Lambley Nursery at Ascot in Victoria is run by plantsman David Glenn.
The nursery has a wide variety of perennials that have been selected for their suitability to Australian garden conditions. Many are not as yet well known in gardens including the cranesbills or species geraniums, which are very different from the more familiar ivy or zonal geraniums more commonly grown in gardens.
Geraniums
Some interesting species of geraniums include:
- Geranium maderense – a native of Madeira. This plant has pinky-purple flowers with a deeper centre. Its main feature however is its large leaves and tall growth. The old leaf stalks bend back and act as a support for the rest of the plant, giving it a very upright stance. This plant is known as monocarpic which means that it dies after only seeding once. The plant takes several years to reach maturity and flowering. After each flowering many seeds are produced guaranteeing that the plant will continue to have a presence in your garden.
- Geranium clarkei ‘Kashmir White‘ – a cranesbill geranium with white flowers with pale lilac veined petioles. Grows to 60cm (2’).
- Bloody cranesbill (G. sanguineum var. striatum) – a variety from an island off the coast of north west England. It has lovely soft pink, cup-shaped flowers and dark green dissected foliage. May grow to 20cm (8″) tall.
- G. ‘Criss Canning’ – a geranium bred at Lambley and named after David’s wife. This is a very heat tolerant variety with pretty strong blue flowers. It grows to approximately 40cm (16″) tall.
Heucheras
Another interesting and little known perennial grown at Lambley Nursery is called coral bells or heuchera. Heucheras are a cottage garden plant which you may associate with your grandmother’s garden. They have spires of small, bell-shaped flowers and attractive foliage. The heucheras featured on the segment were:
- Heuchera x brizoides ‘Coral Cloud’ – very deep pink flowers.
- Heuchera x brizoides ‘Gracillima’ – pale pink flowers.
- Heuchera x brizoides ‘Rosemary Bloom’ – salmon flower colour.
- Heuchera ‘White Spires’ – white flowers with crinkled foliage.
- Heuchera ‘Amethyst’ – beautiful bronze-maroon foliage all year round. This plant has unusual black stems with greeny-white flowers.
Colour coordination
David and Don also looked at a colour coordinated bed in the nursery garden which has been planted in tones of lemon, blue and white. The plants used to create this bold effect are:
- Delphinium x belladonna ‘Volkerfrieden’ – tall, slender plant to 1m (3’3″) with a spire of deep blue flowers.
- Corydalis flexuosa ‘China Blue’ – a low, spreading ground cover plant with unusual seahorse-shaped flowers which are lavender in bud but open to a clear China blue colour. Corydalis flowers from winter until summer. This plant needs shade from the hot summer sun and must not be allowed to dry out.
- Hemerocallis ‘Stella d’Oro’ – a continuous flowering miniature daylily with bright golden-yellow flowers. It is suited for growing in a garden bed or in a container. This is one of the best varieties of daylily.
Availability
The plants shown in the segment are usually available through specialist perennial nurseries such as Lambley Nursery, where the segment was filmed (details below). Some may also be found in the perennial or rockery section of garden centres.
Lambley Nursery
‘Burnside’
Lesters Road
Ascot, Victoria, 3364
Phone: (03) 5343 4303. Fax: (03) 5343 4257
This nursery has a mail order service. A catalogue is available by sending two 45 cent stamps to the above address. Plants will be available from April 1998. Plants are sold in 10cm (4″) maxipots and range in cost from $4.75 to $5.25 depending on variety.
