Disa - Eryngium (excluding Epimedium and Ericas of South Africa)

Disa tripetaloides £6 FEW, FROM SPRING 2010
Diminutive terrestrial orchid from South Africa, raised ourselves from seed to flowering size (as Disa novices we take inordinate pride in this fact). This almost certainly means it's an exceptionally easy species. Our recipe for beginners' luck is: pot culture, grow in peat opened up with perlite, occasional very dilute liquid feed, stand in a shallow tray of rain water (never, never tap water) in shade with air movement (i.e. outside our north-facing back door) and let them be. They survive being frozen solid in winter, unscathed, although I'm not sure this is to be recommended. Some other evergreen species seem to able to be kept this way, but none have proved so easy from seed. Pretty little white flowers flushed lilac-pink on wiry 15cm stems.

Disporum
A genus of luscious Solomon's Seal relatives, for moist humusy shade.
Disporum aff. bodinieri £4
Branching stems to 2m, with lots of biscuity flowers, and rather olive green leaves. Came to us as D. megalanthum, which it ain't, but very nice anyway.

Disporum cantoniense
Clumps of strong, upright, olive green stems with little clusters of long, bell shaped flowers in late spring. We offer several forms of this variable species, all lovely:
Disporum cantoniense B&L 12512 £5
Flowers the same sombre purple all over; a shade lower growing.
Disporum cantoniense DJHC 98485 £5
A taller form, said to approach 2m when well established, with a bambooish air. Distinct in foliage. Few.
Disporum cantoniense 'Green Giant' £5.50
A Dan Hinckley selection. Tall, again, with an olive cast to the foliage.
Disporum cantoniense 'Aureovariegata' £4
Not a jazzy variegation, but a subtle two-tone green which when viewed from any distance gives the plant a different shade again.
Disporum cantoniense 'Night Heron' £5.50
Purple-leaved selection from Heronswood.

Doodia media £4
There's a whiff of Blechnum about this evergreen Australasian fern whose narrow, rough, dark green fronds are splendidly red tinted at first. Hardy in a reasonably sheltered spot. 25cm. Commemorates the wonderfully named Samuel Doody, who was Keeper of the Chelsea Physic Garden a very long time ago (there's precise for you.)
Dryopteris filix-mas 'Linearis Polydactyla' £4
The form of the male fern frond is transformed by the pinnae becoming extremely narrow, giving it a skeletal look. It is however very stiff, so the shape is weatherproof and has an interesting raspy feel.
Dryopteris tokyoensis £5
Japanese fern whose upright fronds have distinctive large pale green lobes. Deciduous. 90cm. Shade.
Echeveria 'Black Prince' £4
Dark rosettes 20cm across. Orange-red flowers in autumn.
Needs some winter protection.
Echeveria secunda var. glauca £4
Good sized, really glaucous rosettes with nicely contrasting orange and yellow flowers. Protection again.
Echinacea pallida  £4
A special thing we've had for years, but have only just worked out how to propagate. At least in this form it's a short (45cm) taprooted species, with very narrow pale lilac-pink rays which hang down rather than stick out daisy-fashion. It needs good drainage and a warm, sunny position.

Echinacea hybrids and selections
Not all these plants are easy to overwinter. Full sun, excellent drainage and a reasonable level of fertility are to be recommended. Graham Rice's level-headed article in the RHS Garden magazine (August 08) is a useful introduction to modern developments in the genus.
Echinacea Pixie Meadow Brite £4
Bright pink daisies on a short (50cm) bushy plant. Floriferous, not brittle, and seems to want to live. An outlandish 3 way hybrid. But the name! Only in America...
Echinacea purpurea 'Rubinglow' £4
Rather a deep purplish red, of great depth. Substantial. Despite the confidence of some, we still don't find this perennial in less well drained situations.
Ellisiophyllum pinnatum BSWJ 197 £5
A pretty little woodlander ground cover plant, with pinnately lobed leaves and plenty of small white flowers in summer.
Eomecon chionantha £4.50
Poppy of the Dawn. Translucent white flowers of great, if fleeting beauty; grey foliage. It runs wild and free in a shady bed, even on heavy ground, popping up at intervals. Great if you value serendipity, not if you prefer regimented formality.
Epipactis 'Frankfurt' £8
A selected clone of the Sabine grex, E. gigantea x E. veratrifolia. A freely running hybrid, with spikes to 40cm of reddish pink flowers with yellow on the lip. Humusy, reasonably moist soil. Very rarely offered.
Equisetum camtschatcense £5
A densely clumping horsetail, with medium thickness, leafless stems to 1m. Wet ground, hardy here. Probably a form of hyemale.
Eragrostis curvula SH10 £4.50
A particularly nice form of a variable South African grass with light, airy 1.5m flower heads. Not hardy in the coldest areas.
Eragrostis curvula 'Totnes Burgundy' £4
Our own introduction, now getting lots of good press in Britain and the US. Long, arching stems of steely grey flowers in summer, as in the type. The mature leaves are dark wine red from midway. Best in a sunny, well-drained site or large pot. It always looks best against gravel, wood, stone or silver foliage, not against green or earth. Surprisingly hardy if well drained.

Ericas of South Africa - click here

Erigeron pumilis £4
I'm not an Erigeron fan, but this one is irresistible. Nodding buds open upright to loads of wild daisy sized pale pink, yellow centred heads on 60cm stems in early summer. Bulks up freely and seems perennial with us.
Erodium 'Whitwell Superb' £3.50 FROM SPRING 2010
Flowers over a very, very long season, clear pink, unblotched. The leaves are very finely divided and a bit silvery.
Eryngium bourgatii Graham Stuart Thomas's selection £4
Spiny, curly, grey leaves veined white. Blue flowers on wiry stems to 50cm. Lovely in leaf and flower. For a well drained sunny spot.
Eryngium venustum £4
Elongated, deeply and 3-dimensionally lobed leaves are unique among the species which are at all widely cultivated. The rosettes are its great features; flowers ordinary green-white thimbly jobs. Sun, good drainage.
Eryngium tripartitum 'Jade Frost' £4.50
Very pretty variegation, a broad cream edge to each leaf of the generous rosette, neat and regular. It wil bulk up to form a multi-rosette clump, but slowly. Pale blue flower heads on 40cm stems. It has plant breeders rights, and these are bought in from tissue culture, since it's spectacularly slow and troublesome to propagate by any other means. I have to say that a plant looking very like this has been in cultivation for many years, but has always been extremely rare.