The huge, deeply incised leaves of Tetrapanax papyrifer, the rice-paper plant of Taiwan, look stunning in early-morning sunshine, partnered with Crocosmia 'Paul's Best Yellow', Persicaria microcephala 'Red Dragon' and Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea 'Transparent'. A stalwart of Christopher Lloyd's famed exotic garden at Great Dixter, and described by him as "most glamorous", Tetrapanax is growing here in a spot that gets plenty of sun and where it can get its feet down into soil approximating that fabled combination of moist but well drained. On the down side, it's in a definite frost pocket, so I am pleased to report that it has sailed through the recent run of colder-than-average winters largely unscathed. Though planted only four years ago, as a tiny – some would say wretched – specimen, it has each spring refuted my eeyore-ish predictions of doom by putting on an extravagant spurt of lusty growth.
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