This fine South African Salvia makes a handsome, dense evergreen metre tall shrub well dressed in silvery green leaves. The flowers, which are produced in waves throughout spring summer and autumn, are yellow when they first open but soon turn a unique golden brown. Read more about Salvia aurea
Showy pure gentian blue flowers are carried on 20cm long terminal racemes. Salvia cacaliifolia has quite large interesting emerald green wedge shaped leaves. It has remained evergreen with us but old stems should be cut to the ground when new shoots start to grow in spring. Read more about Salvia cacaliifolia
I’ve grown ‘Bethelii for many years and for a long time it had a permanent place in our double borders where it shone during late summer and autumn. ‘Joan’ has better, deeper green leaves and more pleasing , deeper rich pink flowers. Read more about Salvia involucrata ‘Joan’
DROUGHT TOLERANT This is another fine plant which we imported from Olivier Filippi’s famous nursery in the south of France and brought back through Australian quarantine. Read more about Santolina magonica
Santolina ‘Edward Bowles’ makes a low tidy evergreen shrubby mound of finely feathered greyish green leaves. During summer the whole plant is smothered by the loveliest pale lemon lacy buttons. A very drought tolerant plant that needs nothing more than a hot sunny spot. Read more about Santolina neapolitana ‘Edward Bowles’
We grow this in our dry garden where its silver leaves and whorls of yellow claw like flowers are handsome the year round. We cut it back halfway during winter to keep it tidy. It flowers on new wood from spring until autumn. Read more about Phlomis grandiflora ‘Lloyds Variety’
A rare and beautiful Phlomis from the region of the Judean mountains in Israel. Handsome evergreen foliage, hairy silver beneath and grey above with whorls of quite deep yellow claw-like flowers which are produced over a long period from spring into summer. Read more about Phlomis platystegia
Viburnum awabuki is a handsome evergreen foliage plant with glossy deep green leaves 8 to 12 cm long and 2-4cm wide. It makes a good hedging or screening plant and tolerates a fair bit of shade. It is also quite drought tolerant when once established. Read more about Viburnum awabuki
