Starting with Abies colimensis, this endemic of West Central Mexico was found by us to have conveniently dropped a cone on the dirt track up to the peak of the mighty volcano Nevado de Colima, Jalisco, from whence it was described by Keith Rushforth some years ago. It is closely related to A. religiosa, which is a success in Southern England at least.

30m Abies colimensis on Nevado de Colima, Jalisco, Mexico with giant Buddleja cordata

This same trip in 2009 has given rise to a fine batch of Cowania plicata, a tall woody Rosaceous shrub from N Mexico with vivid pink flowers turning to wispy winged seeds and cute little minutely lobed leaves, white under.

Aesculus wangii was collected by me last November in the highlands of N. Vietnam. This fascinating species is still not validly published and often thought to be synonymous with A. assamica, though experts can’t agree and populations within Vietnam differ, adding to the confusion. No matter, the foliage alone on this misty woodland dweller makes it worth growing.

Originally collected in Taiwan, I have grown Aralia bipinnata in the nursery garden for 8 years and it has been completely hardy, even through the winters of the last two years (so different a result from all the other odd species I’ve tried), making a large upright shrub to about 3m with typically impressive foliage. It has flowered regularly in autumn for years with creamy white upright spikes, but it only ever set fruit once and thus plants will be available this year.

Interesting Betula cultivars remain a strong point, with another four additions to this catalogue to add to the range of sumptuous bark colours and textures already available.

My youngsters of Cornus macrophylla derive from a tree in my parents garden, originally collected in the 1980’s by Mark Fillan in S. Korea. I first knew this taxon from an old, now long gone, specimen at Kew, which struck me as a very fine small tree with a splendid growth habit, being flat topped like a savanna Acacia. It is a first rate species that is known by very few and planted by fewer. It’s bone hardy, has great foliage, layered branching and conspicuous late summer flowers. What’s not to like?

Good old Disanthus cercidifolius is back on the list after many years. I am often asked for this autumn stalwart and this year I will take pleasure in not disappointing.

No less than 24 new Hydrangea can be found in this years catalogue, far too many to highlight here, but many delightful and highly obscure Japanese cultivars, amongst others, await your discovery. H. serrata, more than most, is a neglected species in gardens, where H. macrophylla and H. paniculata etc. usually steal the limelight. It is a refined, often delicate looking species with many cultivars to choose from, mostly with lacecap flowers and all with slim elegant foliage.

As with Hydrangea, the genus Magnolia is a Pan Global’ strong point and this year sees the addition of the wonderful rarity M. macrophylla subsp. ashei, a dwarfer form, in all respects, of its vast leaved relative, so much more suitable for small gardens – it flowers very young too.

Magnolia sapaensis is arguably the most exciting plant in the whole catalogue. I found it growing on the slopes of Fan Si Pan mountain, N. Vietnam in autumn 2009. It visually stood out from the various other Magnolia species we were encountering, not least because of the exceptionally handsome, silken, rufous terminal buds and white leaf backs and I assumed I would be able to get it named on my return to the UK. No such luck, this was stumping even the worlds best Magnolia experts. And so it turned out, after a number of emails around the globe, that we were looking at a taxon that had been noticed only a year before by a Vietnamese botanist. He was to publish the new species in 2010 as Manglietia sapaensis, but as the Western world has, on the whole, ditched the idea of keeping Manglietia, Michelia etc separate from Magnolia, the new combination Magnolia sapaensis was published in March 2011 by John Grimshaw in the journal of the Magnolia Society International. Just as interesting as the above was a conversation I had with Tom Hudson, owner of the inspiring Tregrehan Garden in Cornwall, who proclaimed to have this species (identified from my description) already thriving in his woodland garden, from a collection he’d made in Vietnam a few years previously. So, the plants at the nursery this year aren’t quite the very first in Western cultivation, but at least we know they will grow perfectly well here, at least in the milder areas of our Isles.

Muehlenbeckia astonii couldn’t be more different, being, to the eye at least, a shrubby version of the well known climbing plant M. complexa. Unlike that species it is a hardier, deciduous, densely bushy freestanding shrub with equally slender stems, but cast in a rigid, interlocking zig-zag form, creating a textural contrast to most garden plants. Strangely it is very seldom come across in the UK, though does feature strongly in the excellent New Zealand Garden at the Savill Garden.

Neolitsea sericea is a foliage plant par excellence; I challenge anyone not to be bowled over by the sheer gorgeousness of its expanding new foliage. I can think of nothing else like it – the words ‘silken gold’ come to mind. Small plants should be available later in the season.

Almost equal to Magnolia sapaensis in excitement inducing qualities is Parrotia subaequalis; introduced from China to Western cultivation only in 2000 and making its UK retail debut here at Pan Global’. This is a fully hardy species with brighter patchwork bark than its well known cousin (being described as akin to Pinus bungeana in the wild), a more upright form and infinitely more spectacular autumn colour, in fiery orange and scarlet (I have quite honestly never been excited by P. persica as a subject for autumn colour). Parrotia subaequalis has caused quite a stir in dendrological circles since its arrival here and has proved a perfect success in the very few gardens it is planted in. It was until recently described either as a Hamamelis or Shaniodendron, but its similarity to P. persica was finally acknowledged by Chinese botanists.

A couple of Philadelphus are seen here for the first time; Philadelphus madrensis was introduced by us from Durango, Mexico and they represent the true species, unlike the plants going around under this name, which are actually P. maculatus. The other new Philadelphus is a hybrid, found at Pan Global’ by chance as a seedling growing between P. mexicanus ‘Rose Syringa’ and P. palmeri. It is a lovely thing which I will probably name at some stage.

I am extremely excited to be offering various wild source Mexican Pinus species this year, from my own collections. Most striking of all is a blue-grey needled form of Pinus montezumae, collected at 2800m alt in NE Mexico, the coldest part of the country. I believe this provenance is quite probably the source of the famous old trees in a few gardens in the British Isles. These old trees have not only withstood some extremely harsh winters during their lives, but they also have blue-grey needles, something which is rarely seen in Mexico, with most populations having green, laxer foliage.

Pinus pseudostrobus is very rarely encountered in cultivation but is a handsome species, closely related to P. montezumae, with long, semi-lax, green needles. The seed for these was collected from the coldest provenance for the species, again in NE Mexico, giving the greatest chance for success in the UK. The other three new Pinus available this year are equally rarely available and those wanting these should buy now, as I only have a few.

Much in the same way, I have but a handful of the boldly good looking Pterocarya macroptera var. insignis, a tree which, again, is offered for the first time in the UK at Pan Global’.

Quercus features strongly this year, with wild collections of various rare evergreen Mexican species, too numerous to list here. Quercus griffithii from a Bhutanese collection is worthy of more trial in the UK, as it is barely known in cultivation, but Quercus rotundifolia, collected in Andalucia and closely related to Q. ilex, is known to do well here, yet is extremely uncommon for a European tree.

My collection of Rhus succedanea from N. Vietnam is not likely to be the hardiest species, but it is so beautiful that it would be well worth growing plants on to, perhaps, a couple of metres tall before trialling outside, as young plants are soft. This method is known to work well on other tricky plants.

Sophora cassioides is closely related to S. microphylla from New Zealand, but hails from Chile, where I found it growing in drier areas, making a large shrub or small tree with wonderful seed pods, constricted around the seeds in a random fashion.

A couple of great new forms of Sorbus hedlundii derive from Keith Rushforth’s collections in Bhutan, one with bigger leaves than usual, and if large Sorbus foliage is your thing, then look no further than Sorbus harrowiana.

It’s great to be selling Stewartia sinensis, a plant I have admired since my student days, the bark of which stands out from any other in the genus.

For a similar position how about the South Korean island form of Styrax japonicus? Really rather different from the Japanese plant, Styrax japonicus ‘Emerald Pagoda’, originally collected on Sohuksan-do, has big flowers and large, thick textured foliage, making one think it is perhaps a different species.

Talking of such things you couldn’t get more different than a new species to Western cultivation, which is exactly what Tetradium austrosinense is. I found this up in N Vietnam near the Chinese border where its attractive red petiole and rachis made it stand out from other species I know. I sincerely hope this settles in well here.

Any regulars will know of my love of the genus Tilia and I am very happy to be offering a few Tilia endochrysea and Tilia nobilis this year; both rare as hens teeth, particularly attractive and worthy of a place in any serious arboretum.

I’ve included some fine new Agapanthus forms this year; mainly but not exclusively selections of Agapanthus inapertus.

Lupinus montanus was found near the top of the volcano in Mexico that I mentioned at the beginning of this endless paragraph. It appeared at first sight to be a shrub, well branched and 2.5 metres tall, smothered in mauve-blue flowers, though it has turned out to be a fast growing annual that makes huge plants in one season and then sets copious seed, allowing you to create drifts the following season.

Growing a little up slope was Festuca tolucensis, which I can’t imagine being anything other than hardy, as it was residing at 3900m alt. It’s a good looking thing, larger than many, with blue-grey foliage and arching flower heads to 75cm.

Akebia longeracemosa is a hardy new addition to our gardens, flowering heavily here, with its very long and very dark, blackish-red inflorescences.

There are some other very interesting climbers this year, not least a Stauntonia I brought back from Fan Si Pan, N. Vietnam, which could of course turn out to be a Holboellia.

Acacia pataczeckii is thought to be the hardiest of all Acacia, even more so than A. pravissima and should one day grace many more of our gardens.

Acacia covenyi can’t compete for ultimate hardiness, but the foliage is just the most wonderful silvery-grey; worthy of a pot placed under cover if you are too scared to risk it outside in winter.

My passion for the supremely perfect form of many an Agave is well known, but my love turned to knee wobbling lust when we encountered Agave ovatifolia in the wild lands of far NE Mexico. Not only is this a truly stunning plant, making fat, squat, perfectly formed rosettes of broad, very deeply guttered, light grey-blue leaves, but it has proven to be a hardy, tough and tolerant grower in American trials. Even if I cannot grow this species in my cold Frampton garden (not that I’ve tried yet), I shall admire, fondle and drool over potted specimens until I die.

And if that wasn’t enough, I have some small plants of Puya raimondii, one of the most spectacular flowering plants in the world (really), available for you. You won’t find those for sale elsewhere!

There are various other tweaks etc., all put in place by my faithful web guru MrsThinkyThoughtHead.com. She’s a bit good at putting together an easy to use website; so important these days, what with all the pointless and annoying pap that flash(er) web designers like to put in the way of viewers enjoyment. So, perhaps you might like to find the time to set up a small shrine to her in a seldom visited corner of your home.

This isn’t the only update that has occurred in recent weeks. The plant database has recently been refreshed with what’s available in 2011. March may seem like a strange time to do this, with January being perhaps optimum, but there we are. I’m rather pleased to say we have 216 new additions to the catalogue this year, many of them extremely interesting and some completely new to cultivation. I shall outline a few of them in my next blog entry.

We spent 3 days on the highest peak in Indochina, Fan Si Pan, at 3143m high and also headed into rather more (botanically) uncharted territory in Ha Giang province, as well as various day trips here and there. The food is great and the people are friendly. Dog tastes like lamb.

Here are a few photos…

Our guide was a friendly and helpful dude. Fan Si Pan looms large over his right shoulder.

Aralia were fairly common at the roadside. This one is A. chapaense.

Edgeworthia sp. Not sure yet on the correct specific identity of this one, though it is supposed to be E. gardneri. It made shrubs to at least 2m high.

Dendropanax trifidus. An araliad shrub/small tree.

Tetradium austrosinense. The undersides of the pinnate leaves of this fast growing handsome tree are pink on the newer foliage. Not known in UK cultivation.... until now.

Schefflera macrophylla was found at mid elevations in full sun as here, where it has a compact crown, or in shade, where it doesn't.

Schefflera macrophylla

Here's a moody mountain shot with a fluffy cloud. It's actually the northern end of the Huang Lien Son mountain range. A fabulously rich area for temperate plants

One of the amazing ferns from the family Gleicheniaceae, Dicranopteris linearis. These can be weedy monsters, climbing over other juicy delights, but I will forgive them.

From our hotel balcony in SaPa we could see what lay ahead after breakfast; a wee hike up Fan Si Pan. Note to self: Must do some training beforehand next time.

Curculigo crassifolia was a trackside weed at mid elevations. Pleasant enough.

Dichroa aff. hirsuta. A Hydrangea relative.

Talking of Hydrangeas; this one is H. indochinensis. Not likely very hardy, but what foliage. Some forms however don't have the purple undersides.

An all too familiar site once you get into the forest. Cardamom growers are destroying the understory, across vast areas, for an easy cash crop. Everywhere we went (up to a certain altitude) this was happening, even in nature reserves.

Polyspora species, a Camellia relative making a small tree, was shedding flowers all over the place.

Schefflera fantsipanensis was common enough. This is probably this species, though there are other very closely related species in the area, all sharing the feature of a double rank of leaflets. How distinct they all are is another matter...

Vast swathes of mega rich virgin forest on the slopes of Fan Si Pan were destroyed by fire from Chinese shelling in the mid 1970's, apparently.

Looking north from the path on Fan Si Pan in late afternoon. With all our planty faffing we were behind schedule and had quite some altitude to gain to get to camp before dark.

Swivelling round to the east you can see that at this altitude we are amongst a thicket of relatively small bamboo with occasional shrubs.

Next morning we surveyed the scene around our campsite. A sea of Borinda to a height of about 4 or 5m.

Schefflera alpina are cute and always a pleasure to greet at the edge of the path.

The view back towards that hotel balcony was getting good...

Daphniphyllum aff. chartaceum

Camp 2 was spent under Lithocarpus etc, beside a rather pleasant, boulder strewn river.

This is the top of a Schefflera macrophylla that has been felled by cardamom planters. SHOCK HORROR! Note the undersides of the leaves are very pale, almost white.

This is one of the largest S. macrophylla we found. Note how open the crown is when growing as an understory plant.

Schefflera macrophylla

An iridescent blue Begonia in deep shade.

I just loved this fabulous fern. Dipteris chinensis.

Dipteris chinensis

Getting up and then backdown virtually vertical sections was fun to say the least...

Some members of the crew enjoyed toasty tadpoles for lunch. These surprisingly large babies (about 10cm) were hooked out of the river by our porters. Yum.

Our Black Hmong ethnic minority porters posing in front of a Huodendron. A tree that often made quite magnificent specimens at mid elevation. The bark is very thin, with a satin finish and exfoliates every year in patches.

The French half of the expedition, Charles, poses with what we believe to be Blechnum orientale. My literature has this as growing fronds to nowhere near this big. These were about 2.5m!

I believe this handsome beast to be Schefflera farinosa. Leaves were about the same size as S. delavayi.

Dawn in a stilt house village in the middle of nowhere. We had to fill rivers with rocks 4 or 5 times, in the dark, just to get our 4WD vehicle up to this place, where we were expected for a home-stay with the locals. The WC, which projected out over this pond, had a palm leaf for a door and last night's supper made good eating for the carp directly below.

Our new porters head off toward the giant Fishtail palm Caryota maxima (not that they had any interest in it), flanked by Livistona jenkinsiana. Our day was to be spent climbing hard from 500m asl to c.2000m asl.

Caryota maxima towering above a river.

Livistona jenkinsiana were common in the landscape. The underside of the fronds was pale and stood out quite strikingly from a certain angle. Our task was to reach the right hand peak on the skyline by dusk. Mission accomplished.

I just love that rice-paddy amphitheatre in the middle.

Our porters were gathering bamboo shoot tips as they went, which made a delicious lunch, spent in a cardamom growers hut.

Pentapanax sp. makes a small tree, but is a semi-parasite and is very difficult to cultivate.

As we gained height we reached further into the ancient, almost untouched forest, which of course is now being planted up with cardamom.

Would love to put a name on this Begonia. Could be a new species I am told.

Who needs a tent when you have a rock? Our climb from 500m to over 2000m was a sweaty one.

The ancient forest canopy above was a site for sore eyes. This is probably Acer campbellii, in autumn garb, making a tree hugely bigger than it gets to in the UK.

This could be Daphne bholua, but I'm not aware that it is listed from Vietnam. It was certainly very closely related and smelled as good.

This Ophiopogon grew an upright stem to about 30cm. Anyone recognise it? I'm thinking probably not.

On our return back to SaPa we stopped to stroke another member of the Gleicheniaceae; Gleichenia truncata.

Gleichenia truncata. Utterly exquisite.

Back up in the temperate zone we had the pleasure of handling the giant conkers (Horse chestnuts/Buckeyes) of Aesculus wangii. The biggest one I found was a whopping 8.5cm diameter, which makes it 1.5 cm bigger than Flora of China has it. This taxon is considered synonymous with A. assamica, which has a huge range, though botanists don't agree and further investigation would appear to be necessary.

A. wangii looms large through the mist. The largest tree of the species we found.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw these young Emmenopterys. I wasn't aware this was in Vietnam, and, so it seems, neither are some experts with a keen interest in Asian flora.

Woodwardia unigemmata as it should be grown, and no doubt enjoying the fog.

Exbucklandia tonkinensis made a small to medium evergreen tree. This needs trial in the west...

It was a pleasure to see Liriodendron chinense in habitat. Note the foliage of adult trees compared to....

...the stark difference of a young vigorous specimen.

Rhus succedanea, a most elegant species with superb new leaf colour in this area.

And to end, myself with the leaf of a close relative of Schefflera; Brassaiopsis bodinieri.

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I was warned, when I first put one in the ground just a few years ago, that it may well not survive. No one quite knew how hardy it would be and there were real concerns over the very alkaline nature of my soil. Well, I can happily say that it has remained a rich green, grown to a patch about 1m across and puts up huge fronds, on long dark stipes, to 1.8m tall and nearly 1m across. Not only that, it has come through the shockingly nasty winter of 2009-10 without a scratch (fat new croziers are emerging from the ground as I write).

Martin Rickard in ‘The Plantfinders guide to Garden Ferns’ warns that it prefers acid or neutral soils. As stated above, this cannot be true, as my soil is particularly limey and causes chlorosis (yellowing of the leaves) in many species. He also writes that “in central England it survives, but rarely exceeds 60cm in height’. Martin grew his ferns only about 50 miles north of me, but my plant is three times this size.

Specimens equally as handsome as mine grow between rocks along the underpass area at RHS Rosemoor garden in Devon and are pictured below.

I look forward to seeing you sometime this season.

Quite why I haven’t spent the time putting them in the correct spot on my website here is another matter, but c’est la vie…

Mexico, January 2009

Vietnam, November 2009

Please don’t think I’ve been a lazy bug*er all this time; quite the contrary. Running a nursery almost single handed is not an altogether easy task, plus field trips to the Azores, S. California and (yet again) Mexico have rather got in the way of keeping up with all things computer related.

Please take a look at the ‘Plants new this year’ section, but remember, some of these will not be ready until half way through the season. Feel free to contact me in any way you see fit to check on current availability.

Happy New Year! Ahem….

During a visit here by Roy Lancaster a couple of years ago I showed him another, rather exceptional, very wide spreading clone and I was told that I really must name it. Dutifully I followed my orders and gave it the title ‘Phrampton Phatty’.

Euphorbia x pasteurii 'Phrampton Phatty'

Larger in both leaves and flowers than either parent, ‘Phrampton Phatty’ combines the full form of E. mellifera with the broad spread of E. stygiana. The plant in the photo is currently approximately 2m tall by 3.5m wide and still growing strongly (the photo above was taken a month ago). I planted it in late 2004.

This would be a good time to comment on the muddle and confusion going on in the trade at present concerning the name E. stygiana. As I mentioned at the beginning, E. x pasteurii entered the UK incorrectly identified as E. stygiana. Material was distributed to gardeners and nurserymen and the name has unfortunately stuck, with some. At least one well known nursery seems very resistant to change, even though I have informed them of their mistake. Watch out if you’re keen on obtaining the true E. stygiana (gorgeous as it is), you may well end up with a clone of E. x pasteurii, unless of course you come to me for the real thing. You might, while you’re here, if you have the room, want to pick yourself up a ‘Phrampton Phatty’ too

Young Blechnum magellanicum in Parque Nacional Nahuelbuta, Chile.

This impressive Chilean and Argentinian endemic fern has been rather a holy grail plant for many fern fanciers for quite some time. Well now it’s here, but it still remains rare and in short supply, though I still have some good sized plants available in 10lt pots.

This has, until very recently, been confused with the well known and widely grown Blechnum chilense, even by English fern buffs on the ground in Chile, though heaven knows why. I have recently had the chance to study plants of both species in the wild and the differences could not be clearer. Firstly, if you are lucky enough to see them, really old plants of B. magellanicum form stout trunks to about 1.2m high, rendering them quite cycad-like, unlike B. chilense which never remotely reaches such proportions. More important features, considering one may be comparing younger plants, are that B. magellanicum has very shiny fronds as opposed to the always dull surfaced B. chilense. The pinnae on B. magellanicum lack a stalk and the new fronds don’t display the rather striking pinky colouring often seen on B. chilense.

Beschorneria albiflora in cultivation in NZ. (Photo courtesy Douglas Horrell)

I believe this is the first time this, the most southerly of Mexico’s Beschorneria’s, has been offered for sale in the UK. B. albiflora is most unique in the genus in that each rosette of the plant forms a distinct trunk, sometimes up to 3m long. The generally rather green leaves are produced abundantly, giving a lush effect.

Beschorneria albiflora in cultivation in NZ. (Photo courtesy Douglas Horrell)

Beschorneria albiflora in bud. (Photo courtesy Douglas Horrell)

The long-branched inflorescence can be up to 3m in length and is mainly pale pink with distinctive, contrasting, whitish-green buds, which turn pink as they open.

This is probably the least hardy of all the Beschorneria species, so it’ll need winter protection in most areas of the UK, though mild Cornish or central London sites should suit it well. Coastal Ireland would no doubt be perfect and I’m sure other mild enclaves where it would thrive could be found. I’ll grow mine in a pot and drag it under cover for the winter months.