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.

Hey, special things on site now follow:

Catalpa fargesii f. duclouxii

I always find it rather strange how certain plants of such obvious quality remain so totally neglected, like the Chinese Catalpa fargesii f. duclouxii. This is one of the showiest flowering trees hardy in our Isles yet is still a rarity sold by just a handful of nurseries, indeed Pan-Global' was the only supplier listed in the RHS Plantfinder just a few years ago. They were seed raised stock, but in the meantime one of my customers, Roger Grounds (ex Apple Court owner), wisely suggested that we graft plants for earlier flowering. I have witnessed myself how long this species can take to flower from seed, so it was an extremely worthwhile suggestion (Roger seems to be rather good at those). A few of this years batch of healthy young plants have in fact already flowered in 2lt pots.

For many years this Eastern relative of the far more common 'Indian Bean Tree', Catalpa bignonioides from the USA, will be nothing other than a small tree, though the largest 100 year old specimens currently found in the British Isles have reached 18m (60ft). This is a tree that appreciates warm summers and soil that isn't excessively drought prone for best growth. In my experience its habit is more upright than C. bignonioides, which can often form a wide, low dome.

Plants in cultivation vary in their flowering display, but mine are derived from a highly floriferous specimen. Spectacular, large heads of lilac-pink flowers, speckled darker and with a rusty-orange stain appear in midsummer over elegant unlobed foliage with a long drawn out tip. It surely deserves a place in far more of our gardens.

Buddleja glomerata

New on the scene, Buddleja glomerata from the mountains of the Karoo desert in South Africa is in cultivation mainly under the particularly awful name B. 'Silver Service'; a name chosen either because no-one could be bothered to work out its true identity, or perhaps someone was adopting the all too frequent habit of adding a tacky name in the hope of selling more plants. Well, I'd rather sell less plants...

After a little Googling I found this species was perhaps not as tender as I feared it might be on first sight. Minimum temperatures of -5c were given, so I plonked one in hard up against a SW facing wall in the garden last September. Not only did this young specimen shrug off a -7c last winter, as well as countless other lighter frosts, it looked virtually perfect come spring; the evergreen foliage unmarked.

This is a first rate foliage plant; the whitish-grey leaves neatly and regularly lobed and with a delightfully undulating margin. The tight clusters of softly mustard coloured flowers seen in spring are at first glance most un-Buddleja-like, the anthers protruding so dominantly from the minute flowers as to conceal the other flower parts.

I'm looking forward to it forming a large shrub. It looks absolutely great against the soft, varied tones of the ancient brick wall here.

Phillyrea angustifolia 'French Fries'

If you want a very skinny leaved version of this useful and subtly attractive Mediterranean member of the Olive family then look no further. We have selected and named a very fine leaved form here from a batch of young plants raised from seed collected in S. France. It seems there is confusion in the trade as to what the true forma rosmarinifolia is and I think this should clear it up. In comparison with other material I have seen, I believe 'French Fries' represents this taxon and has very narrow leaves of a slightly more glaucous nature than straight P. angustifolia.

For those who don't know it, this will make a hardy, sun-loving, drought tolerant, bushy evergreen shrub, more compact than the species. Expect your plant to reach about 2m round eventually, unless of course you'd like to prune or shape, which it will respond to admirably. Clusters of creamy-white flowers line the branches in spring.

Juvenile Furcraea parmentieri, Hidalgo, Mexico

For lovers of the true exotic the name Furcraea conjures up images of mighty inflorescences rising metres high, seen on trips to the Med' or at the wonderful Tresco Abbey gardens on the Scilly Isles.

Many, but by no means all of the plants seen around gardens in Europe and beyond go by the name of F. longaeva. There are of course other species in cultivation, such as the truly huge but very tender F. selloa for example, but most plants encountered are down as F. longaeva. I hate to say it but virtually all the plants under that name are in fact, I believe, F. parmentieri. This closely related species differs in that it produces bulbils as well as seed capsules on the inflorescence after flowering, whereas F. longaeva produces only seed capsules. Other principle differences are the leaves being considerably larger and the branches of the inflorescence less weeping on F. longaeva.

So, if you've seen bulbils forming on a slim leaved species away from the very warmest areas of southern Spain or the Canary Islands for example, or even collected some for propagation, you have almost without doubt been looking at F. parmentieri. Not only that, but most if not all F. longaeva in UK cultivation and trade, let alone the rest of Europe, are F. parmentieri. Just to confuse you further, the name F. bedinghausii has been seen around recently, though that is actually a synonym of F. parmentieri.

What I offer this year are young plants of F. parmentieri with a difference. Bulbils for these have been collected at nearly 3000m (10000ft) altitude at one of the most northerly latitudes at which the species occurs in Mexico. I have witnessed myself a great deal of difference in hardiness between batches of F. parmentieri (labelled of course as F. longaeva) from cultivated stock over the years. This new collection should represent the hardiest of all Furcraea. That is not to say it will be an easy, bone hardy garden plant over large areas of the British Isles. If you want to grow this away from mild coastal (or inner London) areas put it right up against a warm sunny wall in well drained soil and if hard frost is forecast, lean something solid over it. I'll be planting some here, but will erect a semi-permanent, clear plastic shelter over the plants for the duration of the winter. Under those conditions it will tolerate some fairly hard frosts.

Another point about this offering is that in the wild state the plants had really rather pale-blue tinged leaves, as can be seen above, though whether that will be seen in cultivation here is uncertain.

Furcraea parmentieri, Hidalgo, Mexico.

The plant above has finished flowering and stands 10m (30ft) high. Foreshortening makes it look a lot smaller than it is, but note the happy gnome that is Paul Spracklin at the bottom right. Plants in cultivation never seem to reach that kind of size before flowering, but given soil that isn't excessively dry in summer and one can achieve mightily impressive proportions. I had a 15 year old specimen flower many years ago that reached 3m, but it had a pretty restricted life being stuck in a 20lt pot. I used to keep it in a cold unheated polytunnel over winter. It was nonetheless rather impressive and made the local TV news.

No doubt the hard graft needed to clean up the nursery site ready for a new season will snap me back into action. Perhaps it will just snap my back. The gates open for business as usual on 1st Feb and deliveries of nice things follow soon after. Saying that, there is plenty here already to feast your eyes on.

Chile was a veritable orgy of green goodies as one might expect and I shall endeavor to put up an illustrated report on the 'Expeditions' pages at some stage. Don't hold your breath for too long, as I haven't shown you Mexico 2006, California Jan 07 or California Oct 07 yet.

Even my little shed got a birthday badge. Sweet.

Some pics from its mountain habitat to illustrate its natural variability. These old plants are larger than you may imagine, being many feet across:

Along similar lines, and equally gorgeous and exciting to lovers of the simple form, is Aloe polyphylla, also available now at PGP (we are the only source listed in the 07/08 RHS Plantfinder). This is the fabled 'Spiral Aloe', forming, in time, a substantial single rosette of perfect spiral form.

This very high altitude beauty is endangered due to over-collection of medium age plants by unscrupulous individuals in its mountain kingdom of Lesotho, South Africa, where it inhabits a land of relatively cool moist summers and cold winters. Unusual for a succulent this plant appreciates a reasonably constant supply of water to the root, even in winter, which, allied to its obvious hardiness credentials, makes it a good candidate for trying outside in a reasonably sheltered, preferably raised bed in the UK. I know of several specimens, in the hands of plantsmen both here and in the Netherlands, growing strongly outside, flowering most years, and reaching up to 75cm wide. A truly marvelous sight.

Here's Dr Rob Senior's plant standing about 60cm in diameter: