Gillenia trifoliata - 9cm pot
A rarely available beauty and one that I absolutely love. A long-lived, tough and fully hardy herbaceous perennial that dies down in the depths of winter but pops back up every year in spring. The shoots appear and quickly fill out to form a bushy plant of textured green leaves (each one divided into three as the name suggests) which contrast beautifully with the dark reddish stems. Then the flowers appear from the bronzed-red buds in summer - beautiful pure white stars with long narrow petals that slowly reflex slightly as they age. I find it is best if grown in light afternoon shade, but it still grows quite happily in full sun, it just tends to die back more quickly in the autumn. Autumn colour is fabulous too! Overseas this plant seems to reach quite large proportions at around 1 metre, but here in NZ I would aim for more like 70-80cm after 2-3 years. 9cm pot.