One to guess!! ?

[charlie]

Actinidia?

[Chad]

You are right that that is the related genus that you grow.

So the family is Actinidiaceae.

I'll leave it like that for a day and see if anyone can get closer.

Chad

[charlie]

How about Saurauia madrensis?

[Chad]

Right Genus, but an Asian species, not Mexican [though I have that one too!].

Chad

[Chad]

OK that was Saurauia napaulensis which I can't tell apart from the more widely grown [Clive at Hardy Exotics sells it] Saurauia subspinosa.

How about one that is much more widely grown now.





Chad

[Chad]

This one was Lomatia ferruginea. The only Proteaceae that I have tried that I haven't killed off!

How about this shrub;




Chad

[Paul S]

a Sonchus?

[Chad]

Yes,

And the only nearly reliably hardy one and I think the one with the biggest flowers...

[Paul S]

Then probably S. fruticosus. I have had S. acaulis come though winters before now but never tested one punishingly. S. fruticosus came back from underground after a -6C and I've heard of it surviving lower.

[Chad]

Spot on.

Young plants seem to be happy being herbaceous if cut to the ground by frost; old woody plants just die!

I try to make sure I have a cutting under cover in case, I wouldn't want to lose it.

How about this one, another shrub [or herbaceous if frosted too hard].