This year we are offering seeds from some new varieties that we have developed in recent years, we had hoped to introduce a few others this
year but we were not satisfied that there were sufficient number of seeds to meet demand. Instead, there is a new page of photos to
demonstrate some of the new types that we are working on.

This season following Australia's worst ever drought event we are experiencing suppressed flowering on most of our stock plants; this
together with two separate herbicide spray drift incidents resulting from the careless farming practices of a local farmer mean that seed
production for this year will be at the levels of 07.

This year we intend to offer seeds from our double flowered magenta/ red varieties as well as from our double purples. Our Friend Jeff Jurlina
from New Zealand is the source of the parent plants from which we developed the latter strain, and it is Jeff that provides invaluable
assistance in defining colours for our newer varieties.

Warm/moist stratification

Feedback from our customers in the USA, Canada, Europe and Japan indicates that they have had outstanding germination success with our stratified seeds.  We undertake this process to allow the seeds to move between hemispheres while retaining their viability and to give the highest possible germination rate. The process is a relatively simple one and we do not charge for it.  Picking is commenced in October and our seeds are generally ready for dispatch by the first week of January.  Your seeds will arrive in a sterilized and moistened medium that consists of vermiculite and coir.  We strongly urge our customers to sow their seeds immediately on receipt. Over the past few years weather conditions in Tasmania have varied considerably from the norm as they have in many other countries throughout the world, it has been our experience that this can and does interfere with germination timing and a few of our northern hemisphere customers have found that placing their seed in refrigeration for 4-6 weeks has been helpful in stimulating germination.

Seed Sowing Recommendations

By overwhelming popular request we have included seed sowing recommendations these are recommendations only, you should seek out and take account of local knowledge and conditions in determining the best method of germination.  In Australia we use seed sowing media that generally have no peat in them, instead we use a composted pine bark product, it has been our experience over many years that these composted and renewable media components give far better results than does any peat based product and does not involve the destruction of sensitive natural ecosystems.  The decision to use fungicidal drenches is entirely a matter for the individual, we can only report that we use those mentioned and as a result suffer no fungal pathogens. 

Disease Freeness

Tasmania is free from the Black death organism that has been so troublesome to some northern hemisphere growers. At our nursery we operate a very strict hygiene arrangement to prevent its introduction.

Please note that if you wish to place an order from this list immediately we will accept it subject to the possibility of changes to the phytosanitation arrangements of your country.  There remains the possibility of the need to charge for a certificate of phytosanitation issued by the Australian authorities.

Photo credits:

Many of the photos in our catalogue were taken by Corrie Dudley, Kathryn Dudley and John Dudley. Warren Reed, a professional photographer with a fine eye and a really fantastic camera gave his permission to use some of his photos. Warren 's brother Matt is the co-owner of ANTIQUE PERENNIALS in Victoria , a fine nursery in the Dandenongs and well worth a visit. Some of the images are from our friend Toshiaki Ohgi.

Naming our plants:
We are often asked about where the names for our plants come from. From the thousands of seedlings that we germinate annually we have the
opportunity to name on average only one new hellebore per year, this is an obligation that we take very seriously. We choose to honour people
whose lives and work we value and would otherwise go unremarked, by doing so we probably are in breach of the nomenclatural laws that govern
such things. These laws appear to favour the application of facile names to newly introduced plants, we hold the view that the world already has
too many ‘Snow Queens' and plants named after Princesses, where but for a very few are the names of composers, scientists, philosophers,
artists? More important for us is the need to commemorate the lives or work of apparently ordinary people who have earned our admiration and
affection; it is our assumed right to apply whatever names to the plants that we have bred . We can offer no better examples that ‘Julie' that we
have offered for several and ‘Nellie' offered for the first time this year.

Julie is named for Julie Payne, artist, sculptor, teacher, architect, gardener, good friend. ‘Nellie' is named for our friend Nellie Carr, a
lady of mature years, sharp wit and undoubted wisdom. Nellie was a reporter during WW2, married a Scottish submariner (the best of men) and
they became dairy farmers in Tasmania at war's end; she has written extensively on garden topics and found time to complete an honours
degree in History. We could have asked for no better role model for our own daughters than Nellie.