Greenhouse & Conservatory

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.

The neatest Coleus to come along in quite a while, 'Chocolate Mint' offers rich cocoa coloured foliage with a mint-green scalloped edge. A 'Premium Sun' variety, they perform at their best in a position of full sun and are quite heat and drought tolerant outdoors. The leaves are very uniform, turn them over and they gleam bright mint. Scrumptious!

Coleus 'Coral Candy' features a new plant form - narrow, serrated leaves that gracefully drape down the mounded plants. The first seed raised coleus to ever win the coveted AAS Winner designation - AAS Judges noted that this beautiful variety holds its colour well, even when grown in full sun and holds up nicely in the autumn.

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.

Ten years back coleus were gaudy relics from Grandmother's generation, but now coleus are back and teetering on the cutting edge. “Wizard Sunset” is one of the softer colours from the Wizard series, with heart-shaped leaves in beautiful shades of bronze - apricot. Excellent in full sun.

Luffa acutangula is a very versatile plant. As a vegetable, the leaves can be eaten in a salad, the very young gourds, known as Chinese Okra they taste like aubergine. The matured dried gourd develops into a fibrous netting. It is an excellent sponge and makes a wonderful exfoliator.

The development of bananas is a source of both pride and amazement to those unfamiliar with banana culture. Musa acuminata is a 'dwarf variety' with broad, long, graceful leaves, and is extremely suitable for containers or gardens.

Musa Balbisiana is a fruit bearing variety and one of the progenitors of the present-day commercial bananas. The clumps of lush, dark foliage make it ideal for creating a jungle landscape. It develops large colourful inflorescence of bright red and maroon.

A Passiflora that produces very fragrant, unusual flowers. The flowers are white, except the base of the corona which is purple; the filaments are curly, as long as the petals, 5 to 7cm across. The edible fruits possess pleasant flavour, kind of sweet and a little tart.

Pepper ‘Picante a Mazzetti’ produces attractive cone shaped, chillies which grow vertically with many fruits per bunch. known as 'Bouquet di Peperoncini', they mature to a festive, deep scarlet red, and have a multitude of ornamental as well as edible uses. Sown May to June they will produce fruits in perfect time for Christmas.

Ricinus communis 'Carmencita' is an outstanding new variety with shiny dark brown foliage. The palmate leaves have deeply incised lobes and grow 30 to 75cm (12 to 30in) across. The plants have red stems and in late summer clusters of bright red blooms are followed by stunning scarlet seeds pods.

Rosularia is a rosette forming succulent that closely resemble other Crassulaceae such as Sempervivum and Echeveria. It distinguishes itself in spring time when the small green clusters change to a vibrant rich reddish tone. Rare yet hardy, they are seldom seen other than in specialist nurseries or rock garden collections.

Delicate in appearance and yet very cold hardy, Sedum acre is beautiful from the first stirrings of early spring to the twilight of autumn. Hardy and very easy to grow. Started early it will form a nice dense ground cover the very first season. If the weather is favourable it will flower within six months.

Sedum album is one of the most popular forms of sedum, known for its dense foliage as it changes colour throughout the seasons. The leaves emerge a coral-salmon in spring, change to bright green in summer and then to reddish bronze with the arrival of cooler temperatures. In summer the plants explode in masses of tiny, white star-shaped flowers.

Sedum forsterianum ‘Silver Stone’ is one of the more unusual textured species, with whorls of silver-green foliage. In late summer bright yellow star shaped flowers appear. This low-growing succulent plant grows to a height of 15 to 20cm, extremely hardy it can cope with temperatures down to minus 34°C.