Think of cyclamen and the chances are that Mothers Day immediately comes to mind, which is something of a pity.
Everybody recognises palm trees, they are the universal symbol for the tropics but many are hardy enough for our temperate climate gardens. Until recently New Zealand gardeners have had only a very limited range of palms to choose from.
If you appreciate plants that have no hesitation in boldly stating their presence with huge, almost artificially perfect flowers, then tuberous begonias are for you.
Fuchsia (named after Leonhard Fuchs, a 16th century German botanist) is a genus of over 100 species of shrubs and small trees.
Sometimes known as yellow waxbells, Kirengeshoma palmata is a late-flowering rhizomatous perennial up to 1. 2m high with arching stems and is native to the woods and mountain lowlands of Korea and the Japanese islands of Shikoku and Kyushu.
Named by Linnaeus in 1735 in honour of the Jesuit priest and naturalist Georg Josef Kamel, Camellia is a genus originating mainly from China but with a range covering a large area of South East Asia. The exact number of species is not clear but it is somewhere around 100.
