Rosa 'White Carpet' (Carpet Rose)There's no such thing as a boring plant - just boring plant design!Give carpet roses a contemporary look by planting in large swathes and spicing it up with sculptural NZ native plant companions such as Muehlenbekia astonii, Astelia 'Silver Spear' or oioi. Or try white carpet roses below Nikau, studded with bullet-proof lime green lomandra (not NZ native but still ? ). Carpet roses are one of those wonderful low-maintenance plants that often get dismissed ..read more

Lomandra 'White Sands' (Mat Rush)A beautiful plant for impact in your planting schemes. Mix with flowering plants or massed on its own, Lomandra 'White Sands' is a standout. Check out yesterday's post to see other great lomandras of all sizes.If garden plants have you confused or you just want to learn, FOLLOW ME on Instagram for regular insights, tips and tricks on plants, planting design & garden design in general ..read more

Black Mondo / Ophiopogon 'Nigrescens'If garden plants have you confused or you just want to learn, FOLLOW ME on Instagram for regular insights, tips and tricks on plants, planting design & garden design in general ..read more

?Shh, don't tell everyone, but I think this might just be the perfect small garden plant ?Nandina 'Lemon and Lime' is the green form of the common 'heavenly bamboo' plant (most people know the common old red types, and not everyone's a fan).Growing to a nice, neat 1m x1m size, it's lush &leafy & reliable in both sun and semi-shade. Did I mention it's evergreen, so it'll even look good in the dreary winter months.✅A perfect little rounded shrub with colour to complement the form a ..read more

Camelia Sasanqua 'Setugekka' (Sasanqua Camelia)Camelia Sasanqua 'Early Peraly' (Sasanqua Camelia)Camelia Sasanqua 'Silver Dollar (Sasanqua Camelia)✨3 MOST POPULAR WHITE CAMELIA USED FOR HEDGINGAlso beautiful as standalone shrubs ???, these 3 white camellias are the ones that I suggest for my garden design clients when they want a white flowering camellia hedge.Camellia's make excellent hedges for a few reasons including...✅They're evergreen (ie keep foliage all year) so they wi ..read more

Acorus Gramineus 'Ogon' (Golden Variegated Sweet Flag)PLANTS FOR FREE!!Well, almost.....These small grass-like plants are super easy to grow and great value for money as the little tufts will spread over time to form a dense ground cover.It’s like getting free plants!Fantastic, because like most small plants, you’ll get the best design impact if you grow them in groups or large drifts.?Sweet flag is an excellent plant for foliage contrast and an interesting, alternative to the small limey ..read more

?Talk about underrated!Here's a tough little hedge plant that should be giving Griselinia a run for its money ?No, it's not a NZ native plant, BUT it does offer diversity and it's a lot more tolerant of our clay soils than many NZ native hedge plants are.I say a tough 'little' plant but there area a range of Escallonia's, so estimated mature sizes vary immensely.......but it's a plant that can be kept clipped to size as a hedge ???.✂ Escallonias should be pruned after flowering ..read more

?And the lovely little feature plant is.... Ajuga reptans 'Jungle Beauty'.It's not the typical planting choice for between pavers, but sometimes it's good to mix it up ?Ajuga aka 'bugle flower ' is a spring flowering, groundcover ideal for shade and semi-shade.It's pretty easy to grow, though it doesn't like 'wet feet'???It's an excellent food source for bees.If garden plants have you confused or you just want to learn, FOLLOW ME on Instagram for regular insights, tips a ..read more

?I love using THIS lomandra in my garden designs JUST AS MUCH as the other 7 ?What's not to like! 'Frosty Tops' has that gorgeous grey-green foliage that everybody is loving currently......and is a better bet for those of us gardening in a humid climate than grey-green than Festuca glauca (blue tussock) or Helictotrichon sempervirens (blue oat grass).If garden plants have you confused or you just want to learn, FOLLOW ME on Instagram for regular insights, tips and tricks on plant ..read more

What do you plant yours with?I'm adding a few of these spotty ligularia to my own garden today.Popping them in my shady, under the ???trees garden, next to my tractor seat ligularia, where they'll have companion plants of grassy acorus ???and golden 'creeping Jenny'.What's your favourite thing to plant with these, or are you not a fan??If garden plants have you confused or you just want to learn, FOLLOW ME for regular insights, tips and tricks on plants, planting d ..read more