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ACM
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2017 10:52 pm Posts: 14 Location: West Sussex UK
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Your favourite small/dwarf shrub?
As title suggests, just keen to hear what everyone's favourite mini shrubs are.
I know what makes a small shrub a dwarf shrub etc is all subjective but just really looking to see what everyone thinks!
I think one of my favourites is Fothergilla × intermedia 'Blue Shadow' but have not had the chance to grow one as the garden is already jam packed.
Yours?
_________________ Adam
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Fri Mar 10, 2017 3:52 pm |
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themes
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2008 12:42 am Posts: 2148 Location: birmingham, UK
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Re: Your favourite small/dwarf shrub?
Rhododendron Proteoides.
_________________ Regards,
Mo
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Fri Mar 10, 2017 10:53 pm |
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Martinnicklin
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2012 9:06 pm Posts: 2675 Location: Telford UK
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Re: Your favourite small/dwarf shrub?
I adore the Kalmias. The flowers and their colours remind me of Sweet William. I wish they were easier to get hold of. I only have two but want more. I also think Philesia is a stunning little shrub. It seems to be a bit hardier than the Lapagerias ( my favourite plant of all) whose flowers it resembles. Sorry that's two!
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Fri Mar 10, 2017 11:01 pm |
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Tom Velardi
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:20 pm Posts: 4337 Location: Kyushu, Southern Japan (33.607N latitude)
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Re: Your favourite small/dwarf shrub?
I love Kalmia too. As for Rhodos, I like R. kiusianum, R. degronianum ssp. yakushimanum, R. canadense, and R. atlanticum (for starters). Also Deutzia gracilis, Forsythia xintermedia 'Arnold Dwarf', and Rosmarinus officinalis. Don't forget the dwarf conifers either - Tsuga canadensis 'Sargentii' and 'Cole's Prostrate' and Chamaecyparis obtuse 'Nana' come to mind quickly.
There are MANY to choose from.
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Fri Mar 10, 2017 11:40 pm |
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Paul Spracklin
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 3:55 pm Posts: 2564 Location: North Thames delta UK
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Re: Your favourite small/dwarf shrub?
I have a minor obsession with Mahonia eurybracteata subsp. ganpinensis 'Soft Caress' at the moment. The texture of the leaves is such a superb contrast with pretty much anything else and I just keep planting them!
_________________ visit my website - www.oasisdesigns.co.uk
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Sat Mar 11, 2017 8:47 am |
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ACM
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2017 10:52 pm Posts: 14 Location: West Sussex UK
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Re: Your favourite small/dwarf shrub?
_________________ Adam
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Sat Mar 11, 2017 3:50 pm |
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Martinnicklin
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2012 9:06 pm Posts: 2675 Location: Telford UK
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Re: Your favourite small/dwarf shrub?
Animals are usually pretty good at avoiding harmful stuff. My dog has never been interested in the Kalmias. As others have taken the opportunity to name more than one favoutite small shrub (shrubs are my favourite group of plants!) another couple I grow which seem to have remained small are Zenobia which is very pretty, Edgeworthia with its lovely scent, Jovellana (which has been mentioned recently on the forum), Ribes laurifolium (lovely at the moment) and my daphnnes fill the garden wit their delicious scent at the moment. BTW if anyone knows a source of Daphne Briggs Moonlight I would love to know. I did have one but removal men crushed it!
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Sat Mar 11, 2017 7:49 pm |
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Paul Spracklin
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 3:55 pm Posts: 2564 Location: North Thames delta UK
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Re: Your favourite small/dwarf shrub?
_________________ visit my website - www.oasisdesigns.co.uk
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Sun Mar 12, 2017 9:15 am |
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Steven
Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2008 4:02 pm Posts: 2486
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Re: Your favourite small/dwarf shrub?
"Minor obsession with 'Sweet Caress'"? *goofy grin* I now full well what you are talking about, I have half a dozen of them in the garden I came across Sweet Winter too recently, but for me these two are too similar to be worth having both. There's so many great small shrubs, that I don't even know where to start. I do, so: Another brilliant Mahonia is nitens 'Cabaret', with its outstanding shiny foliage emerging bronze and the unusual late summer flowers, which sometimes provide you a even second show in spring! A nice little thing and tough as old boots! Mahonia fortunei is also worth getting and has great foliage and stays rather short. And then there's the dwarf Nandinas...
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Sun Mar 12, 2017 5:30 pm |
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garytheflounder
Joined: Fri Dec 31, 2010 10:32 pm Posts: 241 Location: Brighton Sussex uk
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Re: Your favourite small/dwarf shrub?
I have to say cistus. Or some hebes, or euonymus, or ceratostigma.........or
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Sun Mar 12, 2017 8:07 pm |
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junglejason
Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2011 1:49 pm Posts: 206 Location: arthog, gwynedd, wales
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Re: Your favourite small/dwarf shrub?
_________________ Change the face of the UK, plant at least one palm a year. Jason
Last edited by junglejason on Thu Mar 16, 2017 7:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Sun Mar 12, 2017 9:01 pm |
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Svitlana
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 2:01 pm Posts: 4 Location: Aars, Denmark
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Re: Your favourite small/dwarf shrub?
I love the small Mahonias too! Have you tried growing the Mahonia eurybracteata 'Sweet Winter'? I recently got both a 'Soft Caress' and a 'Sweet Winter' and am keen to see how they both get on. The only trouble is the 'Soft Caress' looks like it's turning in to a palm with a long bare trunk and then only having foliage at the top. I'm not sure whether to prune it as it obviously only has the one main trunk. I don't know how tall they reach eventually but I'll tell you I was quite surprised when I opened the box up. Do you prune yours?[/quote]
I bought mine last year and yes, it was already a small palm. Since it kept on growing that way/as a tree/ I hesitated a little bit and then pruned it down to the lowest pair of leaves. In two or three weeks it showed several growing buds - one from each leaf that was left. I divided the cut off top into two parts because it was still too tall and planted them into the mix of pot soil and sand. Just because I always give a second chance to everything I cut off. In two(!) weeks both cuttings showed new growth. It propagates by cuttings like crazy. You need neither special soil mix nor special conditions. I kept mine on the northern window sill. Both were covered by glass jars.
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Mon Mar 13, 2017 8:51 am |
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Steven
Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2008 4:02 pm Posts: 2486
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Re: Your favourite small/dwarf shrub?
Propagating Mahonias by cuttings! Now that's new to me!! The only issue I have with SW/SC is the flowers: insignificant and hidden among the foliage. But heyho the foliage is great! Another good dwarf one springs to my mind Mahonia nervosa, a knee height spring flowering version of M x media so to speak.
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Mon Mar 13, 2017 9:47 am |
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NateInLondon
Joined: Thu May 05, 2016 10:44 pm Posts: 28 Location: NW London UK
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Re: Your favourite small/dwarf shrub?
I also have a real soft spot for these little mahonias. I recently saw some Mahonia confusa 'Narihira' at a wholesaler and was really taken with them. For all intents and purposes they look like a slightly larger 'soft caress' with broader, less wispy foliage - even more frondy and feather-palm-like! Narihira is definitely on my list of things to buy when I've found places to plant all the things I bought last year
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Tue Mar 14, 2017 12:38 am |
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hortusgardens
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2013 10:28 pm Posts: 115 Location: Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire UK
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Re: Your favourite small/dwarf shrub?
Mahonia from cuttings is not difficult. But the process is probably new to most people. Best to look it up, they are called Mallet cuttings.
_________________ Bill
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Tue Mar 14, 2017 11:07 pm |
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