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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Woburn Abbey Garden Show 2018

On the 23rd and 24th of June was the wonderful Woburn Abbey Garden Show. A show that is familiar with us, having been to several of its previous editions, we always had a great time, plus it was on our 'neck of the woods' so we were just all too happy to go again.

To quote their press release:

Woburn Abbey is delighted to announce that BBC Gardeners’ World TV presenter Adam Frost and BBC Radio 4 Gardeners’ Question Time panellist Pippa Greenwood are headlining this year’s remastered Woburn Abbey Garden Show on 23rd and 24th June.

Now in its 9th year, the ‘Gardeners’ Garden Show’ attracts around 5,000 visitors and has become an important diary date for gardening enthusiasts. 

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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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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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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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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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Snow!

Well spring still seems to be on hold in the UK as we are battered by the "Beast from The East" and Storm Emma.  Somehow the two names don't really go hand in hand, I mean The Beast is a good description of the snow and cold weather we are getting but Emma? sounds a little more tame. However for parts of the UK bearing the brunt the weather is anything but tame.

 

Fortunately in our little corner the weather is not too bad, we have had a few drops o snow but nothing too significant. Roads and Travel has some disruptions but main routes are open, trains are running and most flights from the local airport are still running.

 



 

 

But with snow and tropical plants comes some interesting photo opportunities, the picture above is pretty much from the doors of the conservatory, most of the plants in the garden should be unaffected by the weather (the lowest temperature has been -7C / 19f, so cold but not too bad. The more tender plants are mostly tucked up in greenhouses, although theres the odd one that we had hoped would be fine still out. Lets see what happens when it warms up.

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Our Garden in Gardeners' World Magazine

Exotic Gardening takes centre stage in this months edition of Gardeners' World magazine, which includes a six page feature of our garden.

The article contains several garden photos and an interview with us by Annie Gatti. Preview of the article is seen above.

Cover of July 2017 edition

Together with our garden feature are other articles focusing on Exotic Gardening like Tough Tropicals amongst others.

Preview on the June 2017 edition

If you do get the chance grab a copy for a further insight into our garden. Gardeners World gives some tips and relevant advice on adding a touch of exotica into your garden, or perhaps turning your entire garden into one like we did!

Mark :-)

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Go Grow Glow!

The yuccas in the second raised bed are enjoying the summer and growing away nicely, except for one that is...

The Yucca rostrata right in the middle of this bed has sadly popped its head off a couple of weeks ago. It was already looking peaky by the end of winter however I was hoping it would pull through and grow robust once the weather warmed up. Alas that was not the case as when we had a very windy period a few weeks ago, with the gusts off came its head. It's a shame to lose this one as it was the first Yucca rostrata I had bought and from a nursery too that no longer exists but was ahead of its game then. This yucca has always had a slight gash near the crown which I presumed had fully healed as it seemed in the last few years but perhaps last winter it became a site for rot to develop and spread to eventually finish it off.

Shame it had to GO but it is a dead plant in a very prominent spot. I'm still considering what to replace it with, whether another Yucca rostrata or a large glazed urn, or perhaps a different plant altogether. Watch this space...

As for GROW, a few notable ones are:

Chamaerops humilis

This Chamaerops humilis growing in a pot which had strangely spear pulled last winter even though it was a relatively mild one. The good thing is it is clearly recovering but pushing out new growth. Oddly though, it has also pushed out an inflorescence albeit a small one at the same time. Silly palm, couldn't make up its mind.

Gunnera tinctoria

Near the palm above is our Gunnera tinctoria growing robustly and has already rooted over the pond coping stone to dip its feet directly on to the water, helping it grow even bigger and remain upright.

Schefflera rhododendrifolia

And back on to the second raised bed, the Schefflera rhododendrifolia is looking extra good with it's new growth and flush of leaves.

Trachycarpus princeps hybrid

And jumping on to the middle patio, I spotted this Trachycarpus princeps hybrid positively GLOWing as it catches the morning light. Lovely!

Mark :-)

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Tale of Two Agaves

Herein lies the tale of two agaves and how their different treatment through the years have made a difference on their growth rate. 

I bought two small Agave ovatifolias in 2013, grown from the same batch of seeds, they were exactly the same size when I acquired them. Repotted into identical pots, they both grew at exactly the same size until in 2015 when one of them was transferred on to a blue glazed pot and placed at the front of the house. Since the makeover all the plants there were given extra attention, to keep the front garden looking smart (prior to that the front of the house was genuinely neglected and often a dumping ground for building materials for the back garden). So plants were regularly watered, fed, and kept weed free.

The second one was placed by the edge of the koi pond in a plastic white pot. It was a prominent spot but not a conducive one for the health and growth of the agave. Under the eaves of a pergola, it remained dry whenever rain fell, and by being on the edge of a koi pond it was rarely watered to minimise the risk of soil (and more bacteria) running into the pond.

So the first one got watered regularly and was placed in a bigger pot, the second one kept on the dry side and remained in a small pot for years. The result is going to be obvious, two years on the former is more than double the size of the latter.

Feeling guilty that I have grossly neglected the latter, it was time to treat it right by giving it a much bigger pot. It has then been placed away from the shelter of the pergola  in the open to bask in the sun and get watered much more regularly. So two weeks ago it was given a new home.

Where it is now gets sun all year round, sheltered but will get rained on, and much more likely to get watered when we have the hosepipe out and the entire garden gets supplemental watering.

Hopefully it will catch up in size with its front garden brother relatively quickly. With both being in a pot neither of them are likely to attain the size they can potentially do when planted out. But they can still attain a very good size even in a pot if watered regularly during the summer and given a sufficient sized container.

Mark :-)

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Our Exotic Garden in Early June

Time flies so fast and it's the first week of June already! We just came back from a long weekend in Belfast and we'll be featuring snaps of the vibrant capital of Northern Ireland shortly.

Before we went there I had the chance to take a few random snaps of the garden...

Morning really is the best time to take photos of the garden, when the lighting is soft yet bright. The jungle area is looking verdant already and yet the summer growth is still looming.

I love the way the yellow culms of the bamboo catch the light and seeming help to illuminate this area

Phyllostachys vivax f. aureocaulis

Another view of the jungle...

It's been a good spring for the flowering of Trachycarpus fortunei wherein nearly all of our palms, big and small flowered this year. Will we get lots of seeds? We shall wait and see!

This sedum catching the morning light. 

One of Cotton's favourite sleeping spots

And this border on our top patio is looking verdant too. The Schefflera taiwaniana on the left will need staking as it's becoming top heavy.

Fortunately I managed to take these photos whilst the weather was fine as it was certainly not when we got back. Heavy rains and strong winds made spending time in the garden today very unappealing. Hopefully by next weekend the weather will be great again, and we'll be able to continue with our sprucing up!

Mark :-)

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Makeover Weekend

With last weekend being a three day one it was the perfect opportunity to get stuck in and start giving two areas of our garden a spruce up and a mini makeover. These two areas are the bottom patio (where the big goldfish pond is) and jungle veranda.

Despite being only classed as 'mini makeovers', they'll still take quite a bit of time to complete. So no finished product and after shots on this post, but rather just glimpses of what we have done so far, up to the point where we packed up on Monday evening.

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Blue Pots, Bricks, Bins, and a British Gas Van

I seem to be collecting pots now almost as much as I do plants. But then again each pot is a planting opportunity.

Now time to give an update on the plants growing at the front of the house...

Three years ago we had a makeover of the front of the house by adding blue pots with drought tolerant planting. Later on we have also planted out a flowering cherry tree and added some railings to demarcate our space complement the house (it used to have railings back in the day). This year, sensing that we could add more pots to the corner seen above without compromising parking space, we proceeded to add three more to make the display stronger. Prior to that we wanted more height at the back so the Nolina nelsonii was repotted to a much taller blue one.

With three new pots to fill, we had to select new plants that will go in them and do well in this area. Taking cue from the plants already, we bought a few more drought tolerant plants on our recent trip to Urban Jungle.

First to be planted was an Agave parryi var. truncata. Upon removal of the plastic pot it came in with, I was rather fascinated by the pups circling the rootball - they looked like snakes or slithering creatures of some sort.

Fascinating they may be, they still got snipped before being placed into its new blue home. Next to be planted was a Dyckia 'Nickel Silver' followed by Agave neomexicana.

We're really pleased with the end result, and love the way the greens and blues from the plants themselves mix and complement each other (if I may say so).

What about the other plants at the front house? Here they are now:

The backdrop of the photo above is far from glamorous, with it being a parade of rubbish bins. It does tell a story though, of the our neighbour finally getting a house extension done after mulling about it for years. So the bins were out at the time these photos were taken to keep the side passage clear so the builders can do their work.

On the other side the backdrop is a British Gas van. One can easily guess what our other neighbour does for a living. The van is actually very rarely parked in that spot but by chance it was there then, and I actually like the way the paintwork coordinates with the colour of the pots!

My favourite backdrop though are the bricks of our house...

Mark :-)

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