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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April in the Garden

Well Spring seems to have finally turned up after what seems like a much longer break so last weekend we finally got some time in the garden. I can't just blame the weather as we have been away quite a lot recently too, but it has felt too miserable to do much even when we were at home.

 

The patio area almost looks like summer is here, most of the plants have done ok this winter, although the agave in the bottom right hand corner is showing some damage. Hopefully it will just be marked rather than anything more serious.

Feeling like summer on the top patio

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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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Dinner is Served!

Dinner is served!!!

Who needs real food when you have beautiful plants to visually feast on?

Anyone for a second serving?

Although Twinkles doesn't seem to agree. She didn't look pleased with the substitution to her usual grub...

Meanwhile, busy busy times in the garden with so many things to do and so much to be excited with. One of which is the top patio where I'm busy figuring out the pot display for this year.

I'm on a mission to minimise the use of plastic pots there from this year onwards so lots of repotting are being done, including this Nolina longifolia which looks much better now in a glazed pot.

Pot display in progress

However, I'm happy to keep using them for the rest of the garden. Especially black ones that are much easier to blend in.

Mark :-)

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Less Plastic, More Fantastic

Is my dictum for this year, at least for the top patio...

This Agave geminiflora is looking fabulous. It deserves the the dignity of a nicer looking pot.

Last year I did a sort of 'whimsy' style of displaying potted succulents and was very pleased with the result. And as a bonus it received good feedback too. By going with the anything goes style of displaying pots (but actually carefully displayed) I justified to myself that it's ok to mix in ordinary plastic pots in amongst the ceramic, glazed, and terracotta ones. The end result turned out fine and I was happy with the outcome.

However I can't keep denying to myself that those cheap nursery plastic pots don't bother me. Most of the key plants on display then were in those plastic pots and if I'm going to do a similar display again this year I wouldn't be able to ignore/tolerate them this time.

So why did I keep them in plastic pots when replacing them with glazed ones were easy enough?

Answer: because plastic pots are light.

Plastic pots have there uses and many advantages too, one of which is being light hence easy to move. With most of our succulents and xerophytes not hardy enough to remain outside all year round they will need shifting indoors before winter sets in. The bigger specimens are tricky enough as they are to shift and it'll even be more difficult if they are in heavy pots.

Both Agave geminiflora and Agave ocahui will have new glazed pots this year

But aesthetics will win this year and I'm determined to have less plastic on display at the top patio. It'll be more effort to move them later on but I'll cross that bridge nearer the time.

Work in progress

For the rest of the garden however, I don't mind them quite so much and tolerate them far more.

Mark :-)

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Spring Growth

For all intentions I was hoping to snap a few more photos today for this blog post about some of the exciting spring growth happening in our garden this week. However the weather has turned from gloriously sunny and bright to grey and drizzly, not conducive to taking photos.

Still I'm glad it is rainy. I don't mind it being rainy on weekdays whilst at work. And besides, it's much better for the garden to have bouts of rainy days interspersed with sunny ones.

I'll have to make do with the very few I managed to take last weekend...

Loving the dainty new growth of Acacia pravissima. Mind you the old growth ain't too bad either.

This climber took awhile to get going but this Holboellia coriacea looks like it's set to romp away this year, and put on a spectacular show of blooms too.

All our tree ferns are showing signs of movement as well but the potted ones like this Cyathea cooperi are expectedly ahead. They did overwinter indoors.

And Saxifraga stolonifera seems set to conquer a large area. Easy enough to pull them out where they are not wanted and how could one not love their bright spring colour?

Next weekend is forecast to be sunny again, and better opportunity for taking more photos!

Mark :-)

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Slow Awakening

Just had our first decent weather weekend this spring. So good that it feels like summer already! With the weather being rather unpredictable in this country it could well be 'the' summer of 2016 but we're hoping that won't be the case...

Blue skies and warm weather, bliss!

Anyhow, with so many commitments work wise for the both of us it has been a slow awakening for both us and the garden. Nevertheless, better late than never and we took advantage of the fine weather by going into full swing preparing the garden for the growing season ahead. We have so much to catch up on!

We're behind with tidying up but pace is now ramping up

Loving the blues, both from the sky and the yuccas!

It is notable that the growing season here is rather behind compared to the other side of the pond of similar climate (yes we were still reading blogs despite our absence recently). Speaking of slow awakening, we were away two weeks ago and during that period apparently there was snowfall and the temperatures dipped during the evening, hence spring growth slowed down. It suited us fine though, the last thing we wanted was a warm spell whilst we were away. It was only last week really when the weather turned better and by Friday it has turned into full spring mode.

Jet wash time!

The newest addition to our cat brood, Cotton has started to spend time out in the garden with us

Such a wonderful weekend, shame it had to end. But there's more to look forward!

Mark :-)

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First of June Blooms

I got inspired by Loree's latest blog post sharing her first of June blooms so here's a few of ours...

Magnolia laevifolia (syn. M. yunnanensis)

The buds look like almonds before they open and the blooms scent is lovely!

Spreading away as usual - Euphorbia deflexa

Kniphofia northiae blooms are as robust and chunky looking as the plant itself

Sometimes the best way to get a good look at the blooms is...

to cut them off and move closer to you.

Especially if it's on the tips of branches over 30 feet high

Paulownia tomentosa

Never noticed them until I stooped down by chance, dainty blooms from Actinidia kolomikta

With summer on its way I'm sure there will be more blooms to look forward. And even more foliage of course!

Mark :-)

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Hail and the Jumping Agave

Do you have any gardening superstition? I don't but I think I'm starting to develop one. That is that I must be careful when cutting and repotting Agave attenuata for doing so brings hail!

It started last year when I chopped two Agave attenuata living in our conservatory that were leaning at an acute angle which I then repotted upright. One detail that I forgot to mention on my post about it then was that some light hail fell as soon as I did the deed. Just my luck, they remained pristine indoors (albeit leaning) and the short moment they spent outdoors it just had to hail, great! Fortunately it was only light and the blemishes it sustained was minimal and barely noticeable.

Fast forward to May this year. In a recent post I made about my favourite shed it featured a photo of the Agave attenuata that was on the table inside that shed. Just like the two specimens living in the conservatory this one also developing a lean but still seemed secure in remaining upright with its heavy terracotta pot. Or so I thought. Going back into the shed the next day I discovered that the agave had fallen on to the floor, some leaves broken and gravel mulch scattered all over the place making a royal mess. Sigh, the agave has just jumped! The lean was bad enough for it to inevitably topple.

The jumping agave (fortunately the other succulents weren't harmed when it jumped)

And what to do now that it is too top heavy and with a lean? Chop and repot of course, like what I've done to two others before. And so I did just that and it didn't look too bad at all despite the topple and the cut. But shortly afterwards, guess what, hail fell again! But this time it was a tad heavier and the damage and blemishes it has caused is much more visible.

Poor pockmarked Agave attenuata!

So is this variegated one

Even this Agave lophantha got blemished

Oh well, I'm sure I'll be chopping and repotting an Agave attenuata again at various points in the future. But perhaps do it under cover and let it stay there for a few days just in case it hails...

Mark :-)

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Three Days of Bliss

Bank holiday weekend, three days off from work and potentially three days of bliss. And it was especially as we didn't make any plans beforehand apart from mainly staying at home and do as much gardening as we could.

Nevermind the hosepipe....

Typical of a bank holiday weekend here the sun barely made an appearance. Fortunately it was still warm and there were long intervals between the odd drizzle so we still managed to do lots of gardening.

The rare occasion that sun made an appearance, and just had to take a photo - Mahonia gracilipes

And the sun's still there! Actinidia kolomikta

And the clouds return - Schefflera delavayi

We didn't aim for any particular project to do but rather a general catch up of various garden chores to get it ready for coming warmer months. 

It wasn't planned but a rather spontaneous tweaking of the side passage was done

Even the houseplants got some attention and maintenance, not that we have many, in fact we barely have any. But the odd one here and there in the house is good, recognising its benefits after nearly banishing them all a year or so ago. Like this pot of begonia in the office, it's not much but nice to see and takes the edge of the concept of an office being a stark, functional space.

Indoor plants can improve the overall look of the office, as can bright green bunnies!

As it was grey for most of the weekend photo taking was very limited due to poor lighting. Hopefully in the next few days we'll be able to take more. And typical of a bank holiday weekend too, the forecast over the following days will be sunny and warm. On the days we're back at work. Oh well...

Mark :-)

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