Milan Havlis - gardening

This easy to grow shrub has many names and all of them say something about the beautiful scent of the flowers: sweetshrub, strawberry shrub, or even pineapple shrub. That’s because of the deliciously scented flowers which smell like a blend of strawberry jam and apple juice. ...

To give you a rough guide through the profusion of the campsis colours, we sorted them by name, colour, size, and hardiness: 1. Campsis radicans – is the basic species of the hardiest trumpet creeper with long red flowers, usually bright orange on the outside, suckers are long and thin, b ...

Probably the most eye-catching version of trumpet creepers is this Chinese one. The flowers are large and spectacular: 7-9 cm wide, salmon pink with a clear yellow throat. The buds form a raceme that blooms from July till frosts. Pinnate leaves are dark green and glossy, and make a luxuri ...

Probably the most eye-catching version of trumpet creepers is this Chinese one. The flowers are large and spectacular: 7-9 cm wide, salmon pink with a clear yellow throat. The buds form a raceme that blooms from July till frosts. Pinnate leaves are dark green and glossy, and make a luxurious bac ...

This is the species of trumpet creeper that comes from North America and has deep red flowers. They are trumpet-shaped, 5-6 cm long. Flowering begins in early July and strong, well-established plants keep on blooming until the first frosts. Pinnate leaves are large, deciduous, mid to dark gre ...

If you like red flowers in summer, Flamenco variety of north-american trumpet creeper is a perfect choice. It bears plentiful of trumpet shaped, up to 7 cm long flowers with yellow throats and red veins. They are formed at the ends of current year's branches in rich umbels. Pinn ...

Flava is a north-american variety of trumpet creeper with golden yellow flowers. They are trumpet-shaped, 5-6 cm long. Flowering begins in mid July and strong, well-established plants keep on blooming until the first frosts. Pinnate leaves are large, deciduous, light green and r ...

Speciosa is a lovely variety of north-american trumpet creeper with trumpet shaped flowers that are red with some orange shades and light orange or yellow throat with conspicuous red veins. They are formed at the ends of current year's branches in rich umbels. Pinnate leaves are ...

Stromboli is a strong variety with deep red flowers. They are trumpet-shaped, 7-8 cm long, deep red both inside and outside, the throat shows a few dark veins on yellowish background. Flowering begins in mid July and strong, well-established plants keep on blooming until the first fros ...

This is the species of north-american trumpet creeper trained into a tree with a real stem. It bears terminal cymes of rich red, trumpet-shaped flowers from early summer until the first frosts. Pinnate leaves are deep green and enhance its tropical appearance. Being originally a climbing ...

This trumpet creeper is really trained into a small tree. 1 or 2 meter tall trunk with a blooming crown gives this exotic looking plant a new glamour. Beautiful, golden-yellow flowers grow at the ends of new branches. They come out in July and don’t stop till the first frosts.

„Indian Summer“® is one of the latest varieties among trumpet creepers. It is a successful cross between c.tagliabuana and c.radicans that originated in the Netherlands and was patented in the USA under the name Kudian. It blooms abundantly from early July un ...

The latest variety of trumpet creeper named Indian Summer“® has been winning all sorts of awards since 1998. It is a successful cross between c.tagliabuana and c.radicans that originated in the Netherlands and was patented in the USA under the name Kudian. It bloom ...

In 1893, in a nursery near Milano, Italy, Tagliabua brothers made a beautiful cross between North American radicans and Chinese grandiflora, which inherited hardiness from the west and large flowers from the east. The flowers are 7-9 cm wide, orange red with yellowish-throat. The buds form a raceme ...

Another gorgeous tree form of a trumpet creeper has flowers of “Madame Galen” variety. In 1893, in a nursery near Milano, Italy, Tagliabua brothers made a beautiful cross between North American campsis radicans and Chinese campsis grandiflora, which inherited hardiness from the we ...

Indian Summer is another gorgeous variety of trumpet creeper which was trained into a small tree. It is a brilliant idea because such form does not need a trellis or a wall, it can stand anywhere in the garden, on its own or in the middle of other, smaller shrubs. The trumpet-shape ...

Tropical Red is another new variety with vivid red, fully opened flowers with yellow and red speckles in the throat. Leaves and stems are green. It grows 60-80 cm tall. You needn´t be an expert to grow cannas. The best way is to keep them in the container and make a hole in the law ...

Tropical White is a new variety with cream white, fully opened flowers. Leaves and stems are green. It grows about 60 cm tall. You needn´t be an expert to grow cannas. The best way is to keep them in the container and make a hole in the lawn or a garden bed and put it in with the c ...

Canna is an exquisite highlight of every garden. You can tell by the leaves they are close relatives of banana trees. They vary by the height, leaf colour and obviously flower colour. Délibáb is a short variety with coppery-green leaves and striking orange flowers with faint golden and red lines, st ...

Canna is an exquisite highlight of every garden. You can tell by the leaves they are close relatives of banana trees. They vary by the height, leaf colour and obviously flower colour. Firebird is medium tall, with firey red flowers with yellow throat and dark green leaves. Stems are green, buds are ...

Canna is an exquisite highlight of every garden. You can tell by the leaves they are close relatives of banana trees. They vary by the height, leaf colour and obviously flower colour. Golden Lucifer is a short variety with bright green leaves and vivid yellow flowers with elegant red spotting, dense ...

Canna is an exquisite highlight of every garden. You can tell by the leaves they are close relatives of banana trees. They vary by the height, leaf colour and obviously flower colour. Louis Cotton (aka Cottin) is a short variety with deep green, almost brown leaves and yellow-orange flowers that fad ...

Canna is an exquisite highlight of every garden. You can tell by the leaves they are close relatives of banana trees. They vary by the height, leaf colour and obviously flower colour. Picasso is a short variety with bright green leaves and striking yellow flowers with profusion of red spot. Stems ar ...

Cannas are exquisite highlights of every garden. You can tell by the leaves they are close relatives of banana trees. They vary by the height, leaf colour and obviously flower colour. President is a variety with bright red, large, open flowers with a yellow throat, and grass green leaves and stalks. ...

Cannas are exquisite highlights of every garden. You can tell by the leaves they are close relatives of banana trees. They vary by the height, leaf colour and obviously flower colour. Pretoria is very special – it has bright orange, large flowers, and green leaves with somewhat regular stripes ...

Cannas are exquisite highlights of every garden. You can tell by the leaves they are close relatives of banana trees. They vary by the height, leaf colour and obviously flower colour. Tirol is a taller variety. It has a very interesting combination of salmon-pink and orange in the flower, and green ...

Canna is an exquisite highlight of every garden. You can tell by the leaves they are close relatives of banana trees. They vary by the height, leaf colour and obviously flower colour. Wyoming is a superb variety with bright orange flowers, highlighted red and yellow, and deep burgundy to dark green ...

Canna is an exquisite highlight of every garden. You can tell by the leaves they are close relatives of banana trees. They vary by the height, leaf colour and obviously flower colour. Yellow Humbert has bright yellow flowers with a few light red spots in the throat. Leaves are grass green, large, st ...

Blue Balloon® is a fantastic new variety of bluebeard. It is a very popular shrub of low growth with purple-blue flowers. They are formed in terminal cymes and bloom from end summer until early autumn. Their scent is attractive for butterflies and bumble-bees. What humans ca ...

Heavenly Blue is a favourite variety of bluebeard. It has profusion of purple-blue flowers at the end of summer that attract bumble bees and butterflies. The leaves are deep green on the upper side and silvery blue-green beneath. They have an interesting scent which recalls cook ...

Worcester Gold is another variety of bluebeard. This one has bright yellow-green leaves. They are narrow, aromatic and silvery-green beneath. Flowers are formed in small panicles and their deep blue colour looks like sky before a storm. They attract butterflies and bumble-bees. ...

Bravo to French cultivators who come up with this new variety of bluebeard! Want to hear why we are so excited about it? Compared to its parent this one has deep green, larger leaves with silvery underneath; deeper blue and more numerous flowers; its flowering period is rather extended from m ...

Sweet chestnut originates in the Balkans and Southern Europe and has become very popular mainly in English parks where centenary specimens stand in their gracious beauty in the middle of neat lawns. Chestnut is cultivated for several beautiful features. The deciduous leaves are deep green ...

Catalpas have been grown in our country for many years. The species may be found in every larger city as an important feature of a city park. It offers outstanding points of interest such as large leaves in summer and long cigar-shaped seed pods in winter, hence its name Indian Bean Tree. ...

Aurea variey bears huge, tropical looking, heart shaped leaves (20-25 cm large), of bright yellow-green colour. They are slightly hairy like suede, pleasant to touch. They have interesting scent similar to tobacco leaves that allegedly repels insects. Beginning of summer 20-30 cm t ...

Do you like a tall tree but are afraid it would be too big for your small garden? Well, if you have enough will to prune it every one or two years you can always control its size provided it is not an ash type tree growing about 1 m every year. Thus you can enhance the look of your garden with somet ...

Skylark is a variety very similar to Victoria, with two exceptions: it has slightly larger leaves and arching branches. The flowers are absolutely amazing, not violet, not pale, just unbeatable sky blue. They are formed in ...

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 ...

Buttonbush is a very interesting shrub, popular with collectors. Its main feature are flowers that are perfect spheres with tiny, pure white, tubular flowers. They are followed by small, green fruit. It flowers on current year’s wood. They have a nice scent and attract butterflies. D ...

Hardy plumbago is a superb substitution for its tender relative common in the Mediterranean. This one has even deeper blue flowers with 5 petals, mid-green, bristly, obovate, deciduous leaves with purple margins and purple stems. The plants itself is very dense and in full sun bears profu ...

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 ...

The orchid- or azalea-like flowers of Morning Cloud chitalpa are white with prominent purple to burgundy red veins leading out from inside the yellow throat. The petals have frilled margins. Flowers have a lovely, sweet scent. Narrowly elongated leaves are 10-20 cm long, mid green, ...

Pink Dawn is a name that fits this beauty perfectly. The orchid-like flowers are soft pink as a new dawn promising a lovely day. They have yellow throats with purple-pink veins and frilled margins. They are lightly scented with a sweet perfume that attracts butterflies. They come out i ...

The orchid-like flowers are pale to bright pink with a yellow throat and frilled margins. Flowers have a lovely, sweet scent. Summer Bells® is a chitalpa variety repeating flowering. It starts in early summer and last for 2-3 weeks, and then again in second half of August fo ...

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 ...

Ashva is an attractive variety of clematis with 7-10 cm wide flowers. The sepals are violet-purple with a wide stripe in the middle of magenta colour. It belongs to Group 3 clematis, flowering in mid- and late summer. Flowers appear on new growths. Cut back all the previous y ...

Dr.Ruppel is a clematis with rosy pink flowers, 10-15 cm across, with darker central bands. They are produced freely throughout summer. It belongs to Group 2 clematis. Its flowers appear first in late spring and early summer on last year’s sideshoots, and in mid- and la ...

Mrs.Cholmondeley is my favourite clematis. Its large flowers are 15-18 cm across, light lavender-blue with widely spaced sepals and light chocolate anthers. It belongs to Group 2 clematis. Its flowers appear first in late spring and early summer on last year’s sideshoot ...

Mrs.George Jackaman is a large-flowered climbing clematis with single or semi-double flowers of pure white colour with elegant, dark anthers. It belongs to Group 2 clematis. Its flowers appear first in late spring and early summer on last year’s sideshoots, and in mid- ...

Multi Blue is a large-flowered variety of clematis with double flowers of clear blue colour with 6-8 broad outer sepals and many short, narrow, cream-edged inner sepals. It belongs to Group 2 clematis. Its flowers appear first in late spring and early summer on last year̵ ...

Niobe is a large-flowered clematis with 10-15 cm wide flowers of deep magenta-red colour. The flowers are freely borne throughout summer. It belongs to Group 2 clematis. Its flowers appear first in late spring and early summer on last year’s sideshoots, and in mid- and ...

Piilu is an interesting variety of clematis with double flowers in late spring and single flowers in late summer / early autumn. They have frilled margins. The flower sepals are light lilac-mauve with deeper red wide bands in the middle, and yellow anthers. They are 6-12 cm acro ...

Rouge Cardinal is a clematis with the deepest shade of crimson red colour. The flowers are velvety, with a slightly lighter band across the sepals. This variety prefers full sun. It belongs to Group 3 clematis, flowering in mid- and late summer. Flowers appear on new growths. ...

The President is an old-time favourite with large, 10-15 cm across, deep blue flowers. The sepals are narrow and separated from each other. Anthers are more or less white making a nice contrast with the flower colour. It belongs to Group 2 clematis. Its flowers appear first in late ...

Ville de Lyon is a large-flowered clematis variety with carmine-red flowers. The sepals are deeper nearer their margins, the anthers are yellow. The flowers are compact, almost flat, and very pretty. Bes grown through a shrub as lower foliage becomes scorched by late summer. ...

Sweet pepper bush is becoming popular again in our country. It is a medium-sized shrub flowering in summer. Flowers are bell-shaped, creamy white, opening from rose buds, formed in upright racemes with pinkish stalks in July and August. They have a lovely, sweet fragrance, hence its name. ...

Ruby Spice has flowers of has the deepest shade of pink so far selected. Flowers are bell-shaped, light pink, opening from rose buds, formed in upright racemes in July and August. They have a lovely, sweet fragrance, hence its name. Flower buds are deep pink. Oval leaves are decidu ...

Heaven´s Gate® is another novelty, patented in the USA only in 2004. This variety has daisy-like flowers, almost 4 cm across, with rich burgundy centres and a little paler ends of petals. It flowers in July and September, deadheading will enhance the flowering. It flowers abundantl ...

Limerock Passion is a novelty from the USA, discovered as a naturally-occurring mutation of another hybrid Limerock Ruby only in 2001. It was patented 3 years later. Its daisy-like flowers are lilac pink to red-purple. Its extremely long flowering period begins in early summer and ends ...

Ruby Port is another coreopsis from Central America. It has deep burgundy red, velvet-like flowers. They come out in July and continue blooming until the last warm days of autumn. For profuse, long-lasting flowering deadhead spent flower-heads – the plant will quickly ma ...

In the world of tickseed everything seems possible. Even bi-coloured flowers as in the case of Sweet Dreams®. This is another new patented variety from the USA (PP12720) from 2001It has daisy-like flowers, almost 4 cm across, with rich burgundy centres and almost white ends of peta ...

Thread leaf coreopsis is a wonderful, maintenance-free perennial which shines its way through any garden with rich-coloured flowers all summer long. You can have a country garden or be a town-garden enthusiast, coreopsis will still have features suitable for your plot. “Zagreb ...

“Satomi” is the most sought after variety among the Japanese ones. Its flowers are of light to deep pink colour that is unevenly spread throughout the flowers. Technically, they are not flowers but 4 flower bracts composed around small flower heads. They are up to 10 cm wide and c ...