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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A Different Style of Stripping

It's been over three years ago since we gave one of our Trachycarpus wagnerianus a full Brazilian treatment, how time flies!

Here's how it is looking now...

And a few more angles of the same plant...

We haven't removed any more fibres and old leaf bases since then and it is due some soon, which we'll hopefully tackle in the next few days (not that it's a big job!).

However, a couple of month ago we spotted this in a nearby garden centre...

We think it looks good too, a different style of trachycarpus stripping. It looks very 'tropical palm' as well.

There is definitely more than one way to skin a ..... trachy!

Mark :-)

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Colour on the Top Patio

Last year I created a mixed display of mainly succulents in pots on the top patio. I really liked the effect that was achieved and had so much fun preparing the display. Inspired by that I decided to do something  similar again. This time bigger, better, more colourful, more vibrant, and more dramatic. 

I love it! I'm in love with it!! And I really, really enjoyed making the display and looking at it!

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A Quick Peek...

...at some of the succulents that didn't make it out of the greenhouse this year.

The top patio is once again home to a succulent display, similar to how we did it last year (albeit on 'steroids' this year, coming up on a post soon). And because we haven't really bought that many plants this year, at least compared to our usual rate of plant buying in previous years, I used a lot of what I had already to make the display.

Still a few didn't make it out for various reasons. Here's a quick peek:

Some of the succulents are either too small to be displayed this year, or extras that don't need to be out for now. As you can see at the middle shelf, we also have an excess stock of pots that didn't make it out this year.

After just saying we haven't bought that many plants, the above two photos are new purchases. I couldn't resist picking up the possibly Aloe ferox above because of its vivid red spines. Not that I need another one but it was hard to resist!

A closer look at some of our small succulents...

and finally...

The sole survivor of a batch of three. It's looking promising and has put on a lot of growth this summer. Aloe 'Hercules' - thanks Gerhard!

Mark :-)

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Dusk in the Jungle

We haven't been that good at posting photos of our own garden recently. But that doesn't mean not much has been happening, in fact it's the other way around. It is summer after all and it's easy enough to get so immersed in doing things in the garden that taking photos gets sidelined.

Plus there's also a little element of being temporarily selfish too, taking delight in keeping most things to oneself and having a breather from sharing what you see, of one's own personal space.

But time's up now for being selfish and here's a quick look of how our jungle is looking like in early July, with photos taken at dusk today.

The lighting contrast was less than ideal this evening and many of the shots we took turned out blurred. Thankfully a good chunk still turned out fine and good enough for sharing.

We've been having so much rain recently, not that unusual for Britain of course and the ferns especially have been loving it! Much to our delight...

Some cutting back on the other plants in the jungle needs to be done in a week or so but we're mostly satisfied how things are growing so far.

Mark :-)

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Not Quite in a Vase

Vases, such nice decorative objects. And I certainly have a thing for them especially for unique pieces.

Once upon a time I used to make an effort to regularly buy fresh flowers or at least take cuttings from the garden and put them on vases. Nowadays such a ritual have been cut off as a compromise to such a busy life. Fortunately I do like looking at vases without anything in it either, as pretty objects on their own.

But if I did put cuttings in vases again I certainly did consider putting these in...

Pretty isn't it? Seeds heads of Pachystegia insignis.

The leaves would make great supporting cast for the vase too.

Alas practicality won and joined other cutting in the recycling bin.

Mark :-)

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September Beginnings

Back from a mini break, from blogging and gardening....

Saying that, we have finally planted a tree at the front of the house recently. It has only taken us ten years to do so but got there in the end. Nothing fancy, just a good old reliable and common street tree in the UK, Prunus cerasifera 'Nigra'. But it will do the job nicely and instantly adds interest to the front of the house and on our street that seriously lacks trees. Such a satisfying thing to finally have, a tree at the front of the house!

August was such a busy month in that we had several open days. They were all thoroughly enjoyable days, we had a fabulous time showing our garden around but they were also exhausting. After the last one we took a break from gardening and anything to do with it including the blog and just did other things. We're amazed how others can open their garden so many times in the season knowing how much it exhausted us. But then again we do work full time and can imagine that when we get to a stage of retirement we'd happily open the garden too almost every day even (we're in a different location/garden by then). 

One of our garden visitors

We'll be having some open days again next year for sure but still no intentions of joining the NGS just to clarify.

The garden is back mainly to ourselves again, we can loosen up and just let the hosepipe roll and not worry about it blighting visitors photos.

Twinkles approves...

And so does this Pseudopanax ferox...

Mark :-)

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Jazz Up the Jungle Hut

How we decorated the jungle hut, or more appropriately jungle verandah this year hadn't changed much at all from last year. A few items were moved about to different places and that it when it came to those few changes. 

However, much I liked how I felt about the garden a few weeks ago I thought it was looking relatively sparse. The space was fine by us as it made it easier to move around as we do use the space a lot but when it came to taking photos of the space it needed more 'oomph'.

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I Love August

Simply for being a summer month!

And at the latter part too, when most of big work have been done and it's just a case of maintaining the growth spurt that happened on previous months.

And most of the spring perennials have already gone dormant and you safely cut away all the dead growth still remaining. Not much putting up to do with green/brown combo that is usually the case with June and July.

The only thing is that in UK, warmth is not guaranteed either. I remember last year we even had a frost scare! However, I'm not that fussed with too much warmth. Moderate is fine, it's more comfy to garden at such temperatures, as long as it's sunny.

Cutting back all of the dead growth from spring perennials has exposed some ground space that disappeared for awhile. The garden felt sparse initially...

Did I just say sparse?

Of course it's not. The other thing is that a lot of plants that were previously squat are much taller now. Taller than us and creating a canopy. And we can walk underneath their foliage.

Means more visibility of what's underneath the canopy. Which also means planting space.

But must not forget the perennials that will be back next spring! Just probably need to look for some evergreen to keep those summer dormant ones company.

Hmmm...reasons to plant shop!

I love August!

Mark :-)

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How Tidy Should a Jungle Garden Be?

We had a lovely, surprisingly very chilled out weekend giving the garden some extra preening and pruning.

Whilst sorting out the jungle area in particular we were once again asking ourselves the question, how tidy should a jungle garden be?

Should it be immaculate seeming as it will be in a domestic garden setting ? Or should it be leaning towards being wild and unkempt as what a real jungle is?

Too tidy and spotless seems odd and rigid. Too unkempt, well it is a 'garden' after all...

I suppose it all depends on what overall look you want to achieve. Like a lot of things there are happy compromises and in betweens. Personally, we'll go for that.

What about you, how tidy should a jungle garden be?

Mark :-)

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Fresh From the Oven!

There was a point that I actually had more succulents that needed a pot than I had...pots. Plus I wanted to beef up our display with more splashes of bright colours. It's amazing how difficult that can be (at least here) especially when you go out there and deliberately look out for them.

On one of our trips out to the shops I had a mission to buy a few more pots that were colourful but still within our taste and scheme (if that makes sense). But on that day I didn't find any. Then an idea spurned, what if those 'things' are not in the garden and decor section? They could be in the kitchen! And so why not add a touch of kitchenalia into the collection. And so we did!

So back into several shops and out I came with things not for the kitchen, but for the garden...

Like baking dishes...

Bottle caddies...

Mixing bowls...

Water jug...

Did I say mixing bowls?

Bottle caddy again... (plus the colour picks on the chairs)

And back to jugs, as some of you may have noticed I have a thing for brightly coloured jugs (the one you pour drinks from, not 'that' jug). The yellow one below I spotted in an antique/bric-a-brac shop in Cambridge last year and instantly fell in love with its bright colour and angular shape. Trouble was, it had a sin. It was a jug that had the logo of a cigarette brand, harking back to a bygone era when smoking was so common and legal in public spaces. Fortunately I still found a way to hide that sin.

Oh, and there were the Japanese soup/rice bowls too. Gotta have them and I love the patterns!

Funny enough, the jugs below were actually meant for the garden. Go figure...

Anyway, the only thing with using kitchenalia is that they rarely come with drainage holes, unless it's a colander. So you'll have to have some drilling to do. And those that were meant to go in the oven have very thick bases and can be difficult to drill holes in. So my suggestion is to use a quality masonry drill bit in the first place and the job will be done nicely.

Have to say I'm loving all the colours, patterns, and shapes on some of these kitchen items. A sharp contrast to what we actually use in our kitchen which are either clear glass, stainless steel, or pure white!

Mark :-)

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