Post Mortem Embrace

As I was tidying and removing some of the dead plants still dotted around the garden last weekend I noticed this in our utility area (i.e. where some dead plants are also stored to be sorted out later):

It's like the long dead Cyathea australis giving the newly dead Yucca thompsoniana a cuddle,  a post mortem embrace. Perhaps it is giving it commiseration or a welcome to plant hades.

The Yucca came to us many years ago bare root and needing TLC so it stayed in the greenhouse for quite some time. Not long after being repotted it flowered which took up a lot of energy from an already ailing plant. And instead of re-rooting, all pre existing roots that it had rotted away instead. It was a slow death for the poor plant as it lingered in the greenhouse for years, finally succumbing this spring despite being given special care all through those times. Nevermind. And so the remaining trunk is now stashed with other architectural lifeless plant bodies in the utility area.

And speaking of demise after flowering, one of my favourite bamboos in the garden, a very slow growing one yet so beautiful with its bright yellow culms with green stripe on its sulcus is flowering...

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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 :-)

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Yorkshire Revisited

Almost five years ago we wrote about friends garden in Yorkshire. Well last weekend we went "up North" for a visit and although the garden is only just waking up in April it was a delight to revisit this gem.

An old beach tree that was removed due to disease lives on as these characters

As you enter the garden a greenhouse that most of us would be very proud of greats you. full of tempting exotics tucked away for winter periods. Bananas were just starting to wake up. Unfortunately I go carried away in talking about the plants to actually remember to take a photo inside.

 

The stone cottage would typically be surrounded by cottage style plantings, however a backbone of hardy yuccas and tetrapanax and an understory of far more interesting plants provide a much more interesting feel.

A brave cat surveys her territory

The garden has a great addition with a valley style portion to the side of the house, with a covering of large deciduous natives, the exotics give a Cornish feel to this garden. Something we remarked on in our previous blog.
 

 

 The dappled spring sunlight filtering through a stand of bamboo.

 

One of the other garden kitties "helping out" by stripping the bark

 

 

Once again we were delighted to visit our friends garden, and we promise not to leave it quite so long for a follow up.

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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Yay! and Yikes!

Yay that our Kumara plicatilis (syn. Aloe plicatilis) is flowering...in the summer!

It's not much and the display isn't spectacular by no means but still very pretty, considering that this is the first time it has flowered for us during the warmer months, not during the winter.

Love its coral colour!

It's one of the few remaining original plants we bought in Cornwall the first time we went there almost ten years ago. It used to live in our lounge during the winter wherein it flowered then, in tune with the inverse season in the Southern Hemisphere. It started off as a single fan with no visible trunk and grew slowly to how it is now by virtue of being kept in a pot. The last two winters however it lived in the minimally heated greenhouse during the winter, hence experiencing some relative chill when before it was warm and cosy in the the house at the same period. This has obviously re-set its rhythm and now it is flowering when it is supposed to be, in the summer.

Yikes!! This Yucca linearifolia is about to flower and the spike is growing really fast. So fast that I only spotted this a couple of hours ago and we both go past this plant at least twice a day, and so many times during the weekend.

Nothing bad with it flowering as such but blue yuccas tend to look worse for wear afterwards, for an entire season as it recovers from its floral display after putting so much energy to it. 

As this yucca is already well rooted and established in its spot I'll leave the flower spike be and enjoy the spectacle. Had if it's just been planted I'll cut the spike off so it can put its energy in re-establishing itself.

Hopefully none of the other blue yuccas will follow suit and flower this year, or in the near future. I much prefer then with perfect heads with blue spheres of leaves.

But I think I spoke too soon...

Oh no!

Yikes again!

Mark :-)

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Cringe Task

Do you have any looming tasks in the garden that you are not looking forward to doing? A task that makes you shudder or cringe? We do, one in particular....

That is to move one of the Yucca linearifolia growing on the first raised bed in the area where our koi pond is. We dont need to dig it out, but rather loosen it on one side to shift the rootball, hopefully by only digging on one side it will not be too much stress for the plant. However this will still involve severing some of its roots in the process, and the thought of severing roots makes me a little nervous, shudder, and yes cringe.

Blue trunked yuccas are not always the easiest of plants to re-root and those that are planted, once you realise that they have re-rooted and are growing away nicely gives a sense of relief. The last thing you'd want is to hurt those fragile roots again.

Spade into its rootball, ouch...my heart!!!

But for this one it had to be done. It was leaning and bending far too low that it was almost obstructing the pathway. It's not too obvious on the photo but it really is in the way. And although we are both used to avoiding getting spiked whenever we go past it, garden visitors aren't and for their safety it couldn't stay in the way for too long anymore. And besides, a head of spiky yucca leaves in the way of a pathway is rather silly.

It was planted a few years ago with the natural curve of the trunk deliberately facing the pathway. Even so back then the head of leaves had a safe distance away from the pathway. A few years on the leaves got a lot longer and despite being supported it leaned even further down. It also sent out lots more suckers which may have contributed to its lean.

As much as I hate the thought of severing its roots and risking its very existence it had to be moved up and out of the way of the pathway. It's either that or cut it off down to the base and let the suckers take over. Suddenly the first option seems the best.

So the deed had to be done today. Putting that spade in, ouch!

And Gaz felt an extra ouch too as some of those leaves spiked his face as he sorted out the ropes and stake to make it upright.

And there it is now, standing a lot more upright and out of the way of the pathway.

Spading its rootball and pushing it up is putting the health of the Yucca at risk and is a bit of a gamble. It's still early in the season and it has all year now to re-root and re-establish itself. Fingers crossed we didn't harm and set it back too much. It's a shame we had to do this as this plant was very established already but needs be for a clear pathway comes first. Hopefully it'll be fine, heal itself and carry on growing...upwards this time.

Mark :-)

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Upright Again

The Yucca desmettiana that lives on the grey sandstone pot on the pillar by the entrance to the koi pond section has been living upside down for months, since the latter part of last winter. It keeled over after experiencing days of strong winds and was left like that until we had the time to sort it out.

Last week was the time...

I wasn't that surprised that it fell over, seeming as it has a habit of crawling or 'snaking away' as it grows, like this clump we saw at Barcelona Botanical Garden early last year.

Yucca desmettiana

With it being top heavy it was easy enough for it to catch the strong winds and fall over.

It was reasonably well rooted but the way to move forward was to try to reroot it higher up on its existing trunk. So it was reburied much deeper. Cross fingers it will re-root and re-establish itself.

Voila! It's to one side I but quite like it like that!

If it does it should be fine where it is for a few more years, until it gets tall enough again to catch the strong winds and fall all over again.

For now it is secure. And besides Twinkles Is keeping a close guard of it!

Mark :-) 

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Greenhouse Update

It's that time of the year again when we have to start thinking about where to put plants away for the cold months ahead. The greenhouse at the bottom of our new garden (past the koi pond) will be the main home for those that will need some extra protection for it will be gently heated to keep it above freezing for the entire duration of winter. 

Nearly all have gained size and done well since the start of the summer

But before you gain entry you'll have to feed these fellas first...

We've got loads of plants and space is a premium so we better start thinking about how to position all of its winter residents to maximise use of its limited space. Which means lots of planning...

But before that I better take a look at what's there already.

It's pushed out some new growth so I'm hoping that this Yucca thompsoniana is re-rooting nicely

The photo betrays how blue the Nolina nelsonii at the front is.

Clockwise from lower left - Beccariophoenix alfredii, Chamaerops humilis var. cerifera, Chamaerops humilis, and a Cycas revoluta

Another one that is very blue in the greenhouse - Yucca schottii

and its neighbour Solanum pyracanthum

Whilst not looking one of our Agave montana has thrown out some variegation. To core it or not to encourage variegated offsets, that is the question... (sorry for the weeds!)

New growth that gladdens my heart - from a previously flowered and rootless Yucca rostrata

The current residents have pretty much stayed as they were since we've put them there at the start of the summer. We've barely had time to do any gardening recently and the most I've done here before was to give everyone a quick check that they are fine and watered as and when necessary. So far so good and a majority have done well despite the minimal attention we've given them. There were a few casualties and there are some weeding to do now but overall the residents are in a good state.

We lost nearly all of our power tools during the fire hence we weren't able to build any greenhouse staging in the past months. To be honest, lost tools or not I doubt we would have been able to build those stages anyway with our spare time severely preoccupied by the house renovation. So I'm pondering on just buying off the rack ones which I'm currently looking in to, seeing what's available out there that's sturdy but won't cost the earth either.

The vignette just outside the greenhouse - how many can you identify?

And speaking of lost tools, they have all been found again as replacements have been sent (and premium ones too, yay!) which means that once the house is done garden DIY can recommence.

And back to the greenhouse, apart from the staging we'll have to put some insulation in too, to keep the warmth inside and consequently reduce heating costs. Then once that's done we can start putting more plants in, all part of the big ritual of tucking the garden to bed for winter.

Mark :-)

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The Other Blue Yucca

Whenever you mention the words 'Blue Yucca' within the exotic gardening circle, everyone immediately thinks about Yucca rostrata. Rightfully so, it is a very blue leafed yucca and a specimen grown well is a spectacular sight to behold with its inherently architectural habit and form. Most especially once it has developed a perfectly spherical head, with leaves gracefully billowing with even the slightest of breeze, on top of a trunk of which the taller it is the better, commanding more presence within its surroundings. Mind you, even young specimens without a visible trunk already looks good, and as it slowly develops one you know you have something good to look forward to.

The Blue Bed enjoying some summer sun

But it has its own set backs: it is slow growing, unrooted trunked specimens can be finicky to re-root and re-establish, the roots are so delicate and brittle that a well rooted specimen in a pot is prone to being damaged upon transplantation, and flowering sets it back and can ruin its 'perfect head' for quite a reasonable amount of time (although flowering triggers it to split its head, resulting in a multi headed specimen which can make it look even more architectural than it is already).

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Succulents in the Dome

As an antidote to all that tropical lushness we've been posting recently about from our recent trip to Singapore, it's now the turn of Cacti and Succulents as we found a fantastic display of them inside the Flower Dome of Gardens by the Bay.

Succulents inside the colossal Flower Dome

The Flower Dome is one of two cooled conservatories (or glasshouses) within the complex of Gardens by the Bay and it houses a collection of plants from temperate regions of the world. This conservatory is climate controlled, with a cool-dry atmosphere while the other one, the Cloud Forest Dome has a cool-moist one (more about this conservatory in an upcoming post. The Flower Dome itself is colossal, actually both of them are and I will have to feature them in segments as well as a general overview of each of them.

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Star Light, Star Bright

The first star I see tonight...

Or rather the first plant I tend to see whenever I step into the garden because it is so bright...

I have been meaning to feature this plant for quite some time now, but like anything else that got side stepped for some reason, never seemed able to until I had a quick wander down the garden earlier today and spotted this plant again, like I always do over and over again. So I thought I should actually take the time now and write this long overdue blog post, which is an homage to this beautiful plant.

The original plant I bought from CGF - Yucca gloriosa 'Bright Star'

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