ARS Tasmania Newsletter – March 2020

• Date: 4th March 2020
• author: Jenny Skinner

IN MY ADOPTED GARDEN

After the glory of the springtime rhododendrons has faded, along come the leatherwoods. There are 7 known species and Woodbank has them all, plus 10 cultivars and hybrids. The only mostly deciduous species is Eucryphia glutinosa from Chile. This has beautiful big white blooms in summer and has been used as one of the parents in a number of hybrids produced by nurseries in the UK. The other South American leatherwood, Eucryphia cordifolia, produced a natural hybrid with E. glutinosa and a seedling was selected in the 1920’s by the head gardener at Nymans. This is the very beautiful E. nymansensis ‘Nymansay’ of which there are 2 growing and flowering at Woodbank. A hybrid between 2 Australian species, one from Tasmania (E. lucida) and one from the mainland (E. moorei), has produced E. x intermedia, a tall evergreen tree with gorgeous small white flowers. And if you fancy pink flowers for a change, the Gillanders have introduced a number of cultivars, as well as some variegated leaf forms.

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