Dowdeswell’s Delphiniums is a family owned Delphinium nursery in Whanganui New Zealand that is recognised worldwide for their superb breeding work. Plants raised from their hand pollinated seed are much better than cheaper strains such as Pacific Giants or Magic Fountains. Dowdeswell’s delphiniums have all the beauty of the best English varieties and are soundly perennial and will give joy for many years to come if their few wants are satisfied. Dowdeswell’s delphiniums are repeat bloomers and make exciting cut flowers. They are best planted in a well drained position in full sun. Plant 90-100cm between plants. We offer strong flowering size plants.
These dormant plants are fully frost hardy, ideal for planting now to maximise growth and available only while stocks last.
These grow about half the size of other delphiniums that we list making so 50- 60cm tall. They have exceptionally strong stems too. Suited to growing in a 20cm plus pot as well as in the garden.
This variety produces tall stately spires of deep purple flowers. Removing spent flowers encourages repeat blooming. Growing in full sun to part shade, this plant will impress.
When Criss and I were last in England we went to Wisley. The Achillea trials were being held in Portsmouth Field next to M25. The roar of the traffic was so awful that we nearly turned back before we got to the trials.
I’ve just started growing this plant during the last couple of years. Achillea ‘Golden Plate’ did really well this last summer in a hot dry windswept bed where even Lambs Ears died.
This Achillea was raised by the great English nurseryman Alan Bloom whom I had the privilege of meeting before he died a few years ago. To my mind it is one of, if not the best of all Achilleas as it is beautiful both in flower and in foliage.
A fine new dwarf, very dark flowered seedling of Agapanthus ‘Guilfoyle’ which was raised by Dennis Norgate who generously let me have a few plants. ‘Blue Diamond’ makes an evergreen mound of strappy leaves some 40 cm by 60cm.
This most graceful ornamental grass was given the prestigious Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society for very good reasons. Thin arching evergreen leaves turn copper, gold and orange during autumn and winter.
This newly released Japanese windflower makes a fabulous display of cupped, bright pink, golden centred flowers from late summer until late autumn. Smaller growing than older varieties it does well in pots as well as in a protected area in the garden.
This newly released Japanese windflower is more compact than older varieties producing its cupped double pink flowers, each with a tuft of golden stamens, on strong 45cm tall stems from late summer until late autumn. Good in pots as well as a protected area in the garden. .
It’s a long time since we sold this Anthemis which came to Lambley from Cruden Farm more than 20 years ago. The evergreen mounds of mossy green fernlike leaves, much cut and divided, are smothered in warm soft lemon daisies from mid spring until mid summer.
This plant, a hybrid between Anthemis tinctoria and the grey leaved spring flowered A. cupaniana, combines the good points of each. Flattish mounds of greyish fern like leaves are covered in the loveliest creamy lemon daisies for months on end from mid-spring to autumn.
This perennial snapdragon from the hills of Morocco and Spain which, during late spring and summer, carries rose pink flowers on short stems over mounds of blue-green fuzzy foliage. In hot districts a little light shade is beneficial otherwise it is happy in full sun.
An old favourite (we first listed this in our 1987 catalogue) this columbine carries large, elegant, long spurred flowers with carmine petals and white corollas nicely spaced on 60-80cm tall stems during mid to late spring and early summer.
Aquilegia ‘Denver Gold’ was selected by the Denver Botanic Gardens for its ability to produce a second crop of flowers after the first flush is finished. Large, elegant, long spurred lemon yellow flowers are produced on 60-80cm tall stems during spring and summer.
An heirloom variety of columbine with fully double burgundy coloured flowers in spring. Happy in any sunny or lightly shaded position as long as the soil isn’t allowed to parch. Cutting back after flowering will promote the growth of a mound of lovely blue-green leaves.
This Manzanita can be kept clipped to a metre tall, or allowed to become a 2m shrub. Producing pure white lily-of-the-valley flowers during late winter spring. Rarely offered in Australia. Drought tolerant when established and will grow happily in sun or light shade.
From the dry western areas of the USA beautiful in all its parts from the burnished copper-bronze twisted trunks to its wonderful large grey-green leaves and exquisite lily-of-the-valley flowers. Thoroughly drought tolerant when once established.
Growing a mere 15cm tall but spreading up to 150cm, ‘Green Bay’ makes a dense carpet of small dark green leathery leaves. Nodding pink, lily-of-the-valley flowers are produced in late winter and early spring when the shrub has matured.
A prostrate shrub evergreen shrub with dark green leathery leaves the size of a five cent coin and pale pink lily-of-the-valley flowers followed in the autumn with showy red berries.
One of the best evergreen plants for shade, even dry shade, this is a superb clone with wider, longer, waxier and more arching leaves than the type. Masses of white shooting star, lily like flowers are produced in spring and summer.
