Evergreens are green all year round.
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Alpine Ash/White Top
Eucalyptus delegatensis£5.50Alpine Ash is a very tall straight evergreen, used as a timber tree, but also decorative. It is of moderately quick growth. Juvenile leaves are round and pinkish bronze, mature leaves are narrow, grey blue and elongated. Unlike other Eucalypts, it does not respond to coppicing. Bark on older trees peels off in long shreds, exposing copper and brown stripes, but is smooth higher up the trunk. Frothy white flowers in summer are very attractive to bees and are produced in abundance.
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Alpine Yellow Gum
Eucalyptus subcrenulata£5.50Medium to large, hardy, evergreen tree. Grown as single or multistem. Crimson new shoots, red edged juvenile foliage and fresh green leaves. Grey bark with yellow and blue patches.
Leaves have a spicey scent.
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Archers Gum / Alpine Cider Gum
Eucalyptus archeri£2.99 – £39.82A wide spreading and many branched small tree not unlike E. gunnii. Small rounded blue green leaves used in flower arranging. It is frost tolerant and makes an excellent ornamental tree for smaller gardens.
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Australian / Tasmanian Blackwood
Acacia melanoxylon£2.00 – £6.50Australian Blackwood is also know as Sally Wattle. A fast growing evergreen, it has dark green pinnate leaves and in spring bears clusters of small milky white flowers. It is best suited to mild temperate climates and is not particularly frost hardy below minus 5 degrees centigrade. It produces a fine grained, hard wood. Grow in a sheltered spot backed by a wall. In warmer climates can be quite invasive.
Pic courtesy of Kurt StuberCC BY SA 3.0
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Bay Laurel / Sweet Bay
Laurus nobilis£3.50 – £7.50The leaves are the bay leaves used in cooking but it also makes an excellent hedge and is tolerant of maritime areas. Bay Laurel can produce excellent specimen trees and is also used for topiary.
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Berberis wilsoniae
Berberis wilsoniae£2.00 – £4.50Berberis wilsonae, Barberry is a splendid small semi-evergreen shrub with sea green leaves and coral coloured clustered fruits after yellow flowers in May. This species has no cultivars and is mostly grown from seed. Good for low prickly hedging.
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Blue Tree Lupin
Lupinus arboreus (Blue)£1.99 – £4.20A short lived evergreen shrub that can grow to 2m tall. Flowers are delicately scented and are produced throughout the summer, bright dense spikes/clusters of blue or lavender coloured flowers. Nitrogen’fixing’ so good for soil fertility.
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Box / Common Box
Buxus sempervirens£4.50Box will eventually grow into a small tree, but more normally a dense medium sized shrub. It produces masses of small, dark, evergreen leaves. Ideal for topiary and hedging purposes in the formal garden since it clips well, late summer.
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Cabbage Gum
Eucalyptus niphophila£2.00 – £12.50A very hardy Eucalyptus. The stem of the tree is almost white through to green with a flaking bark. It has large leathery grey green lance shaped leaves. It is a relatively small tree (up to 15m tall) and so is ideal for gardens.
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Cherry Laurel / Common Laurel
Prunus laurocerasus£2.00 – £4.50Cherry Laurel is vigorous wide spreading evergreen shrub with dark shiny green leaves, often used for screening. It produces attractive erect clusters of white flowers in spring that give rise to small cherry like fruits that eventually turn black. Insects visit the flowers and birds eventually eat the berries. Clip in the summer, for hedging, and the best finish is by using secateurs!
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Chilean Firebush
Embothrium coccineumIn late spring spectacular narrow tubular orange flowers emerge on this narrowly conical tree. Semi-evergreen and needs a sheltered spot, against a wall is ideal.
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Chinese Barberry
Berberis julianae£2.00 – £6.50Chinese Barberry is a excellent densely growing, evergreen, spiny-leaved bush. The leaves are copper tinted when young. The scented yellow flowers are borne in bunches of up to 15. It makes a good hedging plant and security barrier.
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Chusan Palm
Trachycarpus fortuneii£3.50The Chusan Palm is the hardiest palm for growing in the UK. It has stout stems carrying evergreen, multi-fingered, segmented leaves with slightly frayed edges. The hairy trunk is made of old leaf bases, as with most palms. It grows in sun or semi-shade and adds a bit of exoticism and architecture to the garden. The leaves can become ragged if exposed to strong winds, so it is better to plant in a sheltered spot, but it does very well in a container. Seedlings should only be planted outside when about 30cm tall.
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Cider Gum
Eucalyptus gunnii£4.00 – £35.00Eucalyptus or Cider Gum the best known and hardiest Eucalyptus in cultivation. Its evergreen juvenile leaves are rounded and an outstanding silver blue, much used in floristry. As they mature the leaves become sickle shaped. It can be allowed to develop into a specimen tree or pruned to bush size. After pruning, the foliage will grow as juvenile again. Very fast growing. Unlike many Eucalypts, the bark tends to be smooth, not flakey. Flowers are creamy white, on and off through the season. Scented oils are released from crushed or burning leaves and are used as an antiseptic and to treat respiratory problems.
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Common / English Yew
Taxus baccata£2.00Yew is a small to medium sized tree with fruits that are a bright red aril, which contrasts superbly with the dark green foliage. The fruit is eaten by birds but is poisonous to people. Yew is tolerant of most soils and is often found on chalk formations in the wild. Very ancient ones are found in Churchyards all over the country – it was once held in great esteem by Druids and mystics.
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Cotoneaster simonsii
Cotoneaster simonsii£2.00 – £7.50Cotoneaster simonsii is a large upright semi-evergreen with small white/pink flowers in June, bee friendly, followed by persistent red berries. Good as an informal hedge but can also be clipped quite hard into shape. Often known as Himalayan Cotoneaster, but this leads to confusion with other Cotoneasters.
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Crowberry
Empetrum nigrum£3.50Crowberry is a low growing, evergreen shrub looking like heather. Red twigs, scale-like leaves and inconspicuous purplish flowers in summer are followed by edible black round berries. These can be used as a pigment but are a good source of vitamin C for the Sami and Inuit peoples.
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Diel’s Cotoneaster
Cotoneaster dielsianus£2.75Diel’s is an evergreen cotoneaster with small ovate leaves and red fruit. Can be pruned to make a neater shape, but a hardy and useful filler. The tiny flowers are attractive to bees in the summer.
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Evergreen / Holm Oak
Quercus ilex£6.50 – £8.50The Holm Oak is a large evergreen tree with an attractive corrugated bark. The leaves are a dark glossy green not unlike holly but vary in shape and size. It can become deciduous in the very coldest areas but is an excellent tree for coastal areas.
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Firethorn
Pyracantha coccinea£2.00 – £3.50A large evergreen shrub that is valued for its outstanding display of red autumn berries. These are produced from the white flowers that appear in spring. Its dark green leaves are augmented by sharp thorns which when used as a boundary plant provide an effective security barrier.
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Franchet’s Cotoneaster
Cotoneaster franchetii£2.00 – £6.50Franchet’s Cotoneaster is a popular semi-evergreen shrub that is graceful and medium sized with sage green foliage. The white flowers blushed with pink give rise to ovoid scarlet-orange fruits. Soft relaxed growth can be pruned in to shape.
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Gagnepain’s Barberry
Berberis gagnepainii£2.00 – £6.75A small evergreen shrub that forms an impenetrable thicket making it ideal for hedges. The yellow flowers are borne in clusters of 6 or 12 which give rise to black berries with a bluish bloom.
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Golden Mimosa
Acacia baileyana£2.50 – £8.00Golden Acacia or Cootamundra Wattle is a small evergreen tree/large shrub with silver grey ferny leaves and short spikes of pompom flowers between Dec and March. Lots of Pollen is produced so the tree is good for early insects. In fact it is planted for honey production commercially as well as for floristry. However, in warmer countries it tends to escape and be a bit of a plague in the wild. In the UK, it definitely needs to be in a conservatory or very sheltered sunny corner. Quite tolerant of drought.
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Gorse
Ulex europaeus£2.00 – £6.50Gorse is a dense fiercely spiny shrub. In mild areas the yellow, pea-like flowers, smelling of coconut, are produced throughout the year but more usually they flower from March through to May. Brilliant for insects. The shrubs thrive on, and prefer, very poor light or stony soils. They can act as good pioneers, nursing other less tough plants until they’re big enough to survive. No maintenance necessary, but can be pruned quite hard (using armoured gloves!)
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