On 22/09/2010 15:39, Sacha wrote:
Halesias seem to be out of fashion
now and you don't see them much so some of our staff didn't recognise
it. The only reason I did was that my outlaws had one in their garden.

Whatever the fashion equivalent is to "tone deaf" to music, then I am it
by choice. I really don't care what other people's likes and dislikes
are when it comes to plants (although I can see why a commercial nursery
would need to). I grow what I like where I like. I am, nonetheless,
quite happy visiting NGS places and musing on what they are doing with
their garden designs..

Funny you should say that your staff didn't recognise Halesia. They
aren't the only ones! I have a fair knowledge of some trees and shrubs,
but I came across a small tree in fruit at Stourhead in early August
last year. Had no idea what it was - the fruits were like nothing I'd
seen before. I was even more puzzled when I found an identical tree at
Petworth in late September (both were unlabelled of course!). I went
back to Petworth in early June, and was annoyed to find it had finished
flowering - most surprising because of the prolonged severe winter
weather. I eventually found one partially dried small white flower. A
look though some books later identified the tree as a Halesia.

--

Jeff