garrya ellipticaThis handsome evergreen shrub can be overlooked during other times of the year, but comes into its own during the bleak winter months.
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Although it can be grown as a shrub, it looks particularly stunning when wall trained, as the beautiful silvery catkins can be shown off to their best effect.
It is relatively fast growing, and will thrive even on north or east walls and can reach 15ft or 4.5m in height. Garrya's are dioecious, which means that plants either have all male flowers, or all female flowers.
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In this instance, the male is far showier than the female, and the cultivar 'James Roof' will usually be male, also most nurseries will only offer just males for just this reason.
The catkins start to develop in late summer looking like green caterpillars, and elongate until they can reach lengths of up to 30cm by November, and these last until February.
Linette Applegate. |
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