Cool and beautiful

'One of the choicest, most remarkable and beautiful of dwarf suckering shrubs', says The Hillier Manual of Trees & Shrubs, and I agree. Philesia magellanica forms a thicket of wiry stems which pop up through the soil and make their way across the mossy boulders on our Old Rockery. The tubular flowers are about 3" long. A native of southern Chile, hence the magellanica epithet, and related to the possibly better known and just as lovely climber, Lapageria rosea, which has similar though larger flowers and is the National Flower of Chile.

A plant of great distinction which prefers a peaty soil in a cool place - come to Arduaine and see it! Our volunteer, Lucy, has been making more space for it today by cutting back an old quince.