This Week's Plant From The Garden - Hebe 'Caledonia'

At last, one I can pronounce I hear you sigh with relief. We are a family of Hebe lovers (sounds like an insult?) as my dad, sister-in-law and father-in-law also have them in one form or another in their gardens. I think they're popular because they "do what it says on the tin" and are really well behaved as well as being attractive. Also known as Shrubby Veronica - poor things.

Family: Scrophulariaceae (no relation to the skin disease).

Position: Full sun in well drained poor to moderate soil. Ours are in a dry sunny spot and appear to be thriving.

Flowers: Summer through to autumn. Ours flower well in to July. Deadhead to encourage continual flowering.

Dimension: 45cm high and 45cm wide. Nice and compact for a small border like ours.

Habit: Hardy perennial evergreen shrub. We've had ours for 3 years and they never fail to please and the bees love them.

Care: Looks after itself.

Pruning: No routine pruning but can be cut back to control growth or to re-shape in early spring. This will also keep it from getting leggy and encourage fresh growth at the centre.

Propagation: Semi-ripe cuttings or ripe seed in late summer/autumn.

Origin/Distribution: Australia, New Zealand and temperate S. America.

Key:

Bold/italics - RHS boffins

Everything else - would-be RHS boffin

LxXx