Tree peonies – the ‘Moutan’ of myth
“One snowy winter day, Empress Wu Zetian , the first woman sovereign in China’s history, ordered all the plants to bud and blossom. But the peony, too proud to flatter the Empress, remained bare. The empress flew into a rage and had all the peonies in the Tang capital Changan ‘banished’ to Luoyang.” This is…
Corylopsis: a breath of spring
When I mentioned to Chris Sanders I planned to write a blog on Corylopsis, another genus that is vastly underappreciated and undervalued as a garden plant, he said ‘You’re a braver man than I am’. The taxonomy and nomenclature in Corylopsis is a constant source of discussion and debate, and too often so confusing it is…
Indigoferas: an overlooked treasure
Only a handful of the more than 750 species of Indigofera (mainly tropical and subtropical) will survive in the open in the UK, and of these only a small proportion are worth growing as ornamentals. But those that are worthwhile are excellent shrubs for any garden, flowering for months through summer into autumn if given…
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White House Farm Garden and Arboretum 