Letter from proprietor

Thank you for your interest in Eucalyptus. I am sure you'll be pleased with the results of growing them in your garden.

Eucalyptus provide a great variety of leaf and stem colour, bark and flowers. Moreover their growth rates vary from between 3ft to a startling 8ft a year. Some remain as shrubs, others grow to majestic trees very quickly. Most can, however, be kept as shrubs by cutting back each or every other year. This does no harm to the plant or its form and their powers of regeneration are simply remarkable. They have this ability due to natural regeneration after fire or grazing in their native Australasia. The resulting young leaves that continue to unfold from spring to summer can be more beautiful than many flowering shrubs.

A sense of maturity can quickly be brought to a new garden and the rapid growth of Eucalyptus can soon cover an eyesore. During autumn or winter the lovely evergreen leaves remain to cheer one on a dull day.

There are more than five hundred species that originate from Australia and Tasmania. Our endeavour has been not only to find the most interesting, but also the very hardiest of species based on provenance (exact place of origin) trials. They will not just survive but thrive in the sometime severe climate that we experience in the British Isles. Different provenances of the same species differ considerably in their performance and survival. For example a particular species may grow at altitudes between 300ft and 3900ft. There is also considerable variation in survival between provenances of the same altitude but of different latitudes. Little attention has been given to these essential details in the past. In general only stock of high altitude Australasian origin is offered where much of the winter is spent under snow or severe frost. The importance of our correct selection of provenance cannot be overemphasised.

Culture is easy and providing the simple recommendations are carried out, your new plants will be establishing vigorously during summer.

Smaller plants establish and grow away much faster than taller "leggy" pot bound plants. For that reason container grown plants between 35 and 45cm high, hardened off in the Welsh climate at 800ft are offered.

Also detailed is information on promising hardy species of Acacia (Mimosa) for wider planting in Britain.

Naturally orders will be safely packed.

I am sure you will agree to the advantage of growing the, at present, uncommon and unusual Eucalyptus and look forward to taking care of your gardening needs.

	ANDREW McCONNELL Proprietor

P.S. Don't forget - order promptly to ensure that your plants establish in the best conditions.