|
|||
| Sponsors website: | |||
New plants and the Ozbreed gardensBy Sam McCoy and Katrina Layt Another summer has come to Australia and with it, some new additions to our trial gardens; some from our own breeding programs and others from various internationally-known breeders. Plenty of new shrubs and groundcovers, many new perennials with great foliage and flowers, trees and some exotics too! All of which are selected for their aesthetics and toughness. It has been a very wet summer throughout much of eastern Australia. This has given us a good chance to really see how these plants will hold up to heat, humidity, and rain. The rain has helped us along on the recent week of 40 degree days. We've also expanded the gardens, Ozbreed is not just the Ozbreed range of plants. We continue to expand our palette to include a wide range of Australian natives as well as other exotics. So we have to make room for more trials! In this garden, we have planted some of our new Shrubs and Groundcovers including Westringia, Callistemon and Grevillea. Also planted in this area are Lomandra Shara, Agapanthus Queen Mum and even our new Nara Native Turf. It is going great and has handled the heat, humidity and rain. For most gardeners in eastern Australia, Westringia are a mainstay because they are so tough. We have teamed up with the University of Sydney and Nuflora to introduce several new and useful forms of Coastal Rosemary. The one in front is called Grey Box, a great native alternative to English box, the one behind that is Ozbreed Aussie Box, a native alternative to Japanese Box. The other new Westringia that can't be seen in the photo is Blue Gem, it has amazingly fluroescent flowers. A great example of how Australian plants can be used to define spaces, hold embankments and still be water wise. Pictured here is our new Scaevola Purple Fusion (left front), Westringia Mundi (groundcover, right of Purple Fusion), Westringia Naringa (hedge, back left), Hardenbergia Meema (hedge, back right) with some Lomandra Shara intermixed for textural interest. Westringia Naringa is a hedge form of the ever-popular native coastal rosemary. It was selected because it will require far less pruning to maintain its shape. This is a selection from our partners at NuFlora/University of Sydney. Westringia Mundi is from the same breeding program as Westringia Naringa. Selected after 5 years of trialing to find the “lowest growing, groundcover form” of Westringia. If left unpruned, Mundi will only reach about knee height after 7 years. The nearest comparator was about twice this high! Yes, these will still need some pruning to keep a formal look, but nowhere near as much as others currently available and they still have a tidy look with their natural growth. Hardenbergia Meema was selected after almost 10 years of trials to find a “shrub form” Hardenbergia. Yes, it will occasionally need some light pruning to hold its shape, but it can be produced without staking and can be used in the landscape as a hedge or trained to climb as a vine. Great flowers seem to persist significantly longer than other Hardenbergia varieties available today. In the coming years we will introduce several new Callistemons; some from our own breeding program and others from the University of Sydney/NuFlora partnership: hardy low-growing varieties, “shrub” forms that are quicker to establish, others that are great for hedges and great foliage colour as well! Another amazing one is a slim growing Callistemon. Limited numbers and more information will be available late spring 2011. Shown here is our compact Crimson Villea. As well as our Gold Cluster and Cherry Cluster we are currently trialing many new shrub and tree forms. Some from our own breeding and some from other reputable breeders in Australia.When used in the right place, Grevillea are a great drought tolerant plant that can provide many months of colour. Some of the new selections coming through have beautiful flowers and form. The turf trial plots are shown below with both warm season and cool season lawn grass. We typically select fast growth rate horizontally, not vertically (i.e. better wear tolerance and quicker rate of recovery from injury), drought tolerance, cold tolerance, salt tolerance and, of course, great aesthetics! We trial all of our existing varieties, new varieties and competitors varieties to make sure that what we say is backed up by evidence. All of the plots are treated exactly the same so there are no variables. Liriope Pure Blonde has been planted below with black mondo. Cut it back in late winter and the new foliage flushes “blonde” and stays that way for a couple of months until eventually reverting to green in the heat of summer. This plant is best positioned with some protection from strong winds. It has amazing colour contrast and is a very unique plant. A great mix of natives and non-natives are shown below. Our lawn alternative Liriope Isabella is planted around Lomandra Katie Belles, Westringia Naringa (which has been cut back to a smaller height), Phormium Flamin with a few of our Velvet Range kangaroo paw in the background. For over 2 years we have been evaluating Isabella's potential as a lawn substitute with encouraging results! As you can see, this highly rhizomatous selection has completely filled this area making it a great choice as a low water, full sun to 90% shade alternative to mondo; grows to around 40cm high. We have maintained this area by mowing it once a year. Incidentally, Katie Belles is great for north eastern landscapes because it handles rain and humidity very well; not to mention those flowers that are beautiful and fragrant. Not native, but still great plants. Phormium, although oversold in many professionals’ eyes, are still great plants and there will always be demand for them with their wide range of colours and sizes. Our Phormium Sweet Mist; agurably the most dwarf bronze Phormium available today. Foliage is much softer than other Phormium We are always exploring new opportunities with some of our old favorites. One of our research areas is where we are measuring the Carbon-holding capacity of many Ozbreed plant varieties: Lomandra Nyalla, Lomandra Katrinus Deluxe, Lomandra Tanika, Dianella Cassa Blue, Dianella Revelation and others. Flower power! Below is a shot of our Agapanthus Queen Mum from a world-known Clivia/Agapanthus breeder. Selected for its contrasting violet and white flower and massive size/flower count. This variety has very low seed and viability, making it a safer choice of Agapanthus. A funky spin on Tibouchina below, it's called Olivia. Here’s another of our new perennials (recommended as a garden plant). This one is from a grower in New Zealand. Princess Flower is, as the name suggests, usually distinguished by their awesome flower but you will easily pick this one out by it’s foliage! The future is bright and growing for Australian native plants and for Ozbreed. So as we continue to build our Ozbreed Range, Velvet Kangaroo Paws, Foliage First and Advances Tree ranges we are very excited by the potential of our new Shrub and Groundcovers, Hardy Exotics, Emporium plants and Encore Azaleas.
Queen Mum
New Tibouchina Olivia |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Young, new Westringias and Callistemons in the background
Top left to bottom right: Naringa, Meema, Purple Fusion, Mundi
New Callistemons
Turf trial plots
Pure Blonde
Katie Belles, Isabella, Naringa, Flamin, Velvet Kangaroo Paws