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16 Comments

  1. Robert Sharples
    August 10, 2013 @ 1:05 pm

    Hello
    Just come across your web site, how do get a lions ear plant or seeds to propagate one,

    Thanks for your help

    Robert Sharples

    • Ben
      August 16, 2013 @ 8:28 pm

      Hi Robert…I am trying to find some myself…I will let you know…I suspect i will have them in the shop for next spring…so stay tuned!

  2. Balcony gardening-planning for pollinators « Out of my shed
    February 2, 2012 @ 1:08 pm

    […] be shared and with friends and family too. I haven’t grown any of these perennials before: Leonotis ‘Staircase’, Agastache aurantiaca ‘Fragrant Carpet’, and Image from […]

  3. Nicole
    January 26, 2012 @ 2:09 pm

    Ben, this issue of poisonous cut flowers has been on my mind lately. There are so many that shouldn’t be ingested (delphinium, foxglove, lupin, etc. etc.) – how does one handle this issue? Obviously bouquets wouldn’t sell very well with big “toxic” signs attached. Do you, as a grower, feel any responsibility, especially when you’re selling direct, not through a florist? (This paranoid interrogation is coming from someone who allows self-seeded foxglove to grow amongst the raspberry patch where little children snack on fruit – well-trained little ones though!) Just wondering if there’s anything to watch out for when selling poisonous blooms (other than not eating them yourself).

    • Ben Ranyard
      January 26, 2012 @ 2:31 pm

      I’m not worried..and am certainly not sending ‘toxic’ labels…I have never heard of anyone becoming ill from a bunch of flowers. There’s enough to be worried about in the world without being afraid of flowers!
      Just inform kids they are NEVER to eat anything from the garden or the wild without properly identifying it.

  4. Ricinus | Higgledy Garden
    December 14, 2011 @ 8:19 pm

    […] contrasted well with the dark copper, so our friend Cosmos Purity can enter stage left if desired. Leonotis will continue the exotic vibe and the orange will too work well with copper foliage. But best of […]

  5. Moluccella laevis. Bells of Ireland. | Higgledy Garden
    December 12, 2011 @ 8:29 pm

    […] displaying them with Cosmos ‘Purity’ for a soft county farmhouse look or Leonotis for a more, ‘mad as a bag of cockerels’ feel. (All the rage in North […]

  6. Cosmos ‘Purity’. | Higgledy Garden
    December 7, 2011 @ 10:52 pm

    […] same time. I like to contrast the simple and orderd beauty of Cosmos Purity with the nuttiness of Leonotis and the busyness of […]

  7. Amaranthus caudatus. Love Lies Bleeding. | Higgledy Garden
    November 23, 2011 @ 9:27 pm

    […] it with Didiscus Blue Lace Flower and Leonotis for an exotic flower fest that will frighten your […]

  8. Karen - An artist's Garden
    November 23, 2011 @ 9:36 am

    I love this plant Ben – but didn’t grow it this year – it is back on my list for next year. It even seems to survive the winds we get here on the coast. As you say, the bonkers orange flowers are fab-u-lous
    K

    • Ben
      November 23, 2011 @ 4:35 pm

      Glad you like it Karen, you have such good taste for the finer flowers in life. :) I’m surprised it isn’t grown more.

  9. Anna
    November 23, 2011 @ 12:30 am

    Really? Psychoactive? Don’t let that rumour get around these parts – my entire crop will go up in smoke. In little ol’ NZ it’s a perennial – I love it, it gets all feisty and ferocious just coming into autumn. When everything else is getting a bit dark and dreary.
    Very regal, a fitting flower for your court my liege.

    • Ben
      November 23, 2011 @ 8:45 am

      Thank you Princess Anna, We have had it in the Royal court for some time and look forward to it’s re-arrival next Spring.
      It has been used in South African herbal remedies for ions…very powerful stuff I’m told. Also VERY toxic in high does…#organdamage So keep those Kiwi teens in the dark.

  10. Anna
    November 23, 2011 @ 12:25 am

    Really? Psychoactive? Don’t let that rumour get around these parts – my entire crop will go up in smoke. In little ol’ NZ it’s a perennial – I love it, it gets all feisty and ferocious just coming into autumn. When everything else is getting a bit dark and dreary.

    Very regal, a fitting flower for your court my liege.

  11. Rachel
    November 22, 2011 @ 8:41 pm

    Braveheart! Ace name for a Jack Russell

    • Ben
      November 22, 2011 @ 9:01 pm

      Thx Rachel, I have an imaginary Jack called Gatsby. ;)