Kitchen Garden Collection

The Kitchen Garden Collection contains one of each plant in either a 7cm or 8cm pot.

Toona sinensis - Onion Tree, Chinese Cedar (8-10cm tall): An architectural, deciduous fruit tree with large (2ft long), dissected leaves and equally large, white inflorescences. Its fruit and leaves are edible and are often used in teas. The leaves are known to have an onion-like taste and are cooked in salads and stir fry’s or can be pickled or fried. The Chinese Cedar is known to be a highly valued food in China and is rich in vitamin A. It flowers in July.

Zanthoxylum piperitum - Japanese Pepper Tree, Sansho (10-12cm tall): Seeds of this plant are used as a pepper substitute in the Far East but also the fruits and leaves, even its bark are used as a condiment. An unusually thorny shrub with composed leaves and numerous small, red fruits that show a black shiny seed when opening in the Autumn. Zanthoxylum piperitum is a medium sized shrub, easy to grow, drought tolerant and not fussy to soil conditions. The foliage turns a spectacular orange and yellow during the Autumn. Its spines don't die but grow with the plant, becoming a showy feature on the trunk of older plants (with a 4-5cm long base). It is dioecious in theory but we found that most plants will fruit on their own. The Japanese Pepper Tree / Sansho is suitable for smaller gardens, by a wall or in a border, but also good for the patio if grown in a container. It also makes a good bonsai.

Laurus nobilis - Bay Tree, Bay Laurel (15-20cm tall):An incredibly versatile Mediterranean evergreen shrub with narrow, ovate leaves that have a leathery texture and an aromatic smell all year round. It is an invaluable culinary plant in the kitchen, the leaves can be added to numerous dishes such as stews, curries, casseroles and are among the main ingredients of bouquet garni. The leaves add a lovely fragrant flavour and can be used from fresh or dried. It has a very attractive shape and can be enjoyed individually as an ornamental tree or combined to form a hedge. Kept neatly clipped, the dark-green foliage can create stunning formal shapes that will grace your doorway or look perfect when placed on a patio. The Sweet Bay also lends itself perfectly to indoor container gardening. It is dioecius, with male and female blooms on separate plants. The pale yellow-green flowers are full of pollen which welcome the bees and the butterflies.