Kristen's Blog : Jungle Garden - Year 2 - Enjoying!

[Yorkshire Kris]

Pink Chaos looks interesting. I wouldn't mind one of those is there anything you fancy off me?

[Kristen]

Pink Chaos looks interesting. I wouldn't mind one of those is there anything you fancy off me?

Anything that is easy to take a cutting off would be great - I've got plenty of gaps!

I'd particularly like some Persian Shield / Strobilanthes dyeriana, and I'm starting to think about ground-cover things, such as Begonia rex / Podophyllum 'Spotty Dotty', Farfugiums (got Aureomaculatum) and the like; I'm also building up a collection of Hydangeas of all sorts.

I've got Iresine herbstii 'Brilliantissima' and Persicaria 'Red Dragon' if you want some cuttings?

Is Iresine "Blazin Rose" much different to "Brilliantissima"? If so I'd like to add that for some contrast (just thinking out loud, no idea what you might have in your garden!)

I've got 2 x Mekong Giant and probably only need one. Not sure I've very excited about it yet though!

[Yorkshire Kris]

Pink Chaos looks interesting. I wouldn't mind one of those is there anything you fancy off me?

Anything that is easy to take a cutting off would be great - I've got plenty of gaps!

I'd particularly like some Persian Shield / Strobilanthes dyeriana, and I'm starting to think about ground-cover things, such as Begonia rex / Podophyllum 'Spotty Dotty', Farfugiums (got Aureomaculatum) and the like; I'm also building up a collection of Hydangeas of all sorts.

I've got Iresine herbstii 'Brilliantissima' and Persicaria 'Red Dragon' if you want some cuttings?

Is Iresine "Blazin Rose" much different to "Brilliantissima"? If so I'd like to add that for some contrast (just thinking out loud, no idea what you might have in your garden!)

I've got 2 x Mekong Giant and probably only need one. Not sure I've very excited about it yet though!

I'd better start taking some cuttings then! I'll bring along a few goodies. (Look at the last few pics from my blogs, I have quite a few coleus that might be of interest) I would also be interest in the Mekong Giant, if not I'll pick one up from Urban Jungle.


Cheers

[Kristen]

I'll bring a Mekong Giant with me - you can tell me whether its up-to-snuff or not when you see it!

I fancy your Hydrangea - looks a bit small to have any spare, non flowering, shoots though?

YK_dsc000331stjuly2012.jpg (79.66 KiB) Viewed 1730 times

[Yorkshire Kris]

Ill see what I can do.

[Kristen]

Ill see what I can do.

Thanks. If its too titchy then think of me next year instead pls. My Hydrangea and Woodland garden is a long term project

[Kristen]

Just looked at my Wants list and found:

Coleus "Juliet Quatermaine"

if anyone has a cutting. Many thanks.

Only place I can find to buy it is Kernock, and they have minimum order of 10 trays, 50 plants per tray!

[Kristen]

Mea culpa

If anyone has a spare cutting that would be great, but I've just seen that Urban Jungle have them, so I can buy some there on the day (assuming they have stock)

http://www.urbanjungle.uk.com/product.a ... uctid=1584

[Arlon Tishmarsh]

Planting out looks A1 Kristen, comin' on a treat

[Deedee]

Kristen its looking great, you know when you know something is going to look amazing and going to work, thats how i feel when looking at your pics, youv'e done a great job there, i have a feeling visitors are going to get a big suprise when entering this part of your estate

You mentioned a Japanese theme, I have a couple of pics i think you would like..

This is from another gardening forum i visit (not tropical) i think she lives in indonesia or somewhere like that Anyway i think its simple but has the wow factor.

A bamboo fence with water cascading into the pots, Love the idea and the pots..


A few random pics i found on the web..

Love this underplanted with acers.


I know you dont like modern but i thought this was so simple but effective..



wow.



And this is just a dream

[jungle jas]

I love the moss walls! I wonder what sort of moss they use? Answers on a postcard please.

[Kristen]

Cold weather coming, although my forecast here looks to be above freezing ... but decided not to wait any longer.

I plunged some pots in the Spring, with the intention of bringing them in for the Winter. There are 8 Brugs and Ensete Maurelii & Montbeliardii which were both 1L plants in the Spring, and these I plant to bring in each year. Maybe the Ensetes will be "planted" next year and dug up for the Winter, but this year they were in plunged-pots.

I also have 4 x Musa sikkimensis, a T. Rex and a Chamaerops humilis which I plan to leave out from next year, but wanted to give one more "gentle" Winter before then.

I tied a knot in a rope under each pot, leaving 4 "ends" above ground to make it easier to get the pots out this Autumn. "Easier" turns out to be a bit of a relative term!

The Chamaerops humilis had significant roots out of the bottom of the pot. It may have been a bad move to plunge-pot it. The Brugs were modest - they had made far more roots over the edge of the top of the pot (covered with a 1/2" of soil / muck to "disguise" the pots!!). I'll tell you about the Musa / Ensetes tomorrow when I get to them.

So started off trying to extract the pots; that was never going to happen with elbow-grease alone! so I thought I'd try my Engine Crane. Another Really Useful Purchase that was frowned upon, many years ago, by the Sergeant Major!

That certainly dig the trick, but its not the sort of thing you can push around (even on a garage floor its obstinate!) so a couple of planks under the pot, and then a sack barrow from there.





Conservatory filling up nicely


Final photos of the Jungle before winterising - I'm really pleased with the amount of growth in my first year - thanks to you all for all your helpful advice and patience




(The Hedychium gardnerianum has done well, flowering before the frost

Well pleased with my Ensetes - 1L plants back in May/June:

[GoggleboxUK]

Feeding your Ensetes steroids Kristen?

Thats some excellent growth!

[Kristen]

I know this sounds really cheesey, but I don't think I've done anything particularly.

I have fed them with Miracle Grow when I have remembered, some weeks twice a week (at half strength or weaker), but some weeks not at all. I have watered them, but again when I remembered. Its been a wet Summer, but they are in pots, so not sure how wet they would have stayed, on their own, from surrounding soil. The pots were much heavier to lift that I expected, so maybe they have pulled water from surrounding soil.

This was an utterly useless, shaded, part of the garden and I'm really glad that I made this garden there, we've loved it all Summer, and the growth is astonishing - causing me to think that I need to concentrate far more on shelter for the rest of the garden, rather than sun.

[Kristen]

Before / After:

South:

Oct 2011


Oct 2012

North:

Oct 2011


Oct 2012