Stephen's blog

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stephenprudence

Re: Stephen's blog

Post by stephenprudence »

GREVILLE wrote:We have some Malva going wild round the pond area on my allotment half a mile away. I still feel guilty getting rid of the seedlings from my plots, though. One of our more exotic natives IMO.
Indeed, they are wonderful plants, we are lucky to have them as natives. They remind me very much of the flora of the Canary Islands, stuff like Echiums, Euphorbia mellifera, Isoplexis and other caudiform/stemmed plants, that in Europe are usually shrub form.

I often go out for walks in summer just to see these plants popping up, as they seem to favour cool conditions, and grow fast in those conditions, making it an ideal coastal plant or an annual for frost prone gardens.
stephenprudence

Re: Stephen's blog

Post by stephenprudence »

some photos of the plants today:

Strelitzia reginae and Easter Cactus, sailed through winter
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Passiflora 'pura vida' with a flower bud developing, with Abutilon bud in the background
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Sedum palmeri getting ready to flower
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Tropaeolum speciosum, it has remained evergreen all winter and is now pushing upwards
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Another fairly tender plant to come through the Winter, Felicia amelloides.
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Pleione formosana pushing up it's colourful flower bud
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Euphorbia mellifera flowering for the first time
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Euphorbia mellifera in all it's glory (incl. flowers)
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The very colourful shaded border, there are plans to revitalise the area with hardy, leady plants, mixed in with colour
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View of Arid bed/sunny border
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The interesting colour contrasts
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The rapidly maturing Rhododendron simsii, with flower buds
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An alpine tub, with a flowering Sedum palmeri standing out with its yellow flowers
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Schefflera arboricola still growing slowly, but consistently
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This Chamaedorea elegans is on it's second winter in the ground, though a very slow grower
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Clivia miniata grew through winter, and continues to grow, picking up pace with the new season
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Crassula ovata for the new season
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Bougainvillea getting set to put on Spring growth after overcoming winter with most of its leaves in tact.
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Gerbera jamesonii, primarily used for summer bedding
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Cyrtanthis elatus, happily growing now, after shrugging off winter
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GoggleboxUK

Re: Stephen's blog

Post by GoggleboxUK »

Great pics Stephen, your garden looks n very good health indeed.

How's the water table been this winter? Have you seen any effect of the wet? I know you've suffered in the past.
dorothy

Re: Stephen's blog

Post by dorothy »

Hi you have some beautiful plants in your garden for this time of year. :D
GREVILLE

Re: Stephen's blog

Post by GREVILLE »

An OBE (The "Oh Brilliant Effort" medal) for daring to put tender houseplants and pot plants outside overwinter and having them look so good come Spring icon_cheers icon_cheers icon_cheers
stephenprudence

Re: Stephen's blog

Post by stephenprudence »

GoggleboxUK wrote:Great pics Stephen, your garden looks n very good health indeed.

How's the water table been this winter? Have you seen any effect of the wet? I know you've suffered in the past.

I imagine it's been quite high, the water table at the allotment not far from here was 18 inches below the soil surface so it's still very high. The water hasn't done much damage, I suspect due to the lack of cold/frosts, plus a fair bit of sun.

It's still much much too high to deem this garden a chance of getting to the mature stage without significant damage/death. But for now, lets hope the plants can grow a little more, before their roots become suffocated. In the future, it's almost certain I will have to think about bog plants, although an arid approach might work :)
Last edited by stephenprudence on Wed Apr 02, 2014 1:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
stephenprudence

Re: Stephen's blog

Post by stephenprudence »

GREVILLE wrote:An OBE (The "Oh Brilliant Effort" medal) for daring to put tender houseplants and pot plants outside overwinter and having them look so good come Spring icon_cheers icon_cheers icon_cheers
well some of them in the side border have been through two winters outside now.. they are living a charmed life under the shelter of the carport/house.
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