Thursday, May 10, 2018

Cut and Paste

One of the things we have resolved to do more this year is to use as much of the existing plants we have already for planting out rather than buy more. Easier said than done as resistance can be difficult when visiting nurseries. But doing so frees up storage space and efforts when preparing the garden for the winter months.

There are several areas in the garden that will need some replanting and plant editing, which includes the first raised bed in the koi pond area. In this bed was a rather sprawling Kniphofia caulescens. It's a good looking poker with blue leaves but they tend to only look good for a couple of months or so. The rest of the year it looks scruffy as it accumulates dead leaves which takes a long time to tidy up, plus the dead leaves seems to harbor aphids in our garden. With time being a premium enough as it is for us, it was time to let it go and be replaced with an equally good looking and much less maintenance plant. And that plant was going to be one of our existing potted Yucca rostrata.

I didn't get the chance to take a photo of the Kniphofia clump before I dug it up but to give you an idea on what it looked like pre-removal is this clump of the same plant on the third raised bed:


The plant that was dug up was a much bigger clump so took awhile to be removed, but finally after all that a suitable hole was prepared:


Ready to home this little beauty:



As it was going on a raised bed with good drainage already I didn't add extra grit on the planting hole. And based on our experience Yucca rostrata does very well on ordinary garden soil with no extra modification as long as the area doesn't get waterlogged. Also it's best not to tease out the roots when planting as they are brittle, breaking very easily if prodded too much which can set back the plant.

And voila!


A new Yucca for a predominantly blue leafed and yucca bed! A relatively quick cut and paste job.

Mark :-)

Wednesday, May 02, 2018

Plastic Fantastic

A recent post on Piece of Eden wherein a plastic flower was mentioned has reminded me of our recent stopover at Beijing Airport en route to Tokyo. In the central departure area past the security there is this garden:


It looks cool and a relaxing enough spot and not that dissimilar to some of the gardens found within Changi Airport in Singapore.


On closer scrutiny though you quickly realize that the only things that were not 'plastic' (or inorganic more appropriately) were the gold fish and the water. Yep, all plants were plastic on the main area. But strangely at the back of the display were real ones.



Still it's an oasis in a place that can get chaotic during peak times. And to round up this quick post, a sign that made me smile:


Mark :-)

Tuesday, May 01, 2018

Déjà vu Marché aux Fleurs

Supposed to be out and about in the garden today but alas rain has stopped play and I'm indoors now keeping myself dry.



So what else to do? Reminisce and write about it! I make it sound a bit negative but it is a wonderful thing to do, especially life can get so fast paced that looking back can become very tricky...

Not today anyway.

Only a few days ago we featured our visit to Marché aux Fleurs on our most recent visit to lovely Paris. Around the same time Loree of Danger Garden has featured it too. Now is my time to wade in as I share my take of this central Paris plant and flower market!

First things first, before we actually got in to the market we checked out one of the quirky knick knack shops we passed along en route and spotted these mini succulents and pots, nice! Forgot the name of the shop though, oops!






Although we can bring plants across the channel, we went away without buying any of these cute beauties. Now on to the market.

With spring finally descending upon Paris then (with London remarkably behind), there were lots of colour already going on in the market. Ahh Paris in the spring time!






And once in awhile you have to take customary 'pose with the plants' shot, with Gaz for scale.





Walking through the pathway I can't help but admire these vistas...





My favourite though were the stalls selling exotic plants and succulents.








I was intending to bring one of these back with us but alas we didn't get the chance to pass by here again the next day, Alocasia 'Stingray'.



Hopefully they'll still have some available on our next visit!

Mark :-)