Alpine House and CardenBrian and Shelagh Smethurst

ith such a multitude of alpine plants in all their various forms tochoose from, why should you consider growing small or dwarfshrubs? We believe that they can be an important and

interesting paft of anyone's plant collection.We grow - or attempt - many kinds of alpines, perhaps too many

But we would not be without our shrub selection, and there are plenty tochoose from. So why grow them? Well, some can live for a long time;several of ours are over ten or fifteen years old and still going strong.There is permanence to them; you get used to seeing them year afteryear. They are versatile. They have flowers, fruit and foliage - sometimes allthree - in a variety of colours and variegations. They are suitable for pot orgarden. When too large for the show bench they can be planted in therock garden or shrub border. Most seem to have been reasonably pestfree although damage from Totuix Moth has been our main problem andyou should always watch for Vine Weevil - as if you wouldn't!

Our pot-grown ericaceous shrubs obviously need an appropriatecompost, to which we add a little grit and, for additional feeding asuitable ericaceous fertiliser. With non-ericaceous plants we use Johnlnnes No. 2 or 3 with grit and composted bark or leaf-mould inproportions suitable to the particular plant. We always use Maxicrop andfeed with a tomato fertiliser. Now for some shrubs that we have grown orare growing...

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Berberis x stenophylla'Corallina Compacta' (Berberidaceae) is well knownand little trouble to grow. The true 'Compacta' does not exceed 45 cmand its coral-red buds open to bright orange flowers in May. H E Bawdenin his book Dwarf Shrubs refers to a catalogue description that says". which conjures up dreams in perfection in diminutiveness". What elseis there to say? Ours, after some years in a pot and a few trips to shows, isnow in the rock garden and still only some 35 cm high.

Berberis lhunbergii 'Kobold', green form in flowet

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Berberis thunbergii'Kobold'(Berberidaceae) - we raisedlhree from seeds sowed inNovember 2004; one has purplefoliage but the others aresomewhat different shades ofgreen and of autumn colour.One was planted in the rockgarden and is now about 60 cmwide and 40 cm tall. The othertwo have recently been pottedon to 20 cm pots; they arenowhere near as branched andare merely about 30 cm tall and20 cm across; quite a difference!

Genista pilosa minor (Papilionaceae) was the first we Srew that won a firstprize. lt is prostrate, flowers in May is tidy with yellow pea flowers and isquite easy. lt won again as part of a three-pan with Syringa meyeri 'Palibin'and Penstemon menziesii microphylla. fhe Cenista went into the rockgarden, Ihe Syringa to the shrub bed, where it is now over a metre highand still flowering well. The Penstemon... is long gone.

Thymus leucotrichus 'PeterDavis' is a shrub in theLamiaceae family (previouslyLabiateae). Our plant purchasedsome two and a half years agoin a 9 cm pot has typical thymeflowers of pale lavender blue. ltis 30 cm tall and in late May isvery floriferous. A cheerful soft ofplan! it does need its deadflowers removing and a Iittletrimming to keep it tidy. lt wason the show bench in fullflower at the ACS show on May.16th 2009 as it was on May 17th2008. It got a first on bothoccasions, showing greatconsistency

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Satureja spicigera is anothershrub in Lamiaceae that hailsfrom Asia Minor. Perhaps its mainattraction is that it flowers late,from late August to October oreven November. lt also verykindly self-seeds. ln 1985 it wonan Award of Merit. lt wasdescribed thus: "this savouryforms a woody sub-shrub fromwhich masses of wiry branchesclad in lance-shaped darkgreenleaves ascend to bear plenty ofsmall white trumpet flowers each flaring into four broad lobes from theextended mauve anthers". Paul Cluseppi wrote "lt is one of the nicestSeptember flowering alpines I know." The first that we saw was exhibitedby Harry Roberts some years ago and the one we Srow in a pot isnowhere near as good. lt is far outclassed by a self-sown seedling weplanted out in the garden and by another self-seeder that grows in acrack in flagstones. Much more floriferous, 60 cm by 30 cm across, itemphasises that Bury in Lancashire is a far cry from Asia Minor. The plantdies back in winter but returns in late spring. From a distance it could bemistaken for heather in flower. ln all - with scented foliage - it is a usefuland prostrate addition to the outdoor shrub collection.

Melicytus alpinus (Violaceae) wasHymenanthera alpina. Thisunusual little shrub from NewZealand is not too common. lt isevergreen with tiny leaves andsimilarly tiny and odd flowers thatclothe the somewhat stiff quill-like branches in spring. "Afar cryfrom any conceivable violet,although it does belong to thesame family" So wrote Clare Brightman in the ACS Bulletin for March 1993- and she is right. By early summer the flowers are replaced with whiteberries, bigger than the flowers, which persist for several months. Althoughnot a spectacular plant it is an interesting one that we are fond of. Judgesare not averse to it - it has won a few red stickers. An excellent Srower/John Dennis, gave us this plant over ten years ago; alpine growers, as iswell known, are a friendly and generous group.

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Melicytus o/prno in flower Melicytus o/prno in fruit

Leptospermum nanum 'Pipit' (Myrtaceae), like other leptospermums,comes from Australia. Numbers of them are suitable for pots and garden,including L. scoparium, L. nichollsii, L. nichollsii nanum and L. scoparium'Kiwi'. L. nanum 'Pipit' is very differen! it is much smaller and verycompact, rather Iike a cushion plant. How very different in appearancedwarf shrubs can be, even within the same genus. While the others arefloriferous, our 'Pipit' has not flowered. lts charm lies in the tiny new redfoliage which the plant always seems to have. After several years it is onlyabout 8 cm high by 16 cm across. Perhaps it is not to everyone's taste, butthe judges at the Discussion Weekend in 2009 seemed to like it.

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Solanum pseudocapsicum (Solanaceae) we first saw on the show benchquite recently A spectacular shrub, its foliage is brightly variegated; inspring there are whitish tomato-like flowers followed (unsurprisingly) bysmall tomato-like fruits. These are quite white for some weeks beforeturning an orange-red. This is a shrub that seems to be better with somewinter protection. The growth is quite vigorous but we have yet to see if itreaches more than 30 cm high and wide. We admired Harry Roberts'splant at the Pudsey show and later in the season he very kindly presentedus with one he had bought at a midlands nursery - we did say earlier thatexhibitors were a generous bunch!

Correa (Rutaceae) hails fromAustralia. We have three: C.reflexa nummularifolia withlemon-green flowers, C.'DuskyMaid' with deep pinkish-redflowers, and C. backhousianawith yellow flowers. They differquite widely in habit. Theflowers are tubular, 3 cm inlength, and hang like little

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Correo'Dusky Moid'

lanterns. All have flower-power over a long period, with some repeatflowering. ln 2009, Correa 'Dusky Maid'was in flower at the ACS Midlandshow on l8th April and by the time of the SRCC Discussion Weekend onOctober 3rd it was in flower again, and was still looking fairly well inNovember. lt is smaller than the other two, quite well branched andtwiggy C. reflexa nummularifolia has smaller rounded leaves, is a littlemore vigorous and spreads sideways. C. backhousiana is more uprightand a litlle too tall; when shoots are pinched out it produces rather morespindly shoots so is not as attractive as the others for pot culture.

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Coprosma (Rubiaceae) remainsa favourite of ours over theyears. They are grown of coursefor the foliage. C. repens'Marble King' with creamywhite leaves and greenmarbling is quite strikinS.Lqually arresting is C. repens'Autumn Cold' whose foliagelooks as if spattered by multi-coloured paint with gold andpink predominant. C. repens Coprosmo'Morble King'

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Coprosmo repens'Autumn Gold'Coprosmo repens'Firebu rst'

'Fireburst' has smaller leaves ofa maroon-pinkred colour. Ourshad - as did the others - a fewoutings to shows bul is nownot quite as compact aspreviously so lives outside in acontainer.

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Coprosma x kirkii 'Kiwi Gold' is quiteproslrdte; ours comes - i[ memoryserues right - from a cutting of anearlier plant which, having been putout in the rock garden, expired. lt ishappy in a pot and spends most of itstime outdoors, as do many of ourshrubs. lt has quite small dark greenfoliage with a distinctive yellow bandon the midrib.

Westringia fruticosa 'Smokie'(Lamiaceae) was acquired a year ortwo ago and has grown well in a pot.From Australia, it is rosemary-like,evergreen and well branched withgrey-green and white-edged leavesabout one cm long: a pleasingappearance. Flowers are described onthe label as purple-blue but on theinternet as white! It survives severaldegrees of frost but we keep it in thealpine house as we have no "warmsheltered spot outdoors". lt hasalready been shown as a foliage plantat 20 cm high and 30 wide; we lookforward to its next show season.

Verbascum'Letitia'(Scrophulariaceae) is for those whowant something really floriferous.Another wonderful hybrid with greyfoliage, this small shrub usuallyreaches less than 30 cm after severalyears. The amount and duration ofcheery yellow flowers it produces areastonishing. After all the flowering itcan look a little bit tired in winter butcome the spring it has picked up andis ready to go again. This photo is byJohn Dower.

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ll growers know that there are many ericaceous shrubs, most toofamiliar to need much description. We conclude with a few wordson some that have been reasonably successful for us in pot culture'

Leiophyllum buxifoliacan take time to getgoing and ourssometimes sulksbefore perking uPagain. It is from theUSA, rarely above 30cm high and rathermore across. Pinkbuds open to whiteflowers tinged withpink in May

x phiiliopsis,sugar PIum, has quite large attractive pink flowers in springalthough it is flowering well as we write in mid-November! lt is a slow-growing tidy dwar{ shrub.

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Phyllodoce aleutica is another compact plan! from Alask4 Japan and theAleutians, flowering from mid to late spring. The flowers from terminalshoots are urn-shaped and pale yellow.

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Andromeda polifolia can be very attractive in flower if grown well. ltflowers in May with urn-shaped pink flowers. Bawden wrote "A grand liftleshrub". Ours, a few years old, is approximately 20 cm tall and 30 cm wide.Andromeda can be rather straggly and from time to time bits die off;careful trimming helps to keep it in good shape, both literally andmetaphorically. But ... watch out for Tortrix moth.

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Gaulnettya 'Pink Pixie' is from abigeneric cross betlveen Caultheriaand Pernetlya. Ours is a little over30 cm tall. It is attractive in earlysummer with pinkish urn-shapedflowers (below) and, later, almostblack berries (right).

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Cassiope - we have grown and shown several, but not nearly as well asothers do. The following all make good show plants: C 'Edinburgh', C'Badenoch', C.'Randle Cooke' and C. meftensiana.

Cosslope 'Bodenoch'

Cossiope'Rondle Cook'

ll the shrubs we have mentioned need little if any pruning butjudicious snipping may sometimes be necessary or worthwhile.Regarding propagation, it is perhaps better to read what expefts in

the field say for each species. Many of these shrubs can be raised fromcuttings and a number of them can be raised from seed, reaching a goodsize more quickly than perhaps would be expected. Try it.

These are just a few of the small shrubs that we have enjoyedgrowing and showing. Most should be easily available but there are plenty

of others to choose from. So if you don't already grow them you mightperhaps give some a try. We hope to see them on the show bench. As ifwe haven't got enough competition already!

A Postscript Cassiope'Edinburgh'from Frazer Henderson

his dwaf evergreen shrub of about 20-25 cm with small, dark greenadpressed leaves and white, wa,xy bell-shaped flowers increasinglycatches the discerning eye on the show benches in ericaceousT

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classes. The plant is understated and quite demure, which is at odds with

its species appellation: it is named after the beautiful but vain Queen

Cassiopeia. She also gave her name to the constellation that shines near

the northern pole star. Perhaps it is the ever twinkling bright lights of the

stars by which the species takes its name. Anyhow, it is certainly popular: it

was leaving the sales tables at the recent Edinburgh show like a meteor

shower. Nurserymen, in addition to being exceptional growers, never miss

a commercial opportunity: they know we will always fall for plants with

names with which we can associate, be it a loved one's name, a home

town or a favourite location.

Farrer; who can always be relied on to give a highly personal and

entertaining view, describes Cassiope, in The English Rock-Garden, as a

"specially fascinating little group of very high alpine or arctic plants ... miffy,

and mimpish jewels. From the neighbourhood of London it departs

indignantly and having no suburban leanings it is as rebellious as a

suffragette at Kew."

Small Shrubs

Page 105

The Rock Garden # 126 January 2011

www.srgc.net

Pages from SRGC 126.pdfpage 14