This is a small tree, growing up to 5M if left un-pruned. Deep purple foliage in summer, turning brilliant red in the autumn.
Magnificent autumn colour that glows in sunlight. It is an elegant plant through the summer, but you grow it for that three weeks a year when it really takes the breath away.
Click here to view the Acer palmatum “Bloodgood” page in Karin’s Garden.
A low growing, tuberous plant that flowers for six months from early autumn. Outlandish flowers have recurved pink petals, forming a shuttlecock shape. This plant is a real jewel during the colder months in Karin’s Garden.
These Cyclamen hybrids seems to love Karin’s Garden. They provide vibrant flashes of colour when many other plants are fading towards autumn. You can even have the florists Cyclamen, Cyclamen persicum, if you have well protected spots, possibly close to the house.
Click here to view the Cyclamen x “Violet” page in Karin’s Garden.
This plant forms a rounded bush up to 4M tall with a relatively open habit. Racemes of bright yellow flowers, the colour and texture of buttercup petals, from autumn through winter. S. corymbosa is included in this section as, though it can grow to 4M, it is really a bush and not a tree under a normal pruning regime.
This is a fantastic addition to any garden, providing a joyous display of buttercup yellow blossom for a long period through winter.
Click here to view the Senna corymbosa “John Ball” page in Karin’s Garden.
This is a bush that grows up to 3M. Vivid royal purple flowers born over a long period, over lush evergreen velvet leaves.
The flower colour alone would justify its inclusion in many gardens. In Karin’s Garden its flowers come in flushes over about six months of the year. It can be grown as a hedge, but it is better grown as a specimen where you can prune it in sympathy with the flowering.
Click here to view the Tibouchina grandiflora page in Karin’s Garden.
This is a lax open perennial herbaceous plant, growing up to 1M forming a creeping clump from spreading rhizomes. Extraordinary, sculptural, orchid-like flowers; with both the petals and anthers bearing purple spots.
T. formosana brings a wildly exotic feel to any garden. Yet it is a reliable, hardy, tough performer once established. You just need the right woodland-style setting, where it will get plenty of shade and humus rich soil that does not dry out in summer.
Click here to view the Tricyrtis formosana page in Karin’s Garden.
Bulbous member of the Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae) with a flower stem that rises about 30cm above strap-like leaves. Improbably pink lily-like flowers with wavy edged petals and purple anthers on pink stamens.
Nerines play something of a second fiddle to Amaryllis in Karin’s Garden. They offer a more delicate delight than their bigger cousins. However, they are a so striking when you see them and they are a special feature in our personal garden. Many of the Nerines in Karin’s Garden are either the standard Nerine bowdenii or the red-flowered Nerine sarniensis, so it is a little special when you come across choice cultivars such as “Cranfield”.
Click here to view the Nerine “Cranfield” page in Karin’s Garden.
Flowers about 3cm across, half the size of standard Nerine flowers, with the traditional Nerine structure, rise 25cm above grass-like foliage. Long lasting, dainty, brilliant pink flowers with wavy edged petals rise above thread-like evergreen leaves.
This is a much smaller plant than the standard Nerines and is an absolute treasure. It is much tougher than it looks and its size makes it suitable for even the smallest garden.
Click here to view the Nerine filifolia page in Karin’s Garden.
Indigofera decora – Chinese Indigo
This is a small spreading bush to about 60cm tall. Racemes of pink, pea-like flowers in late spring / early summer.
This plant never fails to attract admiring comments from visitors, and it deserves to be grown much more widely than it is.
Click here to go to the Indigofera decora page in Karin’s Garden.
Tuberous perennial growing to 1.3M. Each plant will start flowering before it reaches its full height and continue flowering into late autumn. Pink “waterlily” style blooms with whiter centres and darker backs rise above luxuriant foliage.
With the warm spring temperatures Dahlias start flowering early in Karin’s Garden. They have been flowering for months now and and seem not to mind the current extended dry spell. Dahlia “Figurine” fits with the colour palette in our personal garden, but they come in a wide variety of colours and forms. It is hard to imagine that they would not be a welcome addition to any garden.
Click here to view the Dahlia “Figurine” page in Karin’s Garden.
This is a spreading herbaceous perennial, that dies down over winter. Masses of tubular pink flowers over drought resistant foliage for many weeks in late summer.
Epilobium have long been known as Zauschneria and they provide a fabulous splash of colour in later summer, through into autumn. They take a year or two to get established but then perform heroically. We may not have hummingbirds to feed on them, but the bees certainly appreciate the nectar.
Click here to view the Epilobium canum “Solidarity Pink” page in Karin’s Garden.