The Never Ending Task

At this time of the year one of the regular garden jobs is to hunt the wayward bamboo rhizomes, we grow a number of Phyllostachys species, and most have been seen to wander in our garden (ignore any nursery or garden centre that claims they clump - they dont!).

But by and large we are able to keep them where we want them, usually with a little gentle persuasion from a trusty pickaxe or in todays case a mattock. 

In todays example a Phyllostachys aurea that was one of the early plantings in our garden needed a little attention. this is growing in a planting hole chipped out from crazy paving a former owner had long since buried under a layer of gravel that we see today. Fortunately this has helped contain this one. and when it does wander, the initial exploration is though a gravel layer - not that that deters the bamboo of course. But it does make it easier to get our once it starts to loosen.

How we went so long in our gardening life without a mattock is anyone's guess, but really it is an essential tool, easily chops through a matted mass of bamboo roots, and helps lift those wayward rhizomes for subsequent disposal.

All of which brings me on to Danger Gardens recent post about palms and bamboo, where Loree had been involved in a discussion where a participant commented about bamboo, "As a screening plant, it screams “I am entirely unable to think outside the box”.

Whilst I wouldn't agree with this exactly, perhaps I do have some sympathy for this view point, we have been removing bamboo over the last couple of years, funnily enough several Phyllostachys aurea have had the chop. When we started the garden, limited budgets and a desire for some instant height meant this was a regular repeated plant. It was readily available and relatively inexpensive, screening the neighbours or in the case of the plant above, hiding the shed. 

Perhaps, one could argue we lacked some knowledge to think outside the box, but really it was that desire for a garden that wasn't all under 30cm tall that meant we headed in that direction.

We have never fallen out of love for bamboo, but we have limited space, and ejecting repeat bamboo gives us a little more space. They are of course quite messy plants at some times of the year, so a little less summer leaf litter isn't a bad thing either. From memory I think eight Phyllostachys aurea clumps have been removed over the last few years, with a further one on the radar for a new planting space later this year. 

But as to the future for this particular plant, thats a little more safe for now, its location works, and I have no great desire to have to get rid of the crazy paving around it to stand any chance of removal. So for now its future is secure... 

Gaz

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May at Alternative Eden

This time  of year is one of my favourites, as the garden wakes up and all the fresh new growth hints at what comes ahead. Spring has been cool, so the garden seems a little behind this year. But regardless of that, I thought it was a good time to share a few photos of whats looking good at the moment. 

The top patio is a little chaotic at the moment as a result of the new pond project. But I dont think ill grow tired of this view. 

Persicaria runcinata 'Purple Fantasy'

View from the middle patio, the Ficus carica 'Adam' towards the right hand side seems very late to get going this year. 

View along the main pathway from the house to the jungle. 

The trachycarpus are all full of flower buds - with some still full of last years seed.

Aesculus parviflora

Schefflera rhododendrifolia

Trochodendron aralioides

Jungle Pathway

Enjoying just watching the garden "do its thing" this year as the pond project is occupying much of our free time. Fortunately the garden does seem to know just what to do!

Gaz

 

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Greening my Workspace

Like many people I have been mostly working from home over the last year, trying different parts of the house to find the spot that worked best. Eventually opting for what had become the cats room.

The smallest bedroom in our home had at one time been set up as a home office, back in the days when a computer took up a lot more space than a laptop now does. But sharing a room with the cats things did mean it wasn't really set up properly, a clear out and a tidy up later and the space was suitable to work. 

We tend not to have many house plants, except in the conservatory, however more have been creeping in over the last year or so, and the home office, sorry cats room was no exception.

Earlier in the year we had repotted the variegated Monstera that came home with us from a trip to Madeira and have been rewarded with some lush new growth.

Variegated Monstera

Variegated Monstera

Variegated Monstera

The larger of the two had been struggling a little before repotting, which we discovered was down to over watering - i think we were both "looking after" the house plants in this room and hadnt spotted the problem. Now with a new watering regime and fresh compost it is flourishing again.

sansevieria sp

With this being my base for much of every working day, a few additional plants and other objects have found their way in to the room. An as yet unnamed houseplant from a local nursery (Rhaphidophora  perhaps?) finds its way onto my desk in a pot we already had tucked away in the attic. The green rabbit was came home with us from a trip to Amsterdam 

Finally another unnamed addition from the same nursery (perhaps Monstera adansonii), sits on top of the book case.

Monstera adansonii (?)

Following the latest addition a colleague remarked via a Teams call that I appeared to be disappearing into the undergrowth. I'm quite pleased the new additions were noticed!

Have you been working from home more, and if so how have you accessorised your workspace?

Gaz

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A New Project

At the end of the garden we have our first pond, built in the summer of 2008, and featured in this post. That pond was originally planned to be a goldfish pond, but soon upgraded filtration allowed the birth of our love for koi, resulting in the large pond many of you are familiar with.

As it looked in 2008

Roll forward to 2020 and with lockdown limiting travel we decided that it was time to upgrade the pond and give the area a makeover.

How it looked last summer

The initial focus was on replacing the old fences and clearing the somewhat ramshackle old shed adjacent to the pond. The shed was inherited when we moved into our home in 2005 and has had various repairs over the years. Sadly it was beyond saving, with woodworm and rot overtaking the timbers. 

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The Garden in early June

May was quite a busy month for us with two trips away - updates to follow in due course. But with us away the garden continues to launch into its summer mode.



The bottom patio is looking extremely lush at the moment. We have been thinning out the grape vine and Clematis armandii that cover the pergola to get a little more light down to the ground. 

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Is it Safe to Say Spring is Here?

This time of the year everything is bursting back into life. Its been another slow year for Spring to arrive, looking back into the archives we have complained about late springs before, so maybe its not really late and we are just impatient!

Now we are a few weeks past the clocks going forward the evenings are also light and bright, and we can actually spend some time in the garden after work. Although usually tempted to find a job to do it is an enjoyable way to just wind down after three quarters of an hour on the train.

So whats looking good in the garden now...

Pieris japonica

The bright pink flush on this Pieris appears on a few other plants and to the casual observer looks like flowers. Almost like the flowers on this potted Rhododendron, (potted to give it the soil conditions it likes, our garden is just a little too alkaline for rhododendrons to do well).

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Treeferns Awaking

 

With spring feeling like it has arrived here in the UK the garden is breaking its winter slumber. Admittedly its a little delayed on a typical year, but at least its finally here!

 

My favourite new growth is nearly always are the tree ferns, with Dicksonia antarctica being the most showy at the moment. The other less hardy tree ferns are waking, but are still in the greenhouse, although they really should come out soon.

 



 

Dicksonia antarctica

 

As regular readers will know we have a tree fern patch in the jungle area of the garden, and this area is bursting with the new life. Currently the area is easy to navigate as we have tidied up and removed last years fronds, the snow and frosts had browned them off this year. With the fronds removed we can actually walk down the pathways, which will soon be tricky when the crosiers are fully extended. Still for now it makes enjoying the new knuckles an easy and rewarding task!

Gaz

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Seeds everywhere!

Last year must have been a good year for Trachycarpus as many of the palms in our garden are laden down with seeds.

 



Trachycarpus fortune seeds




Trachycarpus fortune seeds

We tend to ignore the palm seeds, usually cutting off any the birds, mice or squirrels haven't taken once we get round to tidying up palms later in spring. In the past few years this has meant a small number of seedlings appearing under the palms each year. However given the abundance of seeds on them this year I think we may end up with a whole forest of them.

Still that makes a change from weeding out sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) seedlings that turn up in their thousands every year!

Gaz

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Crossrail Place Exotics

It's been a long time since I wrote a blog post and writing one after a period of absence feels a bit strange, albeit nice at the same time.

In the run up to last Christmas we made a special trip to check out the roof garden at Crossrail Place in Canary Wharf, London. It officially opened last May and it is a retail and public space with a 4,160 square meter roof garden. The complex was designed by Foster and Partners to mimic the clippers that once frequented West India North Dock.

As we entered took the escalator up and entered the complex this was first glimpse we had of a very promising public space...

Then looking back...

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Late December at Alternative Eden

As parts of Northern England suffer from the effects of multiple storms bringing flooding its easy in our part of the world to think we are having a kind winter. We have only had a couple of light frosts and they were back in November, other than that it has been unseasonally warm, with day time temperatures regularly in the mid teens Celsius (high 50s/low 60s Fahrenheit). For our part of the country we have not seen the storms bringing damage but warm temperatures.

As a result the garden seems somewhat confused with hostas poking up from their extremely short winter slumber and neighbouring spring flowering trees showing blooms already.

If the cold does come it may be with quite damaging effects as plants suffer less when dormant but for now its giving us an easy time of it - nicer walk to the station in the morning and not having to put the heating on as much giving our wallet a well earned rest.

Tetrapanax rex pushing out new leaves

Middle patio area... this is honestly how it looks today.

The path past the Jungle Hut, still looking lush

Ensete maurelii planted as summer bedding, pushing out new leaves after November frost

We have added an additional member to our household that many of you will not have met yet.



This is Cotton, she's about 4 months old now and making her presence known with the other two cats. Knickers and her seem quite friendly despite her regularly tormenting him. Twinkles on the other hand does not seem best pleased to have a new kitten in the household and mostly just tolerates Cottons existence.

We haven't let her outside yet, but I'm sure she will have lots of adventures in the garden when she does finally get out!

Gaz

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A Walk Through The Garden

Photos don't always make it easy to work out how parts of the garden relate to each other, so here's a short video walk though the garden. I need to be  a little less shakey holding the camera :)

Gaz

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The Garden in July

Its the middle of a heatwave at the moment, and overall the garden does seem to enjoy the warmer weather, although the extra watering takes sooooo much longer.



Regardless the garden is starting to fill out - too much so in some places where those extra plants squeezed into a gap in spring didn't really have a gap to squeeze into! 

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Patio of Discontent

Our top patio (or terrace as a friend insists), the part of our garden that we are least content with. You would think that with it being nearest to the house it would be the first one to be developed. But no it wasn't and it's turned out to be the last.

The top patio, back in the day before the conservatory got built

We've entertained so many ideas on what to do with it and we sort of have made a decision on the layout and what look it will have. But because we have delayed doing anything long term with it more and more ideas have accumulated thoughts have evolved ever since we started planning for it.

Another back in the day photo

Initially we thought of changing it three years ago but the finishing of the pond build then the house renovation took priorities and it got side tracked. Then there was the garden fire on top of that and the subsequent much needed repair of the garden meant making over the top patio was even less of a priority. We thought that in 2014 we would be ready to tackle it but by then we were exhausted by the intense preceding years that we decided not to go ahead and postpone the undertaking on what will really be a huge project (the koi shed we consider a small project).

Besides, there was no real need to rush, it's not like it is in a bad state. In fact it's not bad at all. It's a top patio that we inherited when we bought the house and most of it has remained the same ever since. It ain't broke so no rush to fix it.

Just not to our full taste that's all.

And it's not linked to the scheme of the koi pond area and the conservatory. The top patio has the potential to link and complement the two areas nicely.

Going back to 2014, we decided then not to go ahead with any major/permanent makeover and just make the space neat and usable. The paving was alright, the fences were fine....

Until I came home from work to find one of our neighbours attached cheap trellises on their side of the fences on the top patio area. It was to keep their new dog from jumping over the fences which could potentially harm our cats. Good intentions, fair play but...

Boy those trellises are UGLY! And they're not even symmetrical which didn't help at all. We we're happy to make do but after seeing those trellises that sense of discontent reared its ugly head again. Sigh!

We made a half hearted attempt to make the most of it by hanging random garden accessories on the trellis, at least pass it off as 'quirky' but to no avail. What can be seen cannot lie, at least to us.

Back to the present we're not sure if we have the time and/or the energy to do this long overdue makeover so we'll make do for now once again. But those trellises still bugged us, especially me. We can't get rid of it, but we can at least reduce its view for now.

Unfortunately they were placed way above the highest point of brick posts and if we put on fence panels to totally cover them it would look silly as they will be above the posts. So we settled with new fence panels that will be at level with the posts and partially obscure those offending trellises. There's is a climber making it's way over one of them already and hopefully in no time both will be colonised and serve as just a green backdrop.

The new fence panels may or may not be temporary, depends on what we actually do on the top patio when we eventually get to do that makeover. For now that will do.

And for this year I might do something fun on this space albeit non committal and temporary. I'll have fun before we commit. That should stave off and delay the sense of discontent, buy time before it gets too unbearable. And hopefully by then we actually have time and energy again to do it.

Mark :-)

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Plants in the Blue Pots Update

Funny how a post, like this one can have several working titles. The first one was 'Front of House Plants Update' but it was the exact title we used we we first gave an update last July. Then the second one was 'As I Weed at the Front of the House' but thought...nah! So went with the third.

So how are the plants in blue pots at the front of our house doing? Generally very good. A few changes since July but everytihng that is there now, except for one more recent addition has sailed through last winter fine with no extra protection at all. Being at the front of the house they must be tough enough to not need any protecting during the winter but at the same time reap benefits from what is perhaps the most sheltered outdoor spot in our property (south facing, gets winter sun, and gets radiant warmth from the paving and house bricks).

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February First

And it's time to have a look at the garden as it continues its winter slumber...

We're sort of in hibernation mode ourselves, which is probably very obvious seeming as our last post almost two weeks ago was a photo of a duck! Just as I was about to to get stuck in to gardening around that time Gaz suggested that we continue redecorating the rest of the house instead. The ground floor has been done up with the house renovation we had last year, as well as parts of upstairs. The bedrooms just need to catch up though with the rest of the house and the first one to be tackled in the guest room (more on this later). Sensible suggestion, best to get indoor decorating out of the way before spring arrives and the garden takes priority again.

The temptation to stay indoors and not even venture out at all was very high seeming that we are in the middle of a cold spell of sorts. We even had some snow in the morning which fortunately melted away by noon. Tonight temperatures are predicted to dip down to -4C in our area.

A quick once over never does harm and I'm glad I broke the inertia and had a little walk in the garden today...

 The view from the patio is looking exotic even at the start of February.

Dasylirion longissimum

Even a small touch of blue sky!

Aspidistra elatior

Chamaerops humilis

The deck under the verandah is home to a number of boxes that would have been inside, but inside is full of plants!

Gardening routines after work are usually no more than a little stay in the koi shed we finished weeks ago but length of daylight is increasingly becoming noticeable and it won't be long before we can do other gardening activities getting back home from work. The guest room has been mostly finished redecoration too, with just finishing touches left to be done (accessories etc). I'll be sharing what we did to that bedroom in the past few days later. It was fun and was somehow botanical inspired.

Mark :-)

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