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 :-)

Read More

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 :-)

Read More

Railings at The Front Garden

I was going to post about the progress of the plants at the front of the house but whilst collating photos for it I've noticed that we haven't featured the railings we installed in the same area earlier in the year. So the plant post will have to wait for a little while for a little railing interlude.

Now the space at the front of our house is tiny as most of you know, and we have to be extra creative and resourceful to make the area nicer and distinct from our neighbours. So far we have added several plants in blue pots and in September last year we planted a cherry tree in the ground. So far so good and we're not doing too bad in introducing plants to the limited space that we've got without sacrificing parking. However a little push further with jazzing up the front never did harm.

We've been considering putting up railings for a long time but never managed to until recently. Mainly because we weren't sure how our next door neighbour will react at the restriction of having railings on one side of their parking space. We took our time choosing the design we liked as there are a wide range of metal railings available. Second is the effort of putting one, as it will involve digging, chipping away at solid concrete, and cutting metal. But as if we're not used to hard work...

But it's our place so why be so bothered with our neighbour's thoughts when the railings will be within our boundaries? Also, railings will nicely demarcate our property, will be sympathetic to the age and style of our house (1930's), and another way of adding that 'extra' without using up too much space.

So one spring weekend we just went ahead and installed the railings.

We're really pleased with the end result and even Knickers seems to approve!

Going back to the cherry tree, we were sent a solar garden uplighter by the kind folks from The Solar Centre to try and review. First of all, the appeal of a solar light was there as it won't involve wiring back into the mains of the house hence installation will be quick, in minutes actually. 

The solar panel itself is discrete and almost disappears amongst the pots and the light itself looks contemporary. For the size of the light, it is powerful enough to softly illuminate the cherry tree once dusk hits for a good few hours. 

The verdict is still out how long will it light up once the very short length of daytime in winter fully kicks in. But more likely it will not be long as we're noticing it shortening already as it is. Still we think it's a great product for soft illumination and with a performance a very good improvement from your usual solar lighting.

The completed railings (taken back in March)

And back again to the railings, much to our pleasant surprise our neighbour was the first one to complement our new addition. Even their visiting parents went out of their way to talk to us and complement how it enhances our house. Other neighbours too said the same. 

Up next soon will be an update on the plants at the front of our house!

Mark :-)

Read More

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).

Read More

Front of House Plants Update

Last May I featured the front of our house and how we've finally taken the time to sort out the potted plants there and make the area tidy. So how is it looking now that it's almost end of July? Let's have a look...

As I've mentioned on our previous blog post the space at the front of our house is tiny and planting possibilities are very limited. And how it remained scruffy and potted plants there were neglected for years as we concentrated at the back garden. Being the face of the house it was about time we sorted it out and put in new plants that will also reflect the type of plants we grow in our back garden.

More importantly from then onwards to actually take care of the plants there rather than neglect them like we did to its previous residents, oops! I'm proud to say that we have been very good and have been on top of watering and weeding the area as necessary... almost anyway (check out my follow up to this below). It does help of course that we have chosen drought tolerant plants that can cope with the south facing aspect with heat radiated by the paving and walls.

The Yucca gloriosa 'Variegata' is starting to look good again after having had a hard trim last May. It is the only plant remaining from the original batch of plants that were here before the makeover.

Sempervivums at the base of the Yucca are bulking up nicely too.

Nolina nelsonii has bulked up since then, is looking more blue as it should be and the new growth seems to be a bit twisty but that is normal for some of them.

The Alliums have done their thing, been and now gone. Either I keep the pot of mulch where it is, stash it away, and put something else. I'm likely to do the last one although I haven't decided what to put in it yet.

Three of the four Agaves have visibly grown too...

Agave montana is filling the pot nicely and has obviously responded well for being in a bigger pot.

Oops, blurred pic! So here's another one...

The person who gave this to me gave me a little pinch for putting in the wrong label for this one. According to him this is Agave atrovirens var. mirabilis, not Agave salmiana var. ferox as I labelled it on my two previous posts. It is doing very well and has bulked up since May. Provided it sails through winter fine this will be a giant one..

Agave ovatifolia is looking good too, and looking even more blue.

So there was three, the fourth one looks like it has barely put on any new growth. Looks like this will be a slow one - Agave parryi var. huachucensis

The Nolina parviflora, well it is growing...

So I said almost above, almost because two of the plants turned out to be not that drought and heat tolerant after all, despite the initial premise that they will be. They all get watered at the same time and fairly regularly too but these two seemed to need a lot more than we were giving. And prepared to give. They can't stay there for long they will have to be replaced.

The two Eryngium agavifolium Giant Form seems to require a lot more water than what it already receives, and/or more sensitive to heat than the rest. Or perhaps it just resents being in a pot, although it's not like it's been in that pot for a long time. I'll be replacing in the next few weeks or so, once I've bought the new plants to take its place. At least the Nolina parviflora at the corner is faring and performing much better.

The two Nerium oleander and Thuja plicata 'Whipcord' are doing very fine, with the oleanders rewarding us with blooms for weeks now.

Pink and Red? Well typical me, picked up two of them from the same batch and assumed the blooms would be the same colour. Only to discover weeks later that they aren't. Nevermind, I'm not fussed with the colour of the bloom anyway as I bought them mainly for their foliage and drought tolerance. It made me smile though once I realised their difference, although my preference would still be for them to be the same.

So there you go, I don't think we've done too bad at all. Next update would be how they will fare over winter. I'm optimistic on that one as this is a more sheltered spot that gets winter sun too. We'll see. Meanwhile I'm the look out for an appropriate replacement for the Alliums and the two Eryngiums.

Mark :-)

Read More

Sweet Staycation in Suburbia

This is the week that we usually go to Cornwall but we decided to stay at home instead, have a staycation. Both of us felt that we ought to stay this week, to use the time to re-acquaint ourselves to our house and sort a few very minor jobs left to do (they won't go anywhere even if we left, so best get them out of the way soon). And relax in our own turf of course.

Still, the cats get to relax more at home than we do

The changes made in the house were so drastic that both of us are still getting the hang of things even months after everything was finished, as well as enjoying the novelty of the changes (honeymoon stage). Apart from the slight change of layout and total redecoration, we did a major decluterring and updating that made life simpler, calmer, and organised. But a lot of familiarity has disappeared as well, and mostly that's a good thing. It feels like we just moved into a different house altogether, indoors at least.

Read More

Front Garden Makeover

Our front garden, if you can call it that as it's so small has finally received some much needed attention and makeover in the past few days. It's more of a drive really, barely enough space to fit in one car let alone loads of plants. But it is the face of the house and deserves as much love and care as the back of the house. 

It was time to sort out the front!

Read More

Front Garden Plans

With the builders now finished and the house almost back to normal our thoughts have again turned back to the garden. One area we have mentioned that is long over due a makeover is the front of our house. Just a few weeks ago it was very much a dumping ground for the builders (see this post from September).

Delightful landscaping courtesy of our builders. 

The existing pots and plants had been moved to one side, many of which really need re-potting or planting out. Some of the palms in the pots will be planted in the back and one or two others will get new homes in a larger pot.

With the new porch the area by the front door has reduced in size, so there is not as much space for as many pots as there once was. With the obvious change due to the porch it is a good time to rethink quite what we do with this space. Its size (or lack of) makes it a tricky space to garden, and the benefits offered by keeping the majority of it as a hard standing further restricts the use.

The space itself is not big enough to park our car on, unless you park almost horizontal to the house, so a useful parking space is also ruled out.

As the house is close to the road we are keen to add some height with any planting to create some visual block to passers by. Fortunately we live on quite a quiet side street so there's not lots of people looking in as they walk along the pavement outside.

Our plans are still developing, but the current idea is to add metal railings on the left and right hand sides, with a matching gate in the arched passageway. From chatting to our builders we found out about a small local firm that makes railings to any design and size, so in the new year we can go and have a chat with them about what we want to do.

On the right hand side we want to introduce a small border and grow several hedging shrubs in an informal hedge. We have a number of ideas as to what we will grow there, it is south facing and sheltered from the buildings to the north. The block paving may well also act as something of a heat sink absorbing warmth to radiate back to the plants.

On the left hand side, we need to be wary of service pipes - electricity, gas and water that are all buried somewhere under that paving. They come into the house on the far left hand side, and the water meter is in the pavement outside the house on that side, so we do not want to risk disturbing any of these items. A simple makeover could become very expensive if we sever a pipe!

As a  result we have been considering pots or a planter for this part. Again its not a large area but we don't want something that is underwhelming.  Mark has written before about having a raised gravel bed there with yucca or other succulents that should enjoy the sheltered aspect. I quite like the idea of building a planter from new railway sleepers. This would give us a reasonable planting depth without disturbing the ground below the paving. If it were to sit on top of the block paving then if access was needed it could be dismantled. We haven't needed access below ground so far, so with any luck there will be no need to disturb the plants.

Some Winter colour from last year.... probably a one off

We had also thought about placing large pots on the paving in front of the bay window. These could be moved if needed and would keep the paved surface available if needed to store materials on for future projects. 

Whilst there is still plenty to do indoors, our minds are already jumping ahead to these future projects!

In case you wondered where the picture of the finished porch is... watch this space all will be revealed soon :)

Gaz

Read More

The Front Garden Makeover Begins

Finally, the part of our property that we have mostly ignored, or if not at least neglected all these years is going to get a makeover - our tiny front garden (or driveway being as it is fully paved).

You would think that we would have prioritised this part of the property being the first one to be seen the moment anyone arrives to visit us and the garden but nope that wasn't the case.

Since we moved in here it largely served as an area to store or even dump materials to be used for the back garden. The back garden has always been and will always be our main priority being a relatively large area for planting as well as being private. The front garden however is tiny, exposed, and functional for parking a car, not the sort of place for hanging around for all of the above reasons. So as we developed the back the front got side lined.

Work in progress and not a pretty sight

But the time has come that the front garden receives some much needed attention. It may not be the biggest of spaces but it is the 'face' of our property after all and is the one that gives the first impression, kerb appeal if you may call it.

The thing is when it comes to front gardens there is almost always a need for conformity to adhere to that will be sympathetic to the type and age of the house and its immediate surroundings. More often than not these are the first considerations over ones creativity and sense of individuality. Unlike the more private 'back' where you'll have more free reigns to do practically whatever you want within reason. Be too creative, wacky, or individual to the front garden and face of the house and you risk devaluing your property.

But before I continue, let me tell about a front garden that I have always admired ever since I've seen a photo of it online many years ago (and fortunately Ian of Pampas2palms featured on one of his blog posts just a few months ago). Once upon a time, Chelsea Flower Show used to have a dedicated category for the design of small front gardens and one of the ones that were built for that category was this garden:

Photo by Ian Cooke of Pampas2palms

I love it! It is fun, quirky, very unusual, and above all it is a pond (as most of you would have deduced by now, I love ponds!!) situated in an area you wouldn't normally associate a pond to be located. Whimsical and totally impractical but I love it nevertheless. I wouldn't mind having something very similar in the future, not in the front of the house of course. But I imagine it in front of a garden outbuilding, a contemporary one, the sort that is marketed as a home office. Something for the future garden (when and where, who knows...).

So when I arrived home yesterday this was the sight that greeted me and I was immediately reminded of the picture above. 

Instead of a pond the entire has been dug up in preparation for the base of what will be a little porch at the front. The existing front door will be replaced by something more simple and appropriate as a secondary front door, as well as the ugly kingfisher stained glass panel. A new front door will be installed on to the porch.

Ironically, with the building of the new porch would mean the ripping out of the existing wooden storm porch which is an original feature that has been there since the house was built mid 1930's.

Conservatory at the back, a porch for the front, all part of the current house renovation. Once the porch is finished we can then decide what else to do at the front and what planting scheme to go for. At the moment the plan is to reinstate metal railings on both sides of the front garden as it was originally several decades ago. And from there perhaps have small raised beds, a thin hedge, or even large pots with specimen plants. Should we go for more traditional planting or grow succulents on raised beds as it's an ideal spot for them with it being south facing, milder, and sheltered? Small space it may be but there are still plenty of options to go for.

The Dusty Miller that bit the dust. It makes me laugh whenever I see the two hanging baskets of dead plants at the front of the house (and the fact that the builders have opted to keep them there till the last minute).

Work has started and will continue in the following days to come. The front garden makeover is long overdue and so glad it's finally happening.

Mark :-)

Read More