Milan Havlis - gardening

Ernest Wilson is a selection found in Korea in early 1900´s. It grew in a colder zone which predestined it to be ideal for testing in colder climates of the USA as well as Europe later on. Exotic looking flowers are pink, hairy spheres with yellowish centres, 3-5 cm large and with ...

A spectacular new variety of silk tree comes from Japan and is called Summer Chocolate®. It was discovered in 1990 as a seedling in a controlled planting of Albizia julibrissin in 1990. It was patented in the USA under PP 13,822 in 2003. It is considered a rarity for lovers ...

Aralia’s bi-pinnate leaves are up to 1 meter long, compound of 3-5 cm long, mid green, ovate leaflets, pale or silvery green on the reverse. The leaves grow horizontally from a single stem (usually), making nearly flat layers of foliage. They fall down early in the season but before the ...

Japanese angelica tree is a must have for those who love tropical looking gardens. Its compound leaves grow up to 1.5m when mature and give this plant an extraordinary, very architectural look. Moreover, this variety has golden-yellow margins or varigation. It has much less thorns than its cl ...

Monkey puzzle tree is a conifer that originates from Chile but we have a special selection for you which comes from Italy and is hardier and more reliable in our continental climate. It is called Robusta Gheri and is the only one that survived winter of 1985 in Tuscany when t ...

Azaleodendron is a rare hybrid between deciduous azaleas and evergreen rhododendrons. This unusual plant has very attractive flowers of mauve colour and narrow petals, and narrow, bright green, semi-deciduous leaves. Flowers are sweetly fragrant and come out in late spring or early summer whi ...

A few years ago I visited an interesting nursery in Belgium and after we made business my eye rested upon a small shrub with tiny, deep green leaves. It looked rather attractive even in February but the nursery owner expressed his doubts about its hardiness in the Czech Republic. So I said I would g ...

This Californian lilac is an outstanding introduction from New Zealand. In the warmer days of late spring it blooms with profusion of dense panicles of deep indigo blue flowers. Leaves are small, obovate, dark green with reddish brown tint. Branches are chocolate brown, fragile and thin. ...

If you like cedars or perhaps if you are a collector or just an enthusiast don’t miss this one. It is a beautiful example of a form that is rarely seen in private gardens or arboretums. Fastigiata is an attractive form of Atlas cedar with strictly narrow, columnar habit ...

Fastigiata Glauca is a blue green or silvery blue version of an attractive form of Atlas cedar Fastigiata with strictly narrow, columnar habit. Its lateral branches are short and densely cover the leader. If a branch g ...

Cedrus libani Glauca is truly a cedar of Lebanon whose mid-sized, evergreen needles are blue-green (not silvery-blue as in dcedrus atlantica Glauca), and are borne in whorls of 10-20. The main feature is its habit with ...

Fringe tree is a very rare and beautiful small shrub or small tree. In early summer it has profusion of upto 20 cm long pendent panicles of fragrant, shiny snow-white, narrow flowers, turning to bluish black berries. Mid to deep green opposite leaves are elliptic and glossy. Fringe tree grows slowly ...

Yellow wood is a rare, though fully hardy tree that deserves more attention. Its origin is not clear and definite. Usually this small tree or large shrub is connected with Kentucky, USA, but many plants grow freely on limestone cliffs on China and Japan. It used to be a jewel of royal gardens ...

Smooth cypress comes from SW of the USA and is probably the only true cypress that can stand winters down to zone 6. Fastigiata varieties are of columnar habit and are a sought after plant for both exotic types of gardens as well as typical Central-European landscapes where it will cre ...

This elegant and rather exotic looking tree is still rare in cultivation in Europe. It was believed to have been extinct after the glacial era, however, in late 19th century some specimens were found in Sichuan, China. Dove tree was brought to Britain in 1903 and cultivated as a rarity in som ...

Vilmoriniana is a special variation of dove tree. This elegant and rather exotic looking tree is still rare in cultivation in Europe. It was believed to have been extinct after the glacial era, however, in late 19th century some specimens were found in Sichuan, China. Dove tree ...

Decaisnea is a very attractive and rare small tree from China. It is cultivated for its beautiful, exotic looking foliage, and coloured seed pods. It produces multiple of thin, upright trunks which bear leaves usually at the tops, just like aralias. The deciduous leaves are elegant, light ...

Gardenia is a well-known indoor plant with fantastic fragrance. However, in 1990´s a few breeders came with selections that were supposed to grow happily outdoors, too. Among those Kleim’s Hardy was one of the first truly successful attempts. Kleim’s Hardy is a s ...

Lawsoniana is my favourite. It is a female, variegated version of male plant Hendersonii which is just green. The leaves of Lawsoniana are deep green at the margins, grading through light green towards bright yellow centres. They are curled which gives the plant an extraordinary appear ...

Coquito palm is another of very few hardy palms suitable for milder parts of Europe. And this is the only one with pinnate leaves similar to date palm (phoenix canariensis). It grows considerably slowly and forms a thick trunk that looks like pineapple when young. Feather-like leaves are more than 1 ...

Castor aralia is a very rare tree from southeastern Asia. It has a dangerously looking spiny trunk with thorns whose number reduces as the plat gets older. Maximowiczii is a variety with exotic looking, extremely deeply lobed, almost dissected leaves that are upto 30 cm long. They are mid ...

Natchez is another hardy hybrid of crape myrtle. It has profusion of white flowers from mid summer. Deciduous leaves are 3-4 cm long, elliptic to obovate, very glossy, mid green in summer, turning red and orange in autumn. Older plants reveal cinnamon red flaking-off bark. Natch ...

Tonto is one of four successful varieties of lagerstroemia which are end results of Dr.Donald Egolf’s breeding programme which started in 1959. The plants show great colours and manifest better cold hardiness than the species. Tonto bears deep fuchsia red flowers opening f ...

Chinese tulip tree is in many aspects similar or identical to its American relative as far as habit, growth rate, or flowering. But the most prominent give-away is its foliage. The deciduous leaves are very large and deeply lobed. The saddle-shaped description of the leaf shape is no longer a ...

Hybridizing and crossing brings new and better varieties of magnolias that have features never seen before. Mark Jury from New Zealand continues this work that was started in 1960´s by his late father Felix. ´Atlas´ is one of his fantastic results, a cross between Magnolia 'Mark Jury' and ...

Among deciduous magnolias there are varieties that bloom later than most of the Asian ones. This selection named Charles Coates originated in England in Kew, famous for its Kew Gardens, by crossing m.sieboldii and m.tripetala. It makes leaves first, and only at the end of spring ...

If you like the spring profusion of blooming magnolias, look at this yellow rarity. Probably the best yellow magnolia so far was raised by a Belgian breeder, Philippe de Spoelberch. It is a cross between ´Miss Honeybee´ a ´Gold Crown´. It is called Daphne. Its flowers are deep yell ...

Lanarth is another breathtaking rare magnolia. It belongs to campbelli group which originated in Nepal and India. Its full name is M. campbellii subsp. mollicomata 'Lanarth'. This one, however, comes from Yunnan Province in China, where it was raised from a seed in 1924 by a famous collector George ...

This magnolia is a cross of crosses ... mathematically it is: (magnolia liliflora x magnolia cylindrica) x magnolia „Ruby“ , by August Kehr (1997). The result of this rather bizarre looking equation is an exquisite speciality which keeps up to its name and blooms all season long. ...

This evergreen pearl among flowering trees is one of the hardiest southern magnolias ever selected. It was named after a lady from New Jersey, USA, who grew magnolias in her garden. One bad winter nearly all of them died. Only this one survived -30°C. So she decided to make cuttings and later on had ...

This cultivar of evergreen magnolia was born in a Canadian province British Columbia in 1930. Since then it has shown extreme frost tolerance and many Czech enthusiasts rate this variety the most reliable as regards the leaves which are seldom burnt by frost. Its name is Victoria

Genie is a sensational new magnolia from New Zealand. After 15 years of breeding there is eventually a plant that holds its deep red-purple colour well and offers prolonged flowering period. The hybridizing process was truly awesome, if you are interested in how this jewel came ...

Parrotiopsis is a rare plant from West Himalayas. Its name recalls parrotia and the similar feature are its leaves. They are fresh green, wrinkled and glossy. It is cultivated mostly for the unusual flowers that come out in mid spring. They are small flower heads made up from many yellow a ...

Epaulette tree comes from China and Japan. It is a mid-sized, often multi-stemmed tree or spreading shrub. Its main attraction are fragrant, showy pendent panicles of creamy white flowers in early summer that are followed by interesting, oblong 5-ribbed fruit, covered in yellow-brown bristles. Flowe ...

Bamboo-leaf oak, or sometimes also called Chinese evergreen oak is a rare evergreen tree that is not widely used in cultivation in Europe which is a great pity. It has evergreen, bamboo-like, lance-shaped, narrow leaves that emerge bronze-purple and mature to a dark green. Compared to cherry ...

„Blattgold“ is a sensational new variety from Germany. It is more attractive for its colourful leaves than lavender pink flowers. The leaves have irregular variegation that starts with bright golden yellow in the centre, is followed by light green blotches towards the edges, and finishes ...

“Nancy Evans” is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful yellow-flowering varieties. Its flowers are really yellow, with a deep orange margin and no flare. This variety requires a sheltered position. It can take full sun in summer but will prefer shade in winter. It grows slowly, forming a ...

Chinese sweetshrub is only one species of its own kind, closely related to calycanthus floridus which originates in America. This one comes from China where it belongs to endangered species. In European nurseries it is still very rare. It is cultivated for beautiful flowers and attractive ...

Chinese spiketail is a lovely shrub from China with handsome racemes of pale yellow, bell-shaped flowers in early spring. Flower buds are beginning to form in late summer and in case of Celina variety they open up in end March or early April, contrasting beautifully with the pur ...

It is our utmost pleasure to offer this summer-blooming beauty: false camellia. It comes from moist woodlands of North America and eastern Asia (Japan, China, Vietnam, Nepal). It belongs to the same genus theaceae like camellia and tea. Its main attraction are the flowers. They are 6-7 cm ...

This false camellia – Korean stewartia is very similar to its Japanese sister stewartii pseudocamellia. It comes from moist woodlands of Korea and it is a tall shrub flowering in summer and has beautiful autumn foliage. Flo ...

David's photinia / Chinese stranvaeasia is an evergreen shrub whose close relative is a garden hybrid photinia Red Robin. It comes from China and Vietnam and has better cold resistance and narrower leaves. They are deep green and glos ...

Pink Chimes is a rare variety of Japanese snowbell with pink, bell-shaped flowers that hang on short stalks underneath the leaved branches. Leaves are glossy, ovate to elliptic, mid to dark green, turning yellow or red in autumn. It can be pruned at the end of winter. Grow it ...

Cedrela = Chinese cedar is a highly decorative small tree or multistemmed shrub whose leaves and young branches when crushed release a garlic-like scent. But no worry, the plant itself has only a light spicy scent and when in bloom in has a pleasant sweet fragrance. Flamingo ...

Wheeltree is an extraordinary evergreen piece from the East (Japan, Korea, Taiwan). It is special for its spirally arranged, gently crenate leaves. They are broadly ovate to elliptic, up to 12 cm long, salmon pink as they emerge, changing through coppery to dark green in summer. They are glos ...

Wollemi pine represents a recent and rare discovery which, in the era when people think they managed to map the whole globe and went through its every detail, is quite unique. Only at the turn of the millennium the world learned that there is a plant, absolutely new to science, found by David ...