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A really charming small climber from Western Australia. It is said to grow to about 2m tall but I have only seen it as a scrambler to half that size.
I like to think that it would be hardy in the garden but I have only ever seen it grown outdoors in the most favoured sites and even then I don't
recall seeing one that was well established. I grew it in the greenhouse and tellingly I have pictures of it right up until January 2018 -
the 'Beast from the East' cold event happened at the end of February and killed it outright. In an article in the Journal of the RHS, Adrian Whiteley said: "Commonly called the bluebell creeper or Australian bluebell, it is a charming plant, well deserving of its AGM, but often overlooked. ... a member of the family Pittosporaceae, any resemblance to the familiar species of Pittosporum is remote... The startling sky-blue flowers ... are its crowning glory, and are freely produced from April to September ... The AGM given ... is qualified with a hardiness rating of H2-1 (minimum temperature 2degC [36degF]) indicating a need for greenhouse protection. However, in sheltered urban gardens or the warmer areas of the UK, it is well worth trying outside, scrambling through an evergreen shrub or cascading down from the top of a wall. Heel cuttings of young shoots will root easily, preferably with a little bottom heat." Trees and Shrubs online says: "A genus of a few evergreen Australian climbers, of which only the one described is grown outdoors in the British Isles. The name commemorates J. J. H. de Labillardière a French botanist who travelled in Australia and published a work on its flora in Paris in 1804." |
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