This showy climber from tropical America is very popular in warm climate gardens, where it is often seen growing on fences, walls and pergolas. It produces large, stunning yellow flowers over several months of the year. The genus name commemorates Dr. Frederic...
Evergreen foliage plants are wonderful in the garden, because they give you stunning colour all year round. Many plants with brilliantly coloured leaves belong to the family Amaranthaceae. They include the popular bloodleaf (Iresine herbstii) with its bright red...
Coordinating the colours in your garden can sometimes be difficult. Don looked at a soft blue and apricot colour combination that works beautifully: the small perennial wallflower ‘Apricot Twist’ planted with a plumbago called ‘Royal Cape’....
Lawn is very difficult to grow in a damp, shady, position. One solution is to do away with the lawn and pave the area. An even better idea is to plant a groundcover such as the Australian native violet (Viola hederacea), which thrives in moist areas and will still...
Bedding or fibrous rooted begonias are trusty old timers which deserve greater recognition, particularly as useful elements in garden design. They are among the most hardy and dependable of plants, and they will flourish despite almost total neglect. Plant details...
There are over 400 species of clerodendrums, including climbers, shrubs, herbaceous plants and trees, and they are mostly from warm climates. Many, like the Bleeding Heart Vine, have very showy flowers. Plant details Common name: Bleeding Heart Vine Botanic name:...
Don looked at one of the best of the bougainvilleas, a spectacular red flowering variety called ‘Scarlett O’Hara’. This particular plant was growing in a dry, narrow garden bed. Bougainvilleas are very hardy and will survive without much water or...
These fascinating tropical American natives come in a wonderful variety of sizes, shapes and foliage colours. They seem very strange and exotic, but one of our most common fruits, the pineapple, is actually a bromeliad. Many bromeliads are epiphytes (ie they live on...
Rondeletia Once a common garden plant, Rondeletia amoena is rarely seen nowadays. Peter Valder thinks that is a pity, because this hardy, Central American native produces a wonderful display of salmon-pink flowers every spring. Plant details Common name: Rondeletia...
Rose Geraniums Surprisingly, one of the most wonderful rose scents in the garden comes not from roses, but from rose geraniums – and not from flowers but from leaves. Jackie French uses the leaves of rose geranium to make a rose-scented room deodoriser that is...