It grows with such ease and produces its spikes of soft lilac flowers so freely that it’s easy to take Hebe ‘Wiri Image’ for granted. But it’s these qualities that make it the ideal shrub - one that doesn’t call out for attention and behaves perfectly even if never watered or sprayed or given fertiliser.
Hebe ‘Wiri Image’ is ideal for all sorts of gardens. large and small, new or well established. In new gardens it gives very quick results, helping to soften the appearance of stark fences, walls and paths.
In established gardens it’s a tonic for tired borders, ideal for popping into a gap which occurs if an established shrub has to be removed, overcoming the missing tooth look which is so annoying when that full and flowing planting has finally been achieved.
The main flowering flush of Hebe ‘Wiri Image’ is early summer, but there are additional bursts of colour at other times of the year too, creating a nice surprise. The glossy green foliage is an attractive feature all the time.
There are many shrubs which combine well with Hebe ‘Wiri Image’. Gather together some bushy, blue flowered shrubs and climbers to go with it, and some climbers too, such as the large flowered Clematis hybrids. Among the shrubs could be Dichroa versicolor ‘Blue Sapphires’ which has big heads of deep blue flowers throughout summer and autumn, winter too in mild climate areas. Plumbago ‘Royal Cape’ will provide soft blue flowers all summer and gets quite wide and bushy, so needs to be grown behind the daintier Hebe.
Other interesting shrubs to grow with ‘Wiri Image’ include Choisya ternata, which provides white flowers in spring, and Loropetalum ‘China Pink’ which has burgundy foliage of considerable beauty and cerise pink flowers in early spring.
Or you can carry on the natives theme by mingling the Hebe with red kaka beak, Clianthus ‘Kaka King’, which will provide dazzling scarlet flowers in winter and spring. Or simply plant a selection of Hebes, of similar growth habit but in a range of flower colours and various flowering times. A simple idea, but a very effective one.
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Schemes & Themes
using Liddle Wonder Plants