Download Lambley SPRING 2012.indd

LAMBLEY NURSERY
SPRING 2012
LAMBLEY NURSERY
AND GARDENS
www.lambley.com.au
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NURSERY AND GARDEN OPENING TIMES 2012
Open every day from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Closed Christmas day.
Lambley Nursery, ‘Burnside’, Lesters Road, Ascot, Victoria, 3364
Phone: (03) 5343 4303 Fax: (03) 5343 4257
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.lambley.com.au
ASCOT is 12km north of the Western freeway, which by-passes Ballarat, on the C
287 Ballarat-Clunes-Maryborough Road about halfway between Miners Rest and
Clunes.
Drought tolerance and frost hardiness.
If plants are described as being drought tolerant it means that they flourish here
at Lambley with a minimum of watering, about four times a year. All plants are
frost hardy down to –5C unless otherwise stated.
This catalogue has been printed using soy based inks on environmentally sustainable paper.
Cover: Sisyrinchium striatum radiant in the Spring sunshine at Lambley
2
Achillea ageratifolia
Greek Yarrow
This fine evergreen plant makes a 30cm
wide and 15cm tall cushion of finely
notched silver leaves. During spring it
produces 15cm tall stems each one
carrying heads of several large white
flowers. It has been happy in a bed of
rock garden plants here at Lambley.
This part of the garden is mulched with
fine gravel. A fine plant for a sunny rock
garden..
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
Aethionema 'Warley Rose'
Warley Rose Persian Candytuft
An evergreen sub-shrub from the
Caucasus which makes one of the best
of all plants for the rock garden, a dry
slope or for trailing over a sunny wall.
The clear deep pink flowers are held in
dense showy heads for much of spring
and early summer. It is drought hardy
when once established and revels in a
hot sunny spot. 20cm tall by 35cm wide.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Agapanthus 'Snow Goose'
I raised this variety about 25 years ago
and I rate it as one of the best relatively
dwarf, white flowered Agapanthus. It
makes lovely low mounds of narrow
evergreen leaves and, during summer,
70cm tall stems carry large heads of
waxy white flowers opening from lime
green buds. 70cm x 80cm.
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
3
Agastache 'Sweet Lili’
In his fine book “Guide To Plants” Paul
Bangay writes that “I use this in all my
gardens as it is such a long-flowering
plant and has a very distinct and
unusual flower colour”. “Sweet Lili” was
raised here at Lambley and is one of the
best plants we grow. The top third of the
120cm tall flower stems are smothered,
from early summer until winter, with
apricot tinted rich amethyst flowers.
120cm x 60cm. Sun.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Anthemis 'Alice Glenn'
I’ve grown Anthemis ‘Susannah Mitchell’
for many years and it is as good a plant
as anyone could want. A few years ago
one of its stems had deeper coloured
flowers on it. This sport was propagated
and I named it Anthemis ’Alice Glenn’
for my late mother. It has greyish
evergreen foliage and produces its soft
lemon flowers from early spring through
to autumn if it is dead headed
occasionally. Drought tolerant sun lover.
35cm x100cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Artemisia caucasica
Caucasian Wormwood
This beautiful carpeting plant was grown
by us from seed collected in the
windswept dry mountains of Turkey.
This wormwood forms a glistening mat
of intricately cut silver foliage. I grow it in
a rarely watered bed with other dry
climate rock garden plants where it is
happy in full sun. It has grown 2cm tall
by 50cm across in two years $9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
4
Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’
Powis Castle Wormwood
This vigorous silver foliage plant is an
important element in our double borders
where we have it planted near Aster x
frikartii and Salvia ‘Raspberry Royal’. A
tough, sun loving shrub it soon makes a
90cm wide by 60cm tall mound. It has
beautiful glistening much dissected
silver leaves. $8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
Arthropodium 'Te Puna'
New Zealand Rock Lily
We imported this from New Zealand a
few years ago. A dwarf rock lily, which
has handsome arching sword shaped
leaves and produces masses of
shooting-star, lily-like flowers during
spring and summer. As frost below –3C
will cut the foliage to the ground,
gardeners with really cold winters
should plant it in a sheltered position.
30cm x 30cm.
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
Buddleja 'Dartmoor'
Huge branching heads of rich lilac
flowers on a medium sized well
branched shrub. We cut it back to about
120cm in late winter or early spring. This
hard pruning encourages the production
of large terminal flower panicles and
good side panicles. Sun. Tolerant of
heat and drought. 3m x 2.5m.
Recognised as one of the best by the
Royal Horticultural Society which gave
this plant an Award Of Garden Merit.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
5
Campanula 'E.K. Toogood'
Toogood’s Serbian Bellflower
A fine trailing groundcover for a shady
spot in the garden where for many
spring and summer months it will cover
itself with upward facing white eyed,
lavender-blue flowers. Evergreen and
very tough needing only the occasional
watering when once established. 15cm
tall by 60cm wide. I grow it under a
Californian Lilac, Ceanothus arborea
‘Trewithen Blue’.
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
Chrysanthemum 'Buninyong Bronze'
This is the only perpetual flowering
Chrysanthemum I’ve ever grown. From
spring until early winter and beyond this
plant produces a continual display of
small bronze-red flowers. I grew it in
pots at the front door last season but it is
just as happy in the garden. It picks well
of course. 60cm by 40cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Ceanothus 'Blue Sapphire'
I’ve grown Ceanothus ‘Blue Sapphire’
for the past five or six years and it is a
terrific plant, making long low gracefully
arching stems covered in small very
dark green, almost black, glossy leaves.
The whole mound is smothered with
deep blue flowers in spring. One of the
best low growing shrubs in the garden
here. Sun loving, tough and drought
tolerant. 100cm x 150cm. $10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
6
Ceanothus 'Concha'
Arguably the most beautiful of all the
Ceanothus varieties making an
evergreen shrub up to 2 metres in height
and as much across. The vibrant dark
blue flowers are produced from magenta
buds early in spring. Can be pruned to
keep it suitable for smaller gardens.
Happiest in a sunny spot a
inina dry part of
the garden. It hates wet feet though.
$12.00 each or 3 for $33.00
Echinops 'Taplow Blue'
The best of its kind with spherical flower
heads, steel-blue in bud opening to
large balls of powdery mauve-blue when
in full flower. Bold divided foliage, stiff
vertical stems and the drumstick flower
heads give this plant great architectural
strength. We cut it back to the ground in
summer when the first flowers are
finished and are rewarded by another
display in autumn. Full sun. Drought
tolerant when once established. 120cm
x 75cm.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
Eryngium amethystinum
Italian Sea Holly
An easily grown, rare and beautiful plant
from Southern Europe which makes a
superb addition to the flower garden.
During summer 40cm tall branching
flower stems carry heads of steely blue
flowers with a faint hint of amethyst. The
flowers last a long time in the vase and
also dry well. Sun or light shade. 40cm x
35cm
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
7
Eryngium bourgatii ‘Oxford Blue’
This has been growing in our dry climate
garden for ten years or more. The
flowers, a metallic blue thimble, are
circled by a metallic blue ruff, as
intricate as a snowflake. This Sea Holly
has interesting evergreen foliage, much
cut and two toned, green and silver. If
spent flowers are removed it will bloom
from late spring into winter. 50cm x
50cm.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
Euphorbia charachias ssp wulfennii
Wulfen’s Spurge
I couldn’t really imagine a late winter or
spring without this plant. At this time the
flower heads, which at first are curled
over like a bishop’s crosier, unfurl and
open into huge lime-green panicles. The
display lasts for some months after
which I cut the spent flower stems to the
ground. 140cm by 120cm
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Euphorbia robbiae
Miss Robb’s Bonnet
This is one of the best groundcovers for
dry shade where it will make suckering
40 cm tall evergreen stems clothed in
handsome blue-green foliage. During
spring the whole is covered by heads of
lime green flowers. Whilst it grows in dry
shade it is also happy in other parts of
the garden whether sunny or not. 40cm
X 60 cm. It was first brought into
cultivation from its Turkish haunts in
Miss Robb’s hat box early last century.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
8
Gaillardia 'Lambley Strain'
Lambley Blanket Flower
I grew the American raised Gaillardia
‘Fanfare’ for a few years but sadly it
didn’t stay true to type. Fanfare’s
progeny though are really good with
bright yellow and burnt orange flowers
produced on stiff stems from spring well
into autumn as long as it is dead
headed. Some summer water is
needed. 35cm x 30cm.
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
Geranium 'Rambling Robin'
A newly imported plant which we got
from Olivier Filippi’s nursery in the South
of France. A hybrid between two South
African species, G. incanum and G.
robustum, it has the trailing habit of the
former and vigour of the latter. In the dry
garden it has made good evergreen
mats of deeply incised silver-green
leaves. It produces large lavender-pink
flowers for most of spring, summer and
autumn. It is frost, heat and drought
tolerant. 30cm tall by 60 to 80 cm
across.
$12.00 each or 3 for $33.00
Halimium lasianthum ssp. formosum
Yellow Sun Rose
One of the best dwarf shrubs for a dry
garden as it is good in both flower and
foliage. A grey leaved evergreen, 100cm
in height by 150cm across. During
spring and early summer it covers itself
with good sized rich yellow flowers with
large purple brown blotch at the base of
each petal. A tough sun loving drought
tolerant plant of hot Mediterranean
hillsides. 100cm x 150cm.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
9
Helianthus angustifolius
Perennial Sunflower
An extraordinary plant, H. angustifolius
makes 3 metre tall stems clothed in
narrow dark green leaves. It looks more
like a Lilium than anything else until an
eruption of bright yellow sunflowers
covers the whole in autumn. At its peak
it startles visitors (and us). It is long lived
and self supporting and has been in the
same spot in our garden for ten years or
more. Sun. 300cm x 90cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Hemerocallis 'Cranberry Baby'
Cranberry Baby Day Lily
Day lilies which repeat flower are always
useful plants. Deep rich cranberry pink,
flared flowers are produced, several to
the stem, from mid spring until quite late
in the autumn. I divide and replant dwarf
day lilies every 3 or 4 years. Tough sun
loving and reputed to be drought
tolerant although we have only grown it
in irrigated beds. 40cm x 40cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Helianthus angustifolius in the Lambley borders
10
Herbaceous Hibiscus in the Vegetable Garden Border
Hibiscus ‘Ascot Pink’
Frost Hardy Ascot Pink Hibiscus
This plant started Lambley off on its
search for frost hardy Hibiscus. We were
given it by a neighbouring farmer, Jim
Kinnersley, who had grown it for many
years. It sails through our minus six
degrees frosty winter nights. The huge
20cm wide pink flowers are produced,
many to a stem, from January until mid
April. Hibiscus 'Ascot Pink' looks
splendid in our stock beds planted with
Miscanthus transmorrisonensis. 150cm
x 100cm.
$12.00 each or 3 for $33.00
Hibiscus ‘Moondance’
Frost Hardy Moondance Hibiscus
Frost hardy down to -20C, dwarf, free
and long flowering and enjoying the
most torrid summer heat this hibiscus is
happy both inland and on the coast. The
huge warm ivory flowers each with a
magenta eye are more than 20cm
across. Each stem, if the plant is well
fed, produces up to twenty flowers in a
long summer autumn succession. Give
it full sun and a little summer water and
it will be happy. 120cm x 100cm.
$12.00 each or 3 for $33.00
11
Hibiscus ‘Moy Grande’
Frost Hardy Moy Grande Hibiscus
Hibiscus ‘Moy Grande’ has the largest
flower of all, the shot silk, deep rosepink flowers are 30cm in diameter. A
spectacular plant which grows 120cm
tall and as much across in our garden.
Like the other frost hardy herbaceous
back
to the
Hibiscus, we
wecut
cutthisthis
back
it ground
to the
in
winter.
ground in winter.
$12.00 each or 3 for $33.00
Hibiscus ‘Raspberry Rose’
Hibiscus ‘Raspberry Rose’ can grow
very large, with us some 180cm tall by
as much across and is a very generous
bloomer producing hundreds of 15cm
diameter raspberry red flowers. It makes
a superb show in o long narrow border
in the vegetable garden as it flowers for
all the hot months of the year.
$12.00 each or 3 for $33.00
Iris unguicularis ‘Mary Barnard’
Mary Barnard Algerian Iris
One of the toughest of evergreen
perennials, which gives so much reward
for so little effort, thriving as it does in
almost any position except dense
shade. It has thin arching dark green
leaves in which the loveliest of fragrant
dark blue flowers nestle from May until
September. The flowers last well in
water if they are gathered in bud just
before they unfurl. Sun or light shade.
40cm x 50cm.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
12
Kniphofia ‘Strawberries and Cream’
Strawberries and Cream Torch Flower
This Kniphofia has coral-pink flowers
which, as they open, turn to cream
making for a charming effect. It flowers
for many months from spring until late
summer. I cut the evergreen leaves
down to about 15cm every winter to
keep the plant tidy. 120cm tall by 80cm
wide.
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
Linaria anticaria ‘Antique Silver’
Antique Silver Toad Flax
A trailing, suckering toad flax growing no
taller than 15cm with small grey green
leaves and masses of small pale silver
mauve flowers for most of spring,
summer and autumn. It has settled
down well in our dry garden where we
grow it under an olive tree and around
salvias and humming bird mints. Happy
in sun or light shade where it will form a
charming demure carpet. 25cm x 20cm.
$9.00 or 3 for $24.00
Lupinus longiflorus
I was given this marvellous plant by Pat
Bowley who has a beautiful garden near
Bowral in NSW. Its stems are covered in
beautiful fingered silky leaves. Each
stem branches several times and the
top of each branch holds a blue and
white lupin. Tough and drought tolerant,
it has made a great addition to our dry
garden. 100cm tall by 120cm wide.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
13
Lychnis coronaria
Dusty Miller
This makes a basal rosette of grey
leaves with grey flower stems clothed
with grey leaves and crowned by brilliant
magenta flowers. It’s very easily grown
and needs very little extra watering
during summer. Whilst it is a short lived
perennial you will always find some self
sown seedlings if you don’t dead head it
too quickly. Sun. 60cm x 40cm.
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
Miscanthus sinensis ‘Cosmopolitan’
Cosmopolitan Silver Feather Grass
This superb variegated grass was first
cultivated fifty years ago in Japan. It is
almost evergreen with us, although it
needs cutting to the ground in mid
winter to keep it looking clean, and
makes 2 metres tall foliage fountains.
The copper-red flower feathers, held
well above the leaves, are produced in
late summer and autumn.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
Miscanthus oligostachyus 'Eileen Quinn'
Dwarf Feather Grass
A very handsome dwarf Miscanthus.
The bronze feathery flower heads are
produced well clear of the leaves during
summer and autumn. Grow it in drifts
rather than as individual specimens.
Sun 60cm x 50cm.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
14
Seeds
15
Lambley’s First Vegetable and Flower Seed Catalogue
I heard a terribly sad story the other day. A vegetable grower who supplies local
farmers markets planted two thousand open pollinated, “heritage” Brussels sprouts
seedlings. After nurturing, watering, weeding and feeding these plants for the best
part of eight months his total crop of sprouts was nil. Not one sprout was set.
This is just a more extreme example of what I found when I grew “heritage” seeds.
After all the work that a successful vegetable garden requires there should be some
reward, there should be some vegetables to harvest. The problem with “heritage”
and most open pollinated seed is that no serious seed company is maintaining the
strains which then degenerate to such a point that they are at best second rate and
at worst, as in the case of Brussels sprouts, useless.
I grew the beautiful looking watermelon Moon and Stars for four years in a row and
didn’t once get a ripe fruit. The watermelon and cantaloupe varieties which I grow
now all ripen here every year, no matter what the weather, as they take only 70 to 75
days to produce fruit. This means that people in inland NSW, all of SA, Victoria and
Tasmania can grow these crops with confidence.
Most modern vegetable seed breeders now sell hybrid seed. This isn’t genetically
modified rather the breeder cross pollinates two different strains of the same
vegetable. This gives consistency and hybrid vigour. It of course protects the
breeder from others pirating his work. This modern breeding aims to produce
vegetables which are well flavoured, disease resistant and with a short growing
season.
Most if not all producers who rely on vegetable growing for their livelihood grow their
plants from hybrid seed even though this seed is much more expensive. For
example in the case of Brussels sprouts the hybrid seed we sell costs us 100 times
more than would the open pollinated Long Island Improved variety. Hybrid seed is
much more expensive but given similar growing conditions is much more likely to be
productive.
I have grown nearly all of the varieties in this seed list. They are the best modern
varieties we can find. F1 written after the vegetable’s name signifies that it is a
hybrid strain.
All of the flower seed listed can be planted or rather are better planted straight into
their final position in the garden. This is a cheap and effective way of filling the
garden with flowering annuals.
Full cultivation notes will be included with each seed order.
16
Vegetables
Basil Italian Large Leaf
This variety is sweeter and has less of a clove-like flavour than
normal basil. I find it a much pleasanter basil to use in pesto
and tomato salads. I never plant basil seed, or plants for that
matter, in the open garden before December as cold weather
is anathema to this delicious herb.
200 seeds $3.50
Beetroot Red Ace F1
This is the best beetroot I’ve grown. Fast growing, good as
baby beet, lasts well in the garden and is tender even when it
makes a large size. As it is slow to bolt we plant it from August
through to February.
100 seeds $4.00
Bok Choi Black Summer F1
The best Bok Choi of the half a dozen varieties I’ve planted. It
has dark green leaves on light green stalks. and makes a
perfect vase shape even when small. Slow to bolt. I plant from
September through until February.
100 seeds $4.00
Broccoli Amadeus F1
For late winter and spring planting for harvesting spring,
summer, and autumn. It produces large heads here which
were followed by lots of side shoots. I picked heads from one
planting over a period of ten weeks.
20 seeds $4.00
Broccoli Marathon F1
I plant this tried and true variety from December until February
and pick from autumn through the winter. It produces good
side shoots after the main head is cut.
20 seeds $4.00
17
Brussels Sprouts Diablo F1
The best Brussels Sprouts strain I’ve ever grown and I’ve tried
twenty or so. Diablo produces crops over a long period from
late autumn through most of the winter if seeds are planted no
later than November.
20 seeds $5.00
Bush Bean Simba
A round dark green bush bean with terrific flavour. It is a
heavy cropper and has good disease resistance. Its heavy
frame keeps the beans straight and clean as they are held
well off the soil. It takes about 50 days to harvest from seed
planting. I plant in mid-October, mid-November and midDecember.
50 seeds $4.00
Carrot Nelson F1
This is the most reliable early carrot I’ve grown here. I plant it
from August until December and get a succession of crisp,
sweet, well flavoured baby carrots even during very hot
weather.
100 seeds for $4.00
Carrot Napoli F1
I plant this baby carrot in February and get crisp well flavoured
carrots all winter long. Although a baby carrot it remains good,
sweet and crisp even when it makes a larger size.
100 seeds $4.00
Cauliflower Bishop F1
I find this to be a very reliable cauliflower which will flourish in
many weather conditions from hot to cold. I plant the seed
from September until January.
20 seeds $4.00
Chives Fine Leaf
I always have a patch of chives in the garden. This is an
excellent flavoured variety with delicate fine leaves good for
both cooking and as a garnish.
200 seeds $3.50
18
Cavalo Nero, Black Kale or Toscano
Makes a handy autumn and winter vegetable if seed is planted
during November. I can pick a couple of bunches every week
from May until September off half a dozen plants. Reputed to
be good for baby leaf at any time although I haven’t grown it
like that yet.
150 seeds $4.00
Coriander Calypso
As I grow coriander for its leaves rather than for its seeds I
grow this slow bolting variety. It is ready to pick in less than a
month and a half and will under reasonable conditions take
three or four months before it runs up to seed. It’s best to sow
seed at six weekly intervals.
200 seeds $3.50
Endive Dubuisson
A beautiful frisee endive with fine green leaves which are soft
yellow in the centre. I plant seed from September until
February and get a crop for much of the year as it is very slow
to bolt.
50 seeds $4.00
Leek King Richard
I sell the true strain of this very early leek. From an early
November planting I was digging decent leeks by March. In
fact Criss and I served fifty people with Leeks a la Grecque at
a charity lunch here one March a couple of years ago. As it is
slow to bolt it is happy well into winter too.
100 seeds $4.00
Leek Lancelot
This is the leek I grow for a late winter and early spring crop
but again I get the seed planted during November. It has
beautiful long white shanks and a blue-green top.
100 seeds $4.00
Lettuce Claremont
One of the best mini-Cos I’ve grown making 25cm tall plants
with a good dense heart. It has an excellent sweet flavour. I
plant a metre or so each month from August until February
which makes for a long picking season.
100 seeds $4.00
19
Parsley Giant of Italy
A real giant but with wonderful Italian parsley flavour this is the
variety which has amazed visitors to the nursery with its size
and productivity. I plant seed on bottom heat early in the
spring and outside in the garden after mid-November. Parsley
will sometime bolt if seed is planted in soil which is too cold.
150 seeds $3.50
Parsnip Lancer
I plant this superb variety of Parsnip from September until
December. Later plantings will give small roots. I harvest the
roots from March/April until the end of winter as even very
large roots of this variety are good.
150 seeds $4.00
Radicchio Red Preco F1
An early slow bolting well flavoured variety which gives me
good heads from late spring through the summer. I plant the
seed from September until December.
100 seeds $4.00
Roquette Astro
My favourite roquette,it is spicy but not too hot. Its leaves are
wide and not deeply lobed. It stands hot summer temperatures
well. I have it nearly the year round if I plant it anew every six
weeks or so.
150 seeds $4.00
Roquette Surrey
With great flavour and wild roquette appearance I grow this
rich spicy, but not too hot, variety with Astro.
150 seeds $4.00
Spinach Tyee Fi
The best savoyed spinach I’ve grown with terrific flavour. As it
is very slow to bolt I plant it from early spring until autumn. I
can harvest fully grown spinach for ten months of the year.
100 seeds $4.00
20
Sweet Corn Supersweet Samurai F1
I’ve grown this “honey and cream” variety of supersweet corn
for five years. It needs to be grown on its own because it will
not produce supersweet cobs if it is pollinated by nonsupersweet varieties. I raise the first plantings in a polyhouse
in October and plant in the garden in November and up to the
end of December.
75 seeds $4.00
Cantaloupe Sarah’s Choice F1
A fantastic tasting, juicy cantaloupe which ripens even in
colder areas of Australia. I plant it in the garden in early
November and harvest the first fruit during February. I do
sometimes germinate it in pots in the poly house in September
and plant out November for an earlier crop still. This variety is
the best whether grown in a cold, hot or in between areas.
20 seeds $5.00
Pumpkin Kabocha Cha-Cha F1
According to all those in the family who eat pumpkin this is the
best flavoured with bright orange, nutty, sweet flavoured flesh
which keeps its shape when cooked. It is really the only
pumpkin I grow now. I plant the seed in the garden during
November and the pumpkins are ripe by late March. I store
them on their side in the cellar and they are still good the
following spring. A good variety to grow in cooler as well as
warmer climates.
20 seeds for $5.00
Watermelon Little Baby Flower F1
The smallest watermelon I’ve ever grown. It only is 15cm in
diameter and weighs about a kilo when ripe. It takes a mere
70 days to ripen (as opposed to 110 to 120 days for many
older varieties) from a mid-November planting. Seed can be
planted up until the end of December and fruit will still ripen. In
warmer coastal areas seed can be planted in early October.
20 seeds $5.00
Zucchini Safari F1
I grew this variety for the first time last year and it is now my
favourite zucchini. It is a most beautiful looking Zucchini, with
dark green cream striped fruit, and a prolific producer of
excellent flavoured fruit. I plant seed in the garden in
November or in the poly house during September. Three or
four plants will keep a family of four happy for several months
from early summer until April.
10 seeds $4.00
21
Pollen-free Sunflowers
Ice Spray is lemon yellow with a green centre
25 seeds $5.00
These are the results of many years of hard work from an Australian flower breeder.
He has finally been able to spare some seed for Lambley to sell to home gardeners.
Until now all his seed has been sold to commercial cut flower growers. The big
advantage that the pollen-free flowers have over traditional sorts is that they last
much longer when picked. Each flower also lasts much longer in the garden than
older varieties. The following are all branching varieties. If you want them for cut
flowers then nip out the leader when it reaches 25cm in height. If you want a fine
garden plant let it grow naturally giving it about 60cm space. They all grow from 150
to 180cm tall depending on soil conditions. I generally plant sunflower seed from
November until January but October wouldn’t be too early and in warmer gardens
September. They don’t need a lot of water and are happiest in full sun.
Calypso Spray has medium sized
flowers with lemon-peach petals and
dark centres.
25 seeds $5.00
Mauve Spray has mauve-purple petals
and a dark centre.
25 seeds $6.00
Garnet has tawny petals tipped with
orange-yellow and a dark central boss.
25 seeds $5.00
Sonnet has purple centres with orangeyellow petals with a tawny ring.
25 seeds $5.00
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Annuals flowering at Lambley
Amaranthus (Love-lies-bleeding) Emerald Tassels.
The most effective way I’ve grown this was as a backdrop to
lime green Zinnias and a greenish white sunflower. In good
soil it will grow 160cm tall by 80cm wide. The long green
tassels are produced from mid-summer until late autumn.
100 seeds $4.00
Amaranthus Opopeo (Love-lies-bleeding)
This extraordinary variety of Love-lies-bleeding startles visitors
to the vegetable garden every summer. The tassels are held
upright rather than hanging. The deep purple-red flowers pick
well as long as its leaves are pulled off before the flowers are
put into a vase. It grows 160xcm tall by 80cm across in our
garden.
100 seeds $4.00
Zinnia Benary’s Giant Lime
It’s been hard in recent years to get the true strain of the green
flowered Zinnia Envy. Recent German breeding has produced
this terrific strain of giant double lime green flowers. I’ve grown
this strain over the past few years and it has really excited
gardeners who have seen it. It grows 40cm tall. The best if not
the only way to grow Zinnias is to plant the seed into prepared
beds straight into the garden.
30 seeds $4.00
Zinnia State Fair Mix
A grand giant flowered mixture of all the Zinnia colours except
lime green. This strain will grow up to 90cm tall and is a very
good cut flower. I don’t ever plant the seed of these in the
garden until mid-November as they don’t like cold wet soils.
They love the heat of summer and I can pick many bunches
every week. Every summer until she died I used to send a
bunch of Zinnias nearly every week to Margaret Olley. She
called one of her paintings “David’s Zinnias”.
50 seeds $4.00
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Perennials continued
Miscanthus transmorrisonensis
Evergreen Feather Grass
The most beautiful of all the Miscanthus
with evergreen leaves making 80cm tall
by 100cm wide fountain-like mounds.
The arching, almost weeping flower
heads, displayed well above the foliage,
are produced from summer until midwinter. Fabulous plant. Sun. Needs
some space to show off its beautiful
form. 150cm x 140cm. We always sell
out of this grass.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
Origanum ‘Santa Cruz’
We have quite a good collection of
ornamental Oreganos and each one is
worth a place in the dry garden (I’m
going to have to make the garden bigger
to find a spot for them all). Origanum
‘Santa Cruz’ makes a low evergreen
carpet from which twiggy stems carry,
during late summer and autumn, arching
sprays of quietly beautiful dusky pink
hop like flower heads. A tough, sun
loving and drought tolerant plant.
30cm x 40cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Penstemon ‘Alice Hindley’
One of my favourite Penstemon with the
loveliest blue-mauve white throated
flowers beautifully poised on long
pedicels. Flowering as it does from late
spring until winter it has been a
mainstay of our double borders for many
years. Penstemon are tough plants with
very little artificial water requirements.
It’s a mistake to cut them back too hard
in winter, about half way is safe. We
remove old spent stems when the new
spring growth gets to 30cm or so. 90cm
x 90cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
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Penstemon ‘Mother of Pearl’
Penstemons are easily grown sun
loving perennials with few wants except
dead heading and the removal of old
spent stems in mid-spring. Penstemon
‘Mother of Pearl’ has fabulous flowers,
pale mauve blue, blush and white with
purple internal veining. 60 x 60cm
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Penstemon virgatus ssp virgatus
Wandbloom Penstemon
We grew plants of this easy to grow
species from seed collected in Coconino
County in Arizona (the Grand Canyon is
in this county). It produces its 40cm tall,
tightly packed stems of mauve-blue
flowers for much of the warmer months.
This evergreen is small enough for the
rock garden and showy enough to win a
prize place in other parts.
40cm by 40cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Phlomis ‘Edward Bowles’
A fine new hybrid Phlomis, a cross
between P. fruticosa and P. russelliana,
which combines the best properties of
both its parents making a low
evergreen, handsome foliaged shrub
which carries metre tall leafy flowering
stems carrying whorls of yellow clawed
flowers in a candelabra like effect.
Tough drought tolerant sun lover.
120cm tall by 100cm wide.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
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Phlomis purpurea x crinita
This new import is, to my mind, the most
beautiful in foliage of all the Phlomis. It
hasn’t flowered here yet, although it will
do so this spring, and it is still such a
new plant that our supplier, Olivier
Filippi, hasn’t yet listed it in his
catalogue. It has made a handsome,
evergreen shrub a metre or so tall by
nearly as much across in a year. The
large felt-like leaves are silver grey on
the upper surface and whitish grey
beneath. 120cm by 120cm.
Limit of one per order $15.00
Salvia leucophylla ‘Bees Bliss’
A fast growing groundcover with
aromatic silver-grey foliage. Growth is in
horizontal layers topped with lavender
blue flowers in spring. It is widely used
in Californian gardens both private and
public because its foliage so densely
covers the soil. I’ve planted it under
pencil pines and in one season it has
covered a metre of garden. Plant in full
sun
and
water
sparingly
once
established. 60cm x 200cm
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
Salvia forskaohlei
Black Sea Woodland Sage
We first got seed of this 20 odd years
ago from an Archibald collection in
woodland near the Turkish Black Sea
Coast. We grow it in quite dense dry
shade under olive trees and next to a
privet hedge. It has large handsome
leaves in a loose rosette. During spring
and early summer 70cm tall wands carry
large deep mauve-blue flowers each
with beautiful white lip markings. One of
the best plants for dry shade.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
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Salvia nemorosa ‘Kate Glenn’
Kate Glenn Meadow Sage
This hybrid between Salvia nemorosa
ssp tesquicola and Salvia ‘Wesuwe’
popped up in our dry garden a couple of
years ago. It has the early flowering
habit and dark flowers of the latter and
the showy bracts of the former. A terrific
plant which I named for my daughter.
Tough, sun loving, drought tolerant and
beautiful.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
Salvia nemorosa ‘Lubecca’
Salvia ’Lubecca’ is one of the smallest
and neatest growing of the nemorosa
types of salvia making 30cm tall spikes
of rich violet-blue flowers during spring,
summer and autumn. We cut it to the
ground after the first flush of flowers are
spent to get a good second autumn
flowering. It needs cutting back again
during winter. Like all of its kin Salvia
‘Lubecca’ is a sun loving drought
tolerant plant. 30cm x 30cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Salvia x sylvestris ‘Lye End’
Jeremy Francis, who with his wife
Valerie, gardens at Cloude Hill in the
Dandenongs, imported this variety about
25 years ago. It was raised by the
English gardener, Miss Poole, and
named for her garden, Lye End. Taller
than most of its kind at 120 cm it carries
long spikes of ghostly lavender blue
flowers from spring into the summer and
beyond if dead headed. Happy in any
sunny well drained spot it needs very
little water.120cm x 90cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
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Salvia sclarea ‘Archibald’s Form’
Archibald’s Clary Sage
We offer a superb form of the Clary
Sage collected by Jim and Jenny
Archibald in the Taurus mountains of
Turkey about 25 years ago. It makes a
mound of large, rough grey-green
leaves
which
support
enormous
columns of lilac hooded white lipped
flowers surrounded by large bracts of
pink, white and green. Although short
lived, a few self-sown seedlings are
generally produced. It is an essential
part of our dry garden. 120cm x 75cm.
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
Santolina magonica
This is the first Australian release of this
plant which we imported last year from
Olivier Filippi’s famous nursery in the
south of France. It makes a round
evergreen shrub with leaves like little
silver cotton wool buds. I haven’t seen it
in flower yet but it has yellow buttons
opening from lemon green buds. Happy
in any sunny spot and takes the dry well.
50cm by 50cm.
$12.00 each or 3 for $33.00
Sisyrinchium striatum
Satin Flower
A member of the Iris family from Chile
this plant is happy here in a sunny spot
in the dry garden. S. striatum makes
clumps of upright blue-green sword
shaped leaves with stiff upright stems
carrying soft lemon yellow flowers
during late spring and early summer. I
pull the old foliage off during winter and
allow the odd self sown seedling to take
the place of older clumps occasionally.
90cm x 60cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
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Stachys thirkei
Miniature Lamb’s Ears
This beautiful little plant will suit areas in
the garden where the typical Lamb’s
Ears would grow too big. It has the usual
felted silver Lamb’s Ear leaf but is
smaller in all its parts than the type and
there is no time during the summer
when it looks scruffy. Drought tolerant
and sun loving. Foliage mounds
make10cm x 30cm.
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
Stipa gigantea
Giant Golden Oats Grass
We’ve finally built up good quantities of
this ornamental grass which, when
flowering in late spring and early
summer, is the most dramatically
beautiful of all with 210cm tall wands
carrying huge heads of golden oat-like
flowers over low tussocks of evergreen
leaves. The mature heads are good
throughout the summer and autumn.
210cm x 90cm.
$12.00 each or 3 for $33.00
Symphytum lilacinum
Dwarf Comfrey
Finding plants which do well in tough
shady positions is always a challenge.
Symphytum lilacinum grows well here
under a Washington Thorn and close to
a hungry privet hedge. This perennial
forms evergreen clumps of rather rough,
largish green leaves. During spring pale
mauve, pink flushed bells are held,
many to a stem, well above the foliage.
Easy to grow and doesn’t need much
water when once established. 30cm x
40cm.
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
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Tanacetum corymbosum
White Flowered Tansy
A plant of open grasslands of southern
Europe it makes evergreen basal
rosettes of dark green, much dissected
leaves. Quite early in the spring stiff
leafy stems, up to a metre in height once
established, carry wide heads of white
daisies. It will repeat flower with us
several times in the season if spent
flower stems are removed. A fine tough
sun loving drought tolerant plant. 100cm
x 60cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Thymus pseudolanguinosus Woolly Thyme
This “The wooliest of all the thymes”
makes a dense, short carpet of tiny grey
leaves. During summer it has masses of
small pink flowers pressed against the
foliage. We grow it in a hot dry sunny
position. It is happy in the rock garden or
spilling over stone walls. 5cm tall by
60cm across.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Thymus coccineus
Carmine Creeping Thyme
A carpeting thyme with deep carminepink flowers in spring. It has made a mat
of dark green leaves about 80cm across
in two years here. During its spring
flowering period it is quite enchanting.
When not in flower it makes a good
evergreen groundcover for any sunny
well drained spot in the garden.
5cm by 80cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
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Thymus ‘Westmoreland’
When I was younger, in fact 45 years
younger, I maintained an Edna Walling
designed garden in Melbourne. The
garden was really well made and the
stone work was brilliant. (I found out
later that the stone work had been done
by Ellis Stone.) In the garden, Edna
Walling had planted this little thyme. It
makes a low growing, long lived shrub
with tiny aromatic leaves. During
summer each stem carries clear pink,
many flowered heads for a good six
weeks. 30cm by 50cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Veronica austriaca ‘Kapitan Speedwell’
A friend imported this plant a good 25
years ago. Veronica ‘Kapitan’ makes
prostrate green mats which, during
spring, throw up 20cm spikes of deep
gentian blue flowers. In England it’s
thought of as a dry garden plant but we
find it needs watering about once a
fortnight during hot dry weather. 20cm x
30cm. Sun or light shade.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Viola cornuta
A perennial species of Viola which
weaves its way through our borders
covering many a bare spot from early
spring until autumn with its lilac, long
faced pansy flowers. As other
perennials grow around and over this
Viola it will scramble up through to the
light. A plant from hot hillsides in what
used to be called Yugoslavia it is much
more sun and heat tolerant than the
bedding violas which give up at the first
blast of hot weather.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
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