Monday, November 10, 2014

A Good Thing About Packing

It's not all gloom and adieu to the warmer weather when packing up plants for the winter. One of the little benefits of doing so is you get the chance to inspect the plants one by one as you do so (as long as it's not a rushed affair). You get to inspect them and see how well they have performed from the past growing season and how they are doing just before they get stashed away for the winter.  

Sorry birds, you're off to a warmer but sunless place for the winter!
The health of the plant can be checked before winter arrives. If they are in a good state then they can be stashed away immediately. If not then perhaps a few things needs to be done first to remedy the problem before they go to their winter homes.

Or simply you get the chance to admire them!

Such was when we finally moved this palm to its home and position for the winter (in the jungle hut).

Parajubaea torallyi var. microcarpa
My it has grown really well! And it's looking great!

This particular palm is Parajubaea torallyi var. microcarpa. You can read more about this coconut lookalike on this page. Although this palm grows in high altitude areas in parts of South America and has a good degree of cold and frost tolerance, it is still unsuitable for permanent planting in our garden without extra protection. It is a good candidate however for planting in the milder parts of the country like in the coastal west and Central London.

With Gaz for scale
So not quite suitable for planting out but good enough to be grown in a pot and kept in a frost free, minimally heated space for the winter. A lot easier to keep alive without costing the earth in heating bills than its lookalike, the coconut palm.

The jungle hut is now full of plants, although I didn't take a photo at the end. Everything tucked up ready for winter, with plenty of natural light and insulated walls to keep the heat in.

Mark :)

16 comments :

  1. Does the palm get any pest problems over the winter?

    If you're only getting a chance to admire a potted plant when you're putting it away for the winter, some might say that you have too many potted plants, or maybe your garden is too jungly! :)

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    1. We get to admire it in the summer too Alan but yes, it has too many eye candy competitors (or summer just gets too busy to stop and stare too often, typical!).

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  2. I do always enjoy how much bigger and fuller some plants have gotten when I move them in. That palm is really cool - yet another species I had never even heard about!

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    1. It's still a relatively obscure palm here although a few have tried it outside here pre winter 2010. I won't be surprised if I start seeing this in milder parts of the UK in the following years.

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  3. When you start packing your plants away I always feel like we take our palms so much for granted - just plant and forget. In fact we have palms that self-seed and have to be pulled out like weeds. Packing things away for Winter is a good way of re-evaluating the garden each year though.

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    1. Indeed Missy :) Trachycarpus fortunei can self seed here which is good

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  4. My inspection of plants usually leads to a culling prior to packing stuff in the greenhouse. I have this bad habit of buying multiples of plants that do well and that I like. How can you pack half a dozen Ensete maurelii in a greenhouse without rejecting a couple of the weak ones.

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    1. I don't mind you buying multiples Don, thank you! :))

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  5. It's a handsome palm, and I love your birds!

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  6. Wow really nice palm. Will it stay bent at the top when you take it outside in the Spring? Love those birds.

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    1. Hi Candice, it was already like that when we took it in. It'll probably bend even more next year :)

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  7. That's an impressive looking plant! And spoilt in its winter environment, very chic winter quarters.

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    1. I quite like the new interior of the jungle hut Janet :)

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  8. Congratulations on getting everything tucked in and safe from the cold weather to come!

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    1. Not quite everything Kris, there's still a few bits left to move and sort out :)

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