A Post Card from Devon

On our way down to Cornwall for our annual visit we stopped off for a day in Devon, with our friends and fellow exotic gardeners, Lucien and Laura. Their garden is looking lovely at the moment, everything bursting into life and many of the herbaceous plants ahead of our own garden.

The winter in Devon was so mild this year that two large Ensete Murelli survived in their garden without any protection! If only we had winters as mild as that in our garden!

We then spent the rest of the day touring some of the local nurseries near to Exeter, first up was Urban and Rural, which is a specialist nursery stocking various exotic and also large specimen plants.

So much to choose from, but on only the first day of our holiday we had to be restrained,
especially as most of the plants are quite large!

General view in the main polytunel

Left to Right: Mark, Gaz, Laura, Lucien and Sam Rankin of Urban and Rural

After Urban and Rural, we then headed down to Trago Mills, which is a large shopping village, with a huge garden centre, first stop was lunch! Trago has a huge garden section, and some great prices, sadly this is not a national chain, but worth popping into when in the area. We have always been pleasantly surprised by the plants at  Trago, often some unusual ones and generally pretty good prices too.

Trago Mills, garden centre.

So much to choose from, a huge selection of perennials.

The final place to visit was Hill House Nursery, a delightful nursery with a wide selection of interesting and unusual plants. Laura was rather taken by the wide selection of Dicentras, but was unable to persuade us to take another one home (she did persuade us at Trago!). Sometimes when plant shopping in a group you can end up persuaded into buying more than you planned! 

The stunning setting of Hill House

Decisions, decisions... We opted for plants then tea...

They also had a selection of succulents for sale

Brugmansia in bloom in the main glasshouse

Then to follow it all off we had Devon cream teas in the nursery garden. Plants and cake in the sunshine, what a perfect way to spend the day!

Mark had a habit of taking unflattering photos, this time I was the victim!

A great start to our holiday, after leaving Hill House we headed down to Cornwall for a week and we will share our adventures there in future posts :)

Gaz

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Return of the Beautiful Sun

Schefflera kornasii flushing and reaching for the sun!

Finally, after weeks and weeks of rain and dull skies, the sun has returned!

It was almost disconcerting when it was all blue skies and wall to wall sunshine on Friday. I got so used to having overcast skies and loads of rain that it took me awhile to re-acquaint myself to the feeling of basking under the sun and seeing the garden in such bright light. Strange I know, but having weeks of the same dull weather does take its toll on your perception, that a sudden shift can almost cause a mini shock to the system.

In that period of rain, three weeks perhaps four, I've lost count exactly but I know it felt a long time, we drained the unfinished big pond almost every other day. Left undone it would have probably filled it up to a quarter of its capacity which would be 2,000 imperial gallons. It may not make sense to most but I can assure you that's an enormous amount of rainfall for such a relatively short period of time.

Arisaema ringens soaked in rain

But nevermind, thye sun is out and I'm not complaining, far from it. Rather I'm ecstatic, joyous even and I'm celebrating the return of the beautiful sun in my own little way, inside me and is manifestating with the smile on my face as I walked through the garden on Friday.

Blue skies...haven't seen it this blue for quite some time...

Persicaria 'Red Dragon'

The sun will probably not stay with us for a long time but I'm hoping it will. And even if it does go again I'm hoping it won't be another long abscence again. Afterall, the garden needs some rain too in between sunny periods and too long a sunny and dry spell is not ideal for the garden either.

Podophyllum hexandrum

Rodgersia 'Chocolate Wings'

As I walked down the garden on Friday I also thought how wonderful a start it is to the weekend, and for the coming week as well. Despite all the plant fairs and nursery visits we've made recently I've always thought the 'gardening season' for us doesn't really start after we've come back from our yearly trip to the west, the mecca of exotic gardening in the UK. The sun may or may not follow us there (I hope it does!) but it has certainly put us on a better mood. It's going to be a fab week!

Looks like the sun has followed us to the west...

Mark :-)

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A Weekend in Devon

As regular readers will recall we sometimes visit fellow Exotic Gardeners Lucien and Laura in the delightful Devon town of Exmouth. Since we last visited the garden won the Exmouth in Bloom competition for 2011, so this weekend not only were we visiting our friends but also an award winning garden! (Photos from last summer)

The drive down to Devon from Bedfordshire takes about three hours, so we decided to break up our journey by calling in at a nursery. There are several we could have called into that would not have been too much of a detour, but as we have never been to Desert to Jungle before it was a good time to make our first visit.

Ideally for us the Nursery is just 5 minutes away from the M5 Motorway, so it was not much of a detour, although we did end up staying about an hour longer than expected! With it being early March the new stocks have not yet arrived, but the plants that had spent the winter here still provided us with a great choice.

A fine selection of agaves, we spent quite a long time looking though the selection.

Succulents, Echeveria's and cacti

More succulents, with impressive Yucca rostrata in the background - if only the car was bigger!

Early March is never the best time to see a nursery, however the selection still kept us occupied for a couple of hours!

Every nursery should have a cat! (and most seem to have several)

The tree ferns (Dicksonia antartica) were very chunky, as the owners personally select larger plants
rather than the slim line versions often seen elsewhere.

On the Saturday we called in at a large retail mega-store - Trago. This store only exists in the South West and stocks everything you can think of, from shoes, clothing and paint, to pet care, toys and plants. The garden centre is vast, and whilst many of the plants are, as you would expect, typical garden centre plants, we did pick up a rather unusual Cordyline 'Karo Kiro'. Which is reportedly hardy to about -7C. I dont think we will be testing this just yet, so it will more likely be a potted specimen that can go into a greenhouse for winter.

Trago have several Peacocks wandering the grounds.

One section of the garden centre, there is a similar sized area of show gardens and garden buildings behind us!

Not Exotic, but the trays of primrose made an attractive display.

Our plants in the back of Laura's car. Notice the Cordyline 'Karo Kiri' on the right hand side.

The weekend wasn't all plants, and we spent Saturday afternoon visiting Dawlish, a quaint coastal town.

Traditional Devon Pasties and Cake, the perfect lunch!

Despite being early March the sun made us feel like were were on our holidays!

The centre of Dawlish is landscaped along side the river Dawlish Water.

The scene would have been complete with some bowls players.

Trachycarpus Fortunei, well establish plants in the town gardens.

The town may be quaint but the ducks and geese were vicious, snatching the food away from Luciens hand!

All too soon the weekend was over, but it won't be long before we return!

Gaz

P.S. For the observant amongst you, who spotted the giraffe? 

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The Garden House and the Mystery Schefflera

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.....

It seems a strange introduction but there is a definite nip in the air recently, with thick frost on all of the cars and the road feeling a bit slippery with ice for the first time on my way to work this morning. I don't normally get into the Christmas spirit until about a couple of weeks before the actual day but with the recent chill in the air it looks like I will be lulled into an early Christmas feeling this time. 

Saying that, around this time last year we were covered in blankets of snow and have had several subzero temperatures already, so the mild autumn we've just experienced was a wonderful bonus. But all of us got used to the milder temperatures and with the sudden feel of chill in the air, everyone seems to have been suddenly reminded that it is winter after all (based on the amount of weather reports I received from all of our clients I spoke to today!).

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A Mini Holiday in Devon

Mark and I have just got back from a few days down in Devon staying with friends in the delightful coastal town of Exmouth.  Lucien and Laura also have an exotic garden, and are blessed with a slightly more favourable climate than us, being that bit further to the south west and being close to the warming influence of the sea, although like the rest of the UK they also had one of the coldest winters that they had known.

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The Devon Inside

"Keep it in the greenhouse for a little while longer, the growth will start quicker. It may be Luton outside but it will be like Devon inside."

Is an advice a nurseryman once told me when it comes to starting off plants in pots in the spring. They start their growth in the new season earlier and the rate much quicker. It makes perfect sense as it gets much warmer, faster in the greenhouse compared to outside hence plants are stimulated into early spring growth. And the warm temperatures are held on for much longer even if the temperatures outside dips down during the evenings and early mornings, a risk that is often associated with early to mid spring.

Devon is part of the west country area of England, a generally milder area as they benefit early on (and much more) from the warm gulf stream air. Because of this the growing season there is earlier and slightly longer than the rest of the country.

It's a really good advice but I made an exception to it when I planted out a special Beech (Fagus sylvatica) cultivar a few weeks ago. It’s a beech after all, definitely hardy and I’m not in a rush to see it in leaf and it can take its natural course, Luton time. (A Beech in an exotic garden I hear you ask? We’re not just into exotic plants but also ones with interesting foliage, and this cultivar certainly has some, but more on this special cultivar at a later post.)

Greenhouse late February

But apart from that beech, pretty much everything else in this particular greenhouse stayed an extra couple of weeks or more inside, just to give them a good head start before they get eventually planted out or placed in their homes outside for the summer. Most of the plants in here were intended to be planted out, but either they are too small still or their intended homes aren't ready yet so we overwintered them under glass.

It may seem unnecessary to put most of them under glass, with frost free heating to boot if they were meant to be planted out anyway, so why not just leave them outside? Some are simply too small still to expose them to the harsh elements of winter, so giving them protection and keeping them ticking during the winter is vital and when they reach a certain size then they can be planted out. Another reason is that they may be fine when planted out but whilst in pots they are more vulnerable and some of them cannot tolerate prolonged rootball freezes which potted plants are more prone to.

The main reason for me though is for aesthetic purposes. Leaving most of them out in the winter, apart from risking their very existence, can take its toll on their appearance and come spring you're left with very tired looking and scruffy plants that will take weeks to recover. There's space available in the greenhouse so why not use it to its full capacity. Come spring you have a group of pristine looking plants ready to be planted out, and makes an instant impact as they look so good for the time of the year.

One thing about gardening and cultivation of plants for ornamental purposes, they are there to look pretty and it gives you a sense of satisfaction when you plant out something that already looks good, instant impact as I've just mentioned. And boy did I make the right decision. Had if I left most of them out they would have been through the harshest winter we've had here for the past hundred years or so. Either half of them would have died or at least I would have been left with a bunch of tired looking plants that would have taken an entire summer to recover, let alone look pretty.

It's a case to case basis of course, there's the nurturing side to every gardener to consider and not all plants benefit from receiving protection in the winter months. Topics worth exploring in the future :-)

The Greenhouse late March, spot the difference...

Anyway, slowly and gradually I've been taking out plants to acclimatise them to the cooler life outside of the greenhouse. First out were some of the arids and palms, then a few of the shrubs as they were planted out. The only other arid left inside is a trunked Yucca linearifolia. Although well rooted, the pot is small and the top too heavy that if left outside any gust of wind will just knock it to its side, so best left there until it's ready to be planted. With the reduction in numbers, the remaining plants are no longer as cramped as they were before, enjoying the extra space. One plant enjoying the extra space, especially it's starting grow to a relatively huge size is the Zantedeschia 'White Giant', which is currently flowering. I refer to this plant as 'The Belle of the Greenhouse' with its beautiful flower set against a backdrop of foliage, like a pretty maiden surrounded by dapper men.

The Belle of the Greenhouse (Zantedeschia 'White Giant')

Gradually, almost one by one I'll be taking out plants until nothing will be left. Most of them can't stay in there too long either. As the season progress and the temperatures and sunlight intensify, left too long it will have an adverse effect of drying/burning them to a crisp which is just as bad as winter damage. Unless you put some shading but I don't intend to do that as this greenhouse is only temporary. Once all of its winter and spring residents are gone it will be dismantled to make way for some construction work, to be positioned somewhere permanent once that is sorted :-)

Mark

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