beautiful coral pink heart-shaped leaves have neatly serrated edges, with shades of olive and intense bright green margins.

Cyperus alternifolius is a very popular both as a house plant and pond plant. The bracts are symmetrically arranged in an umbrella formation and held atop elegant stems that sway with the breeze, giving a tropical touch to the garden. They are also excellent when used in fresh or dried floral arrangements.

Deschampsia cespitosa is a lovely variety of ornamental grass especially valued for it’s tall flower plumes. The sprays of airy delicate flowers, eventually changing to bronze add texture and colour to the winter garden and deliver a knock-out punch to cut-flower arrangements.

'Pixie Fountain' is a dwarf variety of Deschampsia cespitosa, just as pretty as its larger cousin. The flower stems growing to a height of 60cm. Perfect for many situations, adding dimension, texture, and a breezy quality to the garden.

Fullers Teasel a sub-species of the common teasel. The bristly flower heads were cultivated, matured and dried. Inserted into wooden frames, they were used to bulk up the pile on woolen cloth. The variant name 'fullonum' refers to the name of the trade of the 'fullers' to raise the nap on woolen cloth - to 'tease' it. Teasel is still used today by some who weave wool by hand.