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  • Dianthus

    (Pink, Sweet william, Carnation)
    Caryophyllaceae

    The commonly encountered garden varieties are European plants of garden antiquity grown for their attractive, often perfumed, flowers which pick well. They are on the whole easily grown but demand excellent drainage and plenty of sun and are ideally suited to poor, dryer, well drained, alkaline soils. They are often encountered overgrown and root bound, tucked away in the shade, to which they are intolerant, and once purchased are good naturedly smothered with too much "good" garden practice.


    Pinks are known to all by name, which they lent to the colour, if not in person. Classic perennials of English cottage gardens. They have extensive root systems and most varieties offered are quite hardy in Perth with a good drink once a week over summer. They invariably have narrow, glaucous foliage resistant to dry air and high light intensity.

    Sweet williams (Dianthus barbatus) are biennials that will often persist for several years and typically have tall stems bearing clusters of small fringed flowers. They have broader leaves and require a bit softer conditions than the Pinks. The Nigrescens group seem the hardiest of the bunch and can become quite shrubby, potted colour varieties, often sold by the punnet, are worth growing but usually amount to little more than tender annuals.

    Carnations (Dianthus caryophyllus). Those developed for the cut flower market are mostly ugly plants needing support and are best left to the dedicated enthusiast or florist. Better garden plants are the seldom seen border carnations, they have the same beautiful flowers of the florist types but are less gawky, don't need staking, are often perfumed and are almost as hardy as the pinks.
    • barbatus ‘Isabella Rose’   CAG01380
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      An evergreen, mounding perennial or biennial. The narrowly lance shaped, satiny green, bugundy-black tinted leaves, variably streaked in cool white are borne in tight rosettes on red stems to form quite large, dense mounds. Throughout the warmer months simple, rounded flowers of darkest satin red-black are held among fine white bracts, in flat heads, on slender, erect, sparsely leaved stems.
      Tough and as easy to grow as most Dianthus, merely needing well drained soil and sun to thrive. Just don't crowd them with other plants

      A plant of an exciting colour combination that we are proud to say is our own introduction, discovered in our nursery in 2000.

    • ‘Cherry Queen’   CAG00201
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      A clump forming, evergreen perennial. Highly decorative, intensely glaucous, grey-blue, stiff, strappy foliage. Frequently throughout spring and autumn, sprays of double, pink carnation flowers with attractive dark red markings, are produced. Dead head to promote flowering. Cut back hard when it becomes leggy. All dianthus are extremely tough.

    • ‘Norgate's White’   CAG00208
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      A charming Pink raised by esteemed Australian nurseryman Dennis Norgate. Most richly scented, pure white, double flowers on fine nodding stems over loose buns of uncommonly pale, grey-green, needle-like foliage.

      For sunny, lean, well drained soil, possibly with some of its brethren for company or Silene ‘Robin Whitebreast’ for a perfumed alabaster duet.

      A reliable and floriferous favourite.

    • ‘Pink Parasol’   CAG01706
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      Small, satin pink flowers with reflexed petals appear like tiny umbrellas stiffly held above the shrubby mound of linear, silver-blue, glaucous leaves.

      Highly floriferous in any well drained very sunny soil. Cut back after flowering to keep fresh and dense.

    • ‘Raspberry Parfait’   CAG01553
    • ‘Watercolour’   CAG00213
      Dianthus ‘Watercolour’
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      An exceptional plant forming a dense mat of needle-like, very glaucous foliage, studded with flat, stippled, pink and pinked, delicately scented flowers throughout the year but in abundance through spring.

      A variety we have grown for many years and it has never failed to impress both in beauty and hardiness. Drape it over walls, across or in paths, with a few small spring flowering southern African bulbs for some garden pizzazz, or have it spill from a large planter with a choice succulent companion.

  • Lathyrus
    • odoratus ‘High Scent’   CAG02804

      (Sweet pea)
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE
      SEEDS

      A modern Sweet pea considered to be one of the most strongly scented. The vigorous plants bear an abundance of large creamy flowers edged in lavender throughout spring and well into summer if given the chance. Remove the spent plants once the seeds have scattered or been harvested.

      Self seeds reliably and performs brilliantly without irrigation although a few drinks late in the season will greatly extend flowering. Happy in any soil from sand to clay that is preferably alkaline (pH > 7).

      Scatter a few seeds around, preferably near something for them climb on or else they make a lovely weed suppressing ground cover, for an instant cottage garden.

      Each packet contains 20+ seeds, enough to cover the average suburban fence.

  • Matthiola
    • incana White perennial   CAG01740

      (Perennial white stock)
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      A perennial form of the common garden stock.

      Highly perfumed single white flowers are born in fat spikes emerging from silver rosettes of lance shaped foliage carried on woody stems and becoming shrubby with age though after several years becoming too woody and then best removed to make way for the plentiful seedlings that usually appear.

      Leaner more exposed positions give more attractive and lasting results but easily grown in any well drained soil, adores alkaline coastal sand. Summer irrigation unnecessary.
      An essential in cottage style or Victorian period gardens.

  • Nicotiana
  • Penstemon

    (Beardtongue)
    Plantaginaceae

    A North American genus consisting of mostly drought and heat tolerant clumping perennials or sub-shrubs with tubular flowers. There are many spectacular species and cultivars in a wide range of colours from white through pink, red, purple and a few yellows but most notably blues of a luminosity rarely found in other genera.

    Wild species tend to be more heat and drought tolerant than English hybrids developed for milder climates, though all demand ample sunlight and excellent drainage, preferably with poor soil.
    • palmeri   CAG01730
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      I'll start by quoting Robert Nold in Penstemons "one of the glories of the plant kingdom"

      An evergreen clump forming perennial, adapted to life in the harsh conditions of the North American south west. Found in impoverished, dry, clay soils it should prove a winner in WA, it's deep roots effectively drought proofing it. During summer, highly fragrant, pink, balloon-like flowers crowd one side of the tall slender stems, the bases of which are clothed with large, toothed, silver-blue leaves.

      You need this in your garden.

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