OFF PEAK - Lambley Nursery

LAMBLEY NURSERY
AUTUMN 2012

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LAMBLEY NURSERY
AND GARDENS
www.lambley.com.au
WEBSITE
We offer more plant varieties for sale on our website than in this catalogue. David
Glenn’s Garden Notes can also be found there. www.lambley.com.au
PACKING
We take a great deal of care in growing, selecting, packing and dispatching our
plants. Our policy is to replace plants which do not arrive in a good condition.
If there is a problem please let us know within 24 hours as we will not be able to take
responsibility after that time.
DELIVERY TIME
Plants will be dispatched as quickly as possible. Due to the large number of orders
when the catalogue is first sent out there may occasionally be some delay. Please
let us know if you need plants delivered by a certain time.
NURSERY AND GARDEN OPENING TIMES 201 2
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: lambley10@bigpond.com
Website: www.lambley.com.au
ASCOT is 12km north of the Western freeway, which by-passes Ballarat, on the
C287 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.
Cover Image: ‘Rosa sweginzowii in the Dry Garden, Lambley Nursery’
This catalogue has been printed using soy based inks on environmentally sustainable paper.

“Poppies and Other Miracles”
An exhibition of new paintings by Criss Canning
Monday 30th April until Saturday 19th May
at Metro Gallery 1214 High Street, Armadale, Victoria 3143
The Exhibition will be opened by Gordon Morrison, Director of the Art Gallery of Ballarat on the
evening of Wednesday 2nd of May. You are invited to have drinks with the artist on opening night.
The Director of Metro Gallery, Alex McCulloch, will be happy to give private previews by appointment.
Tel No 0488300300 Metro Gallery 03 95008511 alex@metrogallery.com.au
“Wild Poppies” (detail), © Criss Canning 2011
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Achillea ‘Credo’
When Criss and I were last in England
we went to Wisley. The Achillea trials
were being held in Portsmouth Field
next to M25. The roar of the traffic was
so awful that we nearly turned back
before we got to the trials. Achillea
‘Credo’, raised by the great German
nurseryman, Ernst Pagels, was one of
the best plants there. It has creamy
lemon flat heads of flowers for a long
period over grey green foliage. We use
it in our double flower borders. 100cm x
60cm. $9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Agapanthus ‘Purple Cloud’
We’ve used this fine New Zealand
raised Agapanthus in some mass
plantings in Melbourne City Council
gardens and seeing well established
plants flowering in the Flagstaff and
Alexandra Gardens opened our eyes to
this plant’s strengths. It makes 180cm
tall stems topped by large heads of dark
violet-purple flowers over upright rather
greyish green evergreen foliage. 180cm
x 90cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Agastache aurantiaca ‘Copper Rose’
Copper Rose Hummingbird Mint
This is a new, larger flowered and more
vigorous selection of A. aurantiaca. It
makes a soundly perennial plant some
100cm tall and 80cm wide with a long
succession of tubular, copper-apricot
flowers which age to rose-copper. Our
resident New Holland Honeyeaters feast
on the nectar of its flowers from
mid-summer until late autumn. I cut it
back to the basal new growth during
winter. Drought tolerant.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00

Allium carinatum
ssp. pulchellum f. album
The rare and exquisite but easily grown
pure white form of this summer/autumn
flowering allium. 30cm tall flower stems
carry graceful loose heads of icy white
flowers for two months or more. We
grow it through low growing perennials
in a sunny spot. It will gently self sow
and form handsome drifts. Pot grown.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Allium senescens ssp. montanum var.
glaucum
Curly Allium
A summer and autumn flowering
evergreen bulb which is happy in both
dry and moist soils if well drained. Best
in sun but happy in a little light shade.
Once established it will produce many
balls of soft amethyst flowers on 20cm
tall stems over a prostrate mat of blue
foliage. 20cm by 20cm.
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
Asphodelus aestivus
Common Asphodel
A southern European plant which grows
in pine woods, olive groves and heavily
grazed land from south west Spain to
Greece. Sometimes evergreen it is
generally dormant during the two hottest
months. This asphodel makes 120cm
tall branching spikes carrying hundreds
of white stars and is in flower for a good
eight weeks during spring. Sun or light
shade.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
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Aster x frikartii ‘Jung Frau’
This is the Aster x frikartii that Dennis
Norgate sold for so many years and it is
one of the best of all Easter daisies. It
produces its large well shaped cool
lavender-blue flowers from February
until May. It has been in the same spot
in our double borders for nearly 10
years. Once planted it is best left alone
as it will sulk, or worse, if moved at the
wrong time. Sun. 50cm x 60cm.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
Aster amellus ‘Pink Zenith’
Aster amellus is a widespread species,
growing wild from Turkey to Kazakhstan.
Much more tolerant of drought than the
common Easter Daisies it also flowers
for much longer. ’Pink Zenith’ has large
soft cyclamen-pink, well formed flowers
from early summer until quite late in the
autumn. Sun loving, tough and
free-flowering. 30cm by 30cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Aster amellus ‘Violet Queen’
A long flowered Easter Daisy much
tougher than most of its kind. It blooms
for us from January until April. A native
of Turkey and nearby countries it is
happy in our torrid Australian summers.
It needs a sunny spot and grows about
20 cm tall and 30cm across. The
violet-purple flowers are very showy.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00

Beschorneria yuccoides
False Red Agave
One of the wonders of the hardy plant
world, drought tolerant and totally
handsome. Beschorneria yuccoides
makes a 100cm tall rosette of
pewter-grey yucca like foliage, soft to
the touch and not at all spikey. When
large enough it sends a dramatic 2
metres tall, red flower spike which
carries bright green flowers enclosed in
showy red bracts. Allow for a 90cm
spread.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
Brunnera ‘Dawson’s White’
Variegated Siberian Bugloss
This plant is happier in shade where its
large creamy white variegated leaves
are handsome the year round. During
spring a cloud of sky blue, forget-me-not
flowers floats above the foliage mound.
It needs some supplementary watering
during summer. 50cm x50cm.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
Buddleja crispa
This drought tolerant shrub is grown
more for its handsome foliage than for
its flowers, pretty though they are. In our
dry climate garden it has made an
upright shrub some 200cm x 180cm.
The new leaves are like white felt which
as they age turn grey. The 50cm long
panicles of pink flowers are not nearly
as densely packed as B.davidii. We
grow it with the pewter-grey leaved
Yucca ‘Ivory Towers’ and a swarm of
mixed Scabiosa hybrids. We cut it back
to 90cm after flowering.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
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Bulbinella nutans in the Dry Climate Garden, Lambley Nursery
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Bulbinella nutans
Whilst this plant grows in moist peaty
soil in its native South Africa it has been
very happy here in our dry garden for
the past decade; the clumps increasing
in size and beauty each year. The bright
yellow torches, held on 120cm tall
stems, shine during late July, August
and early September. In late spring the
leaves die down and the plant
hibernates for the summer. 120cm by
40cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Bystropogon canariensis
I remember my late father being very
taken by this when he visited Australia.
He planted lots of it in my brother’s
Monbulk garden. A frost hardy, drought
tolerant evergreen shrub which from
early summer until late autumn turns
itself into cumulus clouds of soft grey
flowers. Wonderful. It can get up to 2
metres tall but with winter pruning about
half that in our dry garden. Allow for a
spread of a metre or a little more.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00

Campanula poscharskyana
‘Blue Waterfall’
Blue Waterfall Serbian Bellflower
A beautiful new variety of this tough
ground covering, shade loving bellflower
with deeper blue flowers than the norm.
The star shaped upward looking flowers
are produced for a very long period
during spring and early summer even
into the autumn if the spent flower stems
are removed. It grows 8cm tall with a
spread of 60cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Ceanothus ‘Yankee Point’
One of the best of the ground covering
Ceanothus making arching mounds of
dark green, relatively large, evergreen
leaves. During early spring “Dusty white
buds develop into 2 inch long panicles
of China-blue flowers”. These flowers
contrast beautifully with the dark green
foliage. This Ceanothus is both frost
hardy and very drought tolerant. Our
plants are growing on a hot dry bank
which rarely if ever is watered. 120cm
tall by 250cm wide.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
Cistus salvifolia ‘Prostratus’
This drought tolerant evergreen shrub
makes a 120cm wide evergreen mat
clothed in small sage like leaves. During
late spring it is graced by hundreds of
white, golden centred flowers redolent of
a small single rose. It flowers with blue
Scilla peruviana in the dry garden and
spills onto the gravel path. It would be a
fine subject to plant at the top of a
retaining wall. 15cm x 120cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
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Clematis ladakhiana
Named for its home in the Ladakh
region of Northern India, this vigorous
climber is one of the easiest to grow and
most drought tolerant of all Clematis. It
has markedly dissected grey-green
leaves and from mid-summer into the
autumn carries bronze-yellow lanterns.
The autumn seed heads are particularly
handsome and warrant the popular
English name, “Old Man’s Beard.” It will
quickly cover a two metre high fence.
200cm x 150cm.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
Dianthus ‘Mars’
Mars English Pink
Dianthus ‘Mars’ makes tight tuffets of
silver leaves 8cm x 30cm. During late
spring it is covered with small, double
crimson fragrant flowers. I’ve grown this
plant, which originally came from
Woodbank Nursery, for 30 years or
more. Like all of its kind D. ‘Mars’
prefers a sunny spot and tolerates
dryness. 15cm x 30cm.
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
Dianthus ‘Old Velvet’
Old Velvet English Pink
The English pinks are the cottage
garden relatives of carnations. They
make a lovely garden edge (we use
them as an edging plant in the
vegetable garden) and are fabulous
picked for posies. The fragrance is
sweet and spicy but not cloying.
Dianthus ‘Old Velvet’ is a fabulous old
fashioned pink with semi double flowers,
deep plum with white tracery. Tough
and drought tolerant. Sun. 25cm x
25cm. $8.00 each or 3 for $21.00

Erigeron glaucus ‘Seabreeze’ PBR
We’ve been given this plant by our
friends at PGA. Although all E. glaucus
clones are low growing some have
rather lax flower stems. Erigeron ‘Sea
Breeze’ has flowers that sit neatly above
the evergreen foliage giving a good
mass spring and early summer display.
Like all of its race this plant is tough sun
loving and drought tolerant. It will also
tolerates salt winds. 20cm x 30cm.
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
Eryngium campestre
A rare British native which also grows
throughout Europe and Turkey. G.S.
Thomas writes “The glaucous green
leaves are so dissected that they are
little more than white veins with greygreen
flanges.” The prickly flower heads
are green too. A beautiful subtle plant
which makes an interesting cut flower. I
cut it to the ground during winter when it
soon makes new basal foliage rosettes.
Enjoys the sun and is drought tolerant
when established. 50cm by 50cm
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
Euonymus alatus
Shrubs from China and Japan don’t
generally do well here at Lambley. Our
summer’s hot dry winds are too much
for them. The deciduous Euonymus
alatus is an exception. I planted one
some years ago and it has never had a
burnt leaf and always puts on a really
good autumn display with foliage turning
pink and crimson during April. This form
is more graceful than E. alatus
‘Compactus’ which is most usually
available. 200cm x 200cm.
$15.00 each
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Furcraea quichuiensis
Mecate
This species is fairly new to us but is a
fabulous foliage plant for a shady spot,
even relatively dry shade when once
established, although it is native to the
mountains of southern Mexico where it
gets regular rainfall. It eventually will
make a two metre tall trunk topped by a
two meter diameter rosette of wide grey
yucca like leaves.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
Geranium ‘Dylis’
This is a hybrid between G. sanguineum
and G. procurrens with the cut foliage
and growth habit of the former and the
dusky magenta-purple flowers of the
latter. It soon forms a carpet some 60cm
across and is happy in sun or light
shade. 15cm by 60cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Halimiocistus wintonensis
‘Merrist Wood Cream’
I hadn’t seen this plant for 20 years or
more until I dropped in on Malcolm
Harris at Stoneyford near Colac several
years ago. In Mr Harris’s garden this
evergreen shrub was 70cm tall by
100cm across. On the day I was there it
was covered by exquisite creamy yellow
flowers with a showy maroon centre. To
my mind this has one of the most
beautiful flowers of any shrub. It is
happy in any sunny spot and is drought
tolerant.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00

Hesperaloe parviflora
There are few plants as beautiful, as
architecturally interesting and as tough
as this. A native of northern Mexico and
parts of Texas, it tolerates extremes of
heat, cold and drought as long as the
soil is well drained. The narrow
succulent foliage has rolled margins
edged with curls of cotton like threads.
During summer and autumn two metre
tall flower stems carry hundreds of deep
pink to red inverted bell flowers
Evergreen clumps 90cm x 100cm
eventually. $9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Iris foetidissima ‘Variegata’
One of the best evergreen foliage plants
for dry shade, Iris foetidissima
‘Variegata’ is suited to difficult and not
so difficult areas under trees tolerating
drought very well when once
established. The arching deep green,
broadly sword shaped leaves are boldly
striped cream. The flowers which are
rarely produced are worth close
attention. 60cm x 60cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Iris pallida ‘Amethystina’
One of the most beautiful of all the
bearded iris, Iris pallida ‘Amethystina’
has been one of the stars of our dry
garden for more than ten years. The
beautiful blue-green sword shaped
foliage is clean the whole season long.
90cm tall stems carry several wonderful,
classically shaped, amethyst flowers
during October and early November.
Happy in any sunny spot. 90cm tall by
60cm wide.
$15.00
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Massed Lilium ‘LA Hybrids’ in the vegetable garden
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Kniphofia ‘Winter Cheer’
‘Winter Cheer’ is one of the delights of
winter when the large flower heads,
scarlet with a yellow skirt, are produced.
In very cold areas frost may burn the
tender buds as they first emerge from
the foliage clump. The larger growing
kniphofias are tolerant of drought and
this is no exception. I cut the leaves
down to about 15cm. after flowering has
finished as this keeps everything tidy.
150cm x 100cm. Sun.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Lepechinia salviae
The Chilean Pitcher Sage is one of the
stalwarts of our dry garden where it
makes strongly upright shrubby growth
with large, handsome grey, arrow
shaped leaves. From mid summer until
quite late in autumn the stems are
topped by large spikes of dark purple
pink flowers. Much visited by our
resident New Holland Honey Eaters who
enjoy this plant as much as we do. We
cut it to the ground during winter. Sun.
150cm x 100cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00

Lilium LA Hybrids
These are a fairly new strain of Lilium hybrids and are a cross between L.
longiflorum and the Asiatic hybrids hence the name LA. Easily grown and with
larger, longer lasting flowers than the Asiatics, they make superb cut flowers and
good garden plants. All the varieties below are self-supporting and flower during late
spring and summer. Plant the bulbs 12cm below the soil in a sunny fertile spot.
3 of any one kind for $6.00 10 for $15.00
Lilium ‘Arcachon’
Lilium ‘Cavalese’ Lilium ‘Eyeliner’
Lilium ‘Orriolo’
Lilium ‘Batistero’
Lilium ‘Pavia’
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Lilium ‘Lesley Woodriff’ in the vegetable garden
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Lilium ‘Lambley Trumpet Strain’
A wonderful strain of drought tolerant,
self-supporting lilies ranging in colour
from cream to lemon and mostly with a
claret reverse, each one as beautiful as
the last. In our dry garden they grow
nearly 2 metres tall with very little extra
watering.
3 bulbs for $9.00 or 10 for $25.00
Lilium ‘Leslie Woodriff’
The best lily in our garden, L. ‘Leslie
Woodriff’ produces 2 metre tall, selfsupporting
stems each carrying a couple
of dozen flowers, white with dark
cherry-red centres. It flowers with us
during late January and February. It will
take a year or so to reach two metres in
height but flowers well even when
smaller.
$9.00 each bulb or 3 for $24.00
Lilium regale
This is the true, old fashioned
Christmas Lily. Lilium longiflorum seems
to have usurped the name in latter
years. Beautiful fragrant flared trumpets
of crystalline white, claret backed
flowers. It starts with during the second
week of December. It is pretty drought
tolerant too as we’ve had it growing in a
garden bed near the house which is
barely watered. Sun or light shade.
120cm x 30cm.
3 bulbs for $10.00 or 10 for $30.00
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Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’
Six Hills Catmint
This is the catmint featured in the
English coffee table gardening books.
We grow it in front of a stone wall in a
bed that is never watered. Grey leaves
set off lax sprays of ethereal, hazy
lavender-blue flowers. We cut it to the
ground after Christmas and again in late
autumn or winter. This cutting back
keeps it looking fresh and keeps it
flowering for 6 to 7 months. 50cm x
85cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Pelargonium reniforme
Pelargonium reniforme is one of an
interesting and beautiful group of frost
hardy South African Pelargoniums. It’s
been growing in our dry garden for three
years and has performed so well we
have planted another large patch by the
side of a gravel path. Evergreen with
round hairy greyish green scalloped
leaves about the size of a fifty cent coin.
It flowers from spring until winter with
dozens of magenta moths hovering well
above the foliage. Foliage makes 25cm
x 30cm. $9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Penstemon ‘Firebird’
(syn. P. ‘Schoenholzeri’)
An old vigorous variety raised in
Switzerland in the 1930s. “A glowing
shade of red...” narrowly tubular flowers
are a joy from late spring until winter. A
particularly long lived cultivar P. ‘Fire
Bird’ is a tough plant which needs very
little supplementary watering. I water it
half a dozen times a year at the most.
90cm x 90cm. Sun.
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00

Penstemon ‘Sour Grapes’
This famous variety has soft green,
amethyst and blue, narrowly tubular
flowers. Happy in a sunny spot and
needs very little extra watering. 80cm x
60cm.
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
Penstemon ‘White Bedder’
The best white penstemon although it
does have an occasional hint, and it is
just a hint, of pink in the flower.
Penstemons are such tough generous
plants flowering their hearts out for so
long that we can take them for granted.
They seem to need replacing every 4 or
5 years. Easily done as they often have
rooted side shoots or of course we are
happy to supply them. 60cm x 60cm.
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
Penstemon ‘Willy’s Purple’
One of the tallest of the race with very
upright leafy stems and spires of dark
wine purple, waxy flowers. Tough sun
lover which gets by with very little water.
120cm x 70cm.
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
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Perovskia ‘Blue Spires’
Russian Sage are tough drought
tolerant sun loving plants. This form
makes a billowing plant with finely
dissected grey leaves clothing strong,
whitish stems topped by long spikes of
lavender blue flowers. Best given a fair
bit of space to accommodate its
billowing habit. Plant a good inch below
the pot soil line. We cut Russian Sage to
the ground in winter. Best planted in
groups. 100cm x 70cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Phlomis grandiflora ‘Lloyd’s Variety’
This tough drought tolerant, evergreen
shrub hails from Turkey. We grow it in
our dry garden where its silver leaves
and whorls of yellow claw like flowers
are handsome the year round. We give
it a light trim during winter to keep it tidy.
It flowers on new wood from spring until
autumn. 100cm x 100cm.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
Pittosporum tobira ‘Wheeler’s Dwarf’
A fine coastal plant resistant to salt
winds and also happy inland growing in
sun or shade. This new low growing
form makes a neat round evergreen
shrub to about a metre in height and a
little more across. The foliage is dark
glossy green and handsome. It rarely
needs clipping as its habit is neat and
tight. Tough and drought tolerant.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00

Pterocephalus pinardii
Dwarf Pincushion Plant
A charming low growing evergreen
sub-shrub for the front of a sunny border
or in the rock garden. Mauve-pink
pincushion flowers stud the plant
throughout spring and are followed with
lovely fluffy seed heads. 20cm tall by
40cm across.
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
Romneya coulteri
Californian Tree Poppy
One of the wonders of the plant world
the Californian Tree Poppy carries huge
pure white flowers with a rich yellow
central boss (The flower has been
likened to a giant poached egg.) on top
of stiff branches clothed in handsome
large grey cut leaves. It makes a large
suckering shrub which needs a fair bit of
space. It is happy in the toughest of
spots and prefers it dry. 150cm x
200cm.
$12.00 each
Salvia fruticosa ‘Greek Skies’
A beautiful little grey foliaged shrub
which we got from Judy Forrester’s
Nursery in Apollo Bay a couple few
years ago. Happy in the spartan
conditions of our dry climate garden
where it grows near Euphorbia x martinii
on the east side of an olive tree. Salvia
‘Greek Skies’ has spear shaped leaves,
grey green edged with silver, and showy
soft mauve flowers. Tough drought
tolerant and sun loving. 80cm x 70cm.
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
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Salvia ‘Magenta Magic’
A fabulous new offering producing long
wands carrying deep magenta flowers
above a vigorous bush some 80 cm or
so tall. It flowers from summer through
the autumn into winter and is happy in
sun or light shade. A hardy and drought
tolerant plant. 100cm by 90cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Salvia nemorosa ‘Blue Hills’
Softer and more nearly true blue than
other Salvia nemorosa types this is a
wonderful addition to this group. Gentle
mauve-blue flower spikes on a tidy low
growing plant, from spring until winter.
Like all the Salvia nemorosas we cut
this to the ground during winter and also
when the first flush of flowers starts to
look tired in midsummer. This Salvia
then is in flower for more than 20 weeks.
35cm x 35cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Salvia nemorosa ‘Snow Hills’
There aren’t many good white flowered
salvias besides this one. Salvia ‘Snow
Hills’ is a sport of S. ’Blue Hills’ and
makes dwarf tidy clumps of stiff upright
stems which carry spikes of clean white
flowers. It has grown well in the dry
climate garden here at Lambley Nursery
flowering for 10 weeks during late spring
and early summer. We cut it back to the
ground in late December and get
another 10 weeks of flowers in the
autumn. 35cm x 35cm. Sun.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00

Salvia x superba ‘Tanzarin’
An import from Europe with particularly
elegant spikes of rich violet-blue flowers
enclosed in persistent purple bracts.
The first flush of flowers is in the spring
and early summer. If cut back to the
ground once the first flowering has past
it gives another display in late summer
and autumn. 80cm x 60cm. Sun.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Salvia greggii ‘Ritambelle’
Last year we imported this from Olivier
Filippi’s nursery in the South of France.
It has all the virtues of the species and
carries long stems of soft salmon-pink,
cream throated flowers which age over
time to a creamy peach-pink. Happy in
any sunny spot and a joy during its long
summer/ autumn flowering period. 70cm
by 70cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Salvia ‘Royal Bumble’
Another exciting first release of a Salvia
imported from France last year. The
glowing red velvet flowers with dark
almost black calyces are displayed on
long stems held well above the foliage.
Sun loving and drought tolerant. 80 cm x
60 cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
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Salvia ‘Silkes Dream’
One of the most exciting Salvias in our
trial gardens, with glowing tangerine
flowers displayed on long stems held
well above the foliage. Salvia ‘Silkes
Dream’ is a hybrid between S. darcyi
and S. microphylla. It grows to 100cm x
90cm, though smaller in our dry garden.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Santolina rosmarinifolia ‘Primrose Gem’
Primrose Gem Cotton Lavender
Two years ago I spent a day with my
son Ric Glenn, now head gardener at
Dulwich Park in London, at Beth
Chatto’s marvellous nursery near
Colchester. One of the plants I bought
that day was Santolina ‘Primrose Gem’.
It makes a symmetrical mound of very
dark green leaves which is covered
during early summer with moonlight wan
billy buttons. Tough, sun loving and
drought tolerant. 60cm x 80cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Sedum ‘Munstead Red’
One of the best Sedum with upright red
stems with blueish leaves. The cauliflower
like heads of deep red flowers are
produced during summer and hold well
into autumn. Sun. 60cm x60cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00

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.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Stylophorum dyphyllum
A plant of the Eastern US woodlands the
Celandine Poppy has grown in the same
spot in my garden for 15 years. It is in
complete shade during summer but gets
more light during its early spring until
early summer flowering period. Yellow
poppies, the size of a 50 cent coin, are
held on 30cm tall stems. The large oaklike
basal leaves, green above greyish
beneath, are handsome in themselves
30cm by 30cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Tanacetum densum ssp. amani
Hot dry rocky mountain slopes in Turkey
is the home of this beautiful little
evergreen silver foliage plant. A
compact near prostrate sub-shrub
covered by intense silver, Prince of
Wales Feather leaves. It makes a fine
foil for small spring bulbs. It’s best
planted in a well drained position in full
sun where it will get by on very little
water. It is more likely to suffer from over
watering than under watering. 15cm x
35cm. Sun. drought tolerant.
$8.00 each or 3 for $21.00
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Trachelospermum asiaticum
There can’t be many better evergreen
ground cover plants than this woodland
plant from East Asia. As long as it is
watered it will grow quite happily in sun
and shade. It makes dense mats of dark
glossy green leaves and produces
exquisite fragrant jasmine like flowers. It
will grow happily under trees and shrubs
as long as the shade isn’t too deep.
25cm x 70cm.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
Tunica saxifraga
A mat forming perennial with short
needle like grass leaves. During late
spring, summer and autumn 30cm lax
stems are covered with double, pink
flowers rather like the flowers of
Gypsophila ‘Bristol Fairy’ so beloved by
florists in my youth. It stays tidy
throughout the season. A good plant for
the rock garden it is drought tolerant and
prefers a sunny spot. 10cm x 30cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Verbascum atro-violaceum
This is a small growing Verbascum.
Soundly perennial and drought tolerant
this Central Asian native is relatively
new to cultivation. In my garden it
makes a small neat evergreen rosette of
violet tinted green leaves. For many
months from spring well into summer it
produces 50cm tall flower stems which
carry a long succession of dark violetpurple
flowers. It needs a sunny spot.
30cm x 15cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00

Yucca gloriosa ‘Nobilis’
A fine Yucca which Jeremy Francis of
Cloudehill imported from Beth Chatto
over twenty years ago. It doesn’t grow
too big, some 150cm tall by 100 cm
wide, so is fine for a relatively modest
sized garden where its sword shaped,
pewter grey leaves form handsome
foliage rosettes. A 100cm. tall flower
spike carries dozens of large, rose-pink
budded, white bells during late spring
and summer. A classic which has been
grown in English gardens for nearly a
century. $10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
Yucca recurvifolia ‘Variegata’
A friend imported tissue cultured plants
of this new variegated Yucca a few
years ago. This plant makes evergreen
rosettes of beautiful subtly variegated
foliage about 90cm tall by 90cm wide.
During spring or summer it sends up 2
metres tall flower spikes which carry
dozens of large white bells. It will take
any amount of drought but is also happy
in parts of the garden which are watered.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
Late Summer in the Dry Garden
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Ornamental Grasses in the Double Borders, Lambley Nursery
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Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’
This ornamental grass makes a strong
vertical statement. A cloud of hazy
mauve flowers on 180cm tall stems are
produced during early summer and
slowly age to creamy beige and then to
golden brown as it moves into winter. It
needs a little summer irrigation and will
grow in sun or light shade. Although the
foliage clumps are evergreen we cut
them to the ground in July to tidy them
up. 160cm x 100cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Miscanthus sinensis ‘Gracillimus’
The true ‘Gracillimus’ not a seed
introduction. This makes a 100cm tall
clump of slender elegant foliage
developing an interesting swirl during
the season. In late autumn and winter it
has lovely autumn tones of orange, gold
and coffee. The late autumn flower
stems reach 200cm and carry rich
purple-pink heads. Happy in sun or very
light shade. Although it needs an
occasional watering during summer it is
tough. 200cm x 100cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Miscanthus sinensis ‘Purpureus’
A smaller growing feather grass making
handsome foliage clumps of arching
leaves. The silver-pink tinged flowers
are produced in early autumn. Later the
foliage changes from green through
bronze tints to, in a good season,
orange red and brown. 120cm x 100cm
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
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Panicum virgatum ‘Heavy Metal’
Blue Switch Grass
This is totally different in both leaf colour
and outline to the other Panicums that
we list. Panicum ‘Heavy Metal’ makes
clumps of stiff upright stems clothed in
blue leaves. The autumn flowers, held
above the stems, are bluish at first and
then turn to oat gold. We grow this in the
dry garden. Sun. 1000cm x 80cm.
$10.00 each or 3 for $27.00
Panicum virgatum ‘Rubrum’.
Red Prairie Switch Grass.
Fountain like clumps of fine arching
leaves are topped by a cloud of maroon
midge-like flowers during autumn. Late
in the season the foliage turns bronze
red and finally to straw gold during
winter. We grow it in the double borders
with Sedum and Perovskia as well as in
the dry garden. 100cm by 80cm.
$9.00 each or 3 for $24.00
Poa labillardieri ‘Suggan Buggan’
A fabulous form of this native grass with
arching mounds of evergreen foliage,
blue and graceful. Typical upright stems
of flowers bluish in bud ageing to straw.
Cut back to about 15cm immediately
after flowering. 100cm x 100cm. Sun or
at most very light shade. The best blue
leaved grass we grow if given space to
breathe and display its beautiful form.
$12.00 each or 3 for $33.00

AUTUMN AND WINTER DVDS NOW AVAILABLE
Over the last three years Adele Film Productions have worked with me to make a
series of DVDs about dry climate gardening. All the shooting has been done here in
our garden. I think the DVDs have some of the best garden film work I’ve ever seen.
Filming took place almost every fortnight over a period of two years.
There is now a DVD for each season, four altogether, Spring, Summer, Autumn and
Winter. Each DVD is about one and a half hours long.
The complete set of DVDs are finished and available from the nursery at $29.95
each or $119.80 the set including postage.
www.lambley.com.au
Will Robertson is the director and cinematographer of this series of DVDs. Will is
second to none when it comes to filming gardens. I know of no other garden filming
which comes anywhere near the beauty of Will’s work. It has taken more than three
years to produce the DVDs.
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If undeliverable return to:
Lambley Nursery
“Burnside”
395 Lesters Rd
ASCOT VIC 3364
OFF
PEAK