Winter Interest in the Garden - part 4 - Coloured leaves.

Hi Barbara - Another lovely blog, thank you. I grow some of these plants, except the Hebes, which don't like my garden or me or something! I was wondering, have you ever tried taking cuttings from your Pittosporums? I have one I would like to propagate, but so far no luck with it.....

Very pretty. What a nice idea, some colour in winter is always welcome. Thanks!

Hi Spritz...thankyou for sharing these lovely photos.Know it may not seem like it but we do have a few plants in our garden!! The heucheras are a particular favourite.At first just had a few of the "palace purple" but last year planted the wonderful "creme brulle",as the colour complemented the purple.Will post a photo when weather picks up and we get around to tidying the borders !!

Another great blog Spritz, i must say i have thought very much about leaf and texture this year, especially for winter interest, and all the blogs about this have been very inspiring. their is only one of these that i don't have which is the Choisya - to be honest like the look of them but not too fond of the smell lol. but you never know i may need a bit of extra umph in my new shrub bed, 'sundance' would be the one i would choose, - i'll just make sure it's away from any seating areas lol

It's strange, isn't it - I love the smell of the leaves, other people don't! Just shows how different we all are.

No, Sid - I haven't. Maybe I should have a go. Book says half-ripe cuttings in summer.

Yes - my book says that, but also says it's hard to tell the difference between the ripe and half-ripe and doesn't explain at all how to tell the difference! Helpful!

All we can do, Sarah, is have a go - and if once we don't succeed, try, try try again! LOL.

Also, follow the example of HRH and talk to them nicely. Possibly. Or nastily. Probably.

Ok Barbara - I have tried with it before (unsuccessfully obviously) but will try again this summer :-) I love my Pittosporum it is one called 'Garnettii' - I would not speak to it unkindly in case it ups and dies on me!

I meant the cuttings - not the shrub!

Oh that's ok then - my neighbours wouldn't have liked it if I stood swearing at my shrub ;-)

Another good blog spritz. It's amazing how many coloured leaves there are once you start to look and they last a lot longer than flowers. I have six pots on my patio planted with different heucheras that always receive a lot of comment from garden visitors

Another great blog. I have successfully taken a cutting of my tall pittasporum (I gave it away to a friend at Christmas) but it was more luck than judgement that it succeeded! I have tried since without any success. I like the idea of the Euphorbias as I only have two - will definitely look out for more.

Something you could try is layering Sid, maybe that is the answer. i have never tried it with Pitto before, but i have had lower branches root on unexpected shrubs before now, all by themselves when i have muched quite thickly. might be worth a go.

Great blog and great photos Spritz. Thank you. :o)

Thank you for showing these colourful plants.
I also find it dificult to take cuttings of Pittosporums. I had two types in the old garden but could never have any success with cuttings.
I miss all the old shrubs I had in the other garden and I hope to get some colour into this one for next year.

I have two reference books on propogation and they recommend different methods for propogating pittosporums!
One suggests basal cuttings taken in October, wounding the base of the cutting and using hormone rooting powder. It also says they are difficult to get to root.
The other recommends semi-ripe cuttings taken in summer, also layering or air layering in spring. Well done majeek - looks like you are on the right track again

I don't have any Pittosporums here. All the cuttings I took before moving have failed. When I get some I'll try October cuttings. Thanks Andrew.

Inspirational. I seem to be mainly greens and yellows - shortage of purple. Must try harder!

I raised the crown of one of my pittosporums, so layering is out for that one - I shall take a look at the Purpureum and see if it's possible for that one! Thanks for that idea.

Enjoyed your blog with your winter colour plants.

A super Blog and this is right up our street Spritz! - lovely colours, patterns and textures.
On the subject of coloured leaves-we are just about to mail order some exotic leaved Begonia corms to raise and use for our summer display this year.

The catalogue arrived in the post this morning, and certain names and colour combinations have been highlighted!

There are some stunning varieties available,
and the leaf patterns, shapes and colours are so exotic and delightful.

The late Christopher Lloyd used them in his garden for summer bedding at Dixter, and they still continue with the tradition.
A number of the Begonias have captured our attention including 'Fireworks' ( deep purple veins with silver and raspberry purple between the veining) and 'Escargot'
(a large swirled leaf of olive green and silver.)
'Namur' (a spiral leaf with rich silver satin leaves and a pink bluish centre along with 'Fireflush' (dark green leaves with even darker edges and centre with the whole plant covered in red hairs)
I think our order will be quite large as the catalogue is very tempting.It's very exciting preparing for the new season, and hopefully there will be lots of new photo opportunities in the Summer.

Loved your bog Spritz we are great fans of the coloured leaves, and heucheras are a must for any garden, we have pittosporum in the garden, would like a few more but they are rather expensive to buy, I have not got the time to wait for them to grow, so to buy a decent size is rather costly, you do have a lot of unusual plants, like the Loropetalum.

Thanks for all the propagation-of-Pittosporums suggestions folks! I had considered aerial layering, but the stems are very fine and I thought it looked too fiddly, but I will just have to have a go! I can't simple-layer it coz there are smaller shrubs packed in around the base.

Barbara - if you will also be trying to propagate your Pittos, maybe the first of us to succeed could send one to poor Hywel, who is Pittosporumless..... :-)

That sounds like a dire disease, Sarah! I haven't had a minute yet to see if my chocolate one has any low enough branches to stake down - but I will!

if not Spritz, mine might have, i have'nt got it into the ground yet, but when i do, if i am able i will stake down a couple of branches, so Hywel, you can be first on the list for one if successful, but i think they can take a while, but would imagine spring is the best time to do it.

Well the race is on then to find a cure for Hywel's dangerous case of Pittosporumlessosis. We had better get a move on - can't leave poor Hywel in that state for too long now can we....after all, he's got responsibilities you know - he has a very special Cat to look after!

Hi Spritz
A quick moment grabbed to catch up on your really informative Winter plants blogs!
I love all the coloured foliage and can feel the need for a visit to the garden centre coming on - maybe this weekend!
I particularly love the heucheras.

I have not seen Euphorbias like these before. Lovely.