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

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The Codfather
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Location: Darlington, C.O. Durham

Re: Kristen's Blog : Jungle Garden - Year 2 - Planting Out

Post by The Codfather »

They look great.........Lord Kristen :lol:
AKA - Martin

Wish list - Big Palms or Dicksonia antarctica's but open to anything really.....Cash Waiting !
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Adam D
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Re: Kristen's Blog : Jungle Garden - Year 2 - Planting Out

Post by Adam D »

Kristen wrote:I thought the March of the Bananas looked a bit comical when I saw them through the window :)

[ Image ]
Looks like a scene out of The Day of The Triffids!
pdid

Re: Kristen's Blog : Jungle Garden - Year 2 - Planting Out

Post by pdid »

Looking good, it'll fill out in no time icon_thumleft
Nick

Re: Kristen's Blog : Jungle Garden - Year 2 - Planting Out

Post by Nick »

How I wish mine were like that.. :lol:
Kristen

Re: Kristen's Blog : Jungle Garden - Year 2 - Planting Out

Post by Kristen »

The Codfather wrote:Lord Kristen
If I were a Lord I could fiddle my expenses, or do a cash-for-questions for "only" £150K p.a., and I'd be able to afford all the plants I wanted and to afford them NOW !!
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The Codfather
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Re: Kristen's Blog : Jungle Garden - Year 2 - Planting Out

Post by The Codfather »

What a bite..... icon_fish :lol:
AKA - Martin

Wish list - Big Palms or Dicksonia antarctica's but open to anything really.....Cash Waiting !
Deedee

Re: Kristen's Blog : Jungle Garden - Year 2 - Planting Out

Post by Deedee »

Hows your tropicals doing Kristen, any pics..
Kristen

Re: Kristen's Blog : Jungle Garden Yr 2 - July Attractions

Post by Kristen »

Deedee wrote:Hows your tropicals doing Kristen, any pics..
Needing another week or two to bulk up I reckon ...
Entrance through new tree ferns
Entrance through new tree ferns
IMG_0242_Exotic.jpg
Main path. Brugs looking rather manky, need to sort out better irrigation I think.

Particularly pleased with the height of the Musa sikkimensis, and the size of the paddle-shaped leaves on the top. Nice and sheltered in this spot, which helps :)
IMG_0266_PaulowniaTormentosa.jpg
Paulownia tomentosa - first year stooled
IMG_0248_Amaranthus_FatSpike.jpg
I've grown a number of varieties of Amaranthus this year to see if I like how they look in the beds. This one is A. Fat Spike - sprawling over the path a bit
IMG_0243_Persicaria_RedDragon.jpg
Persicaria Red Dragon has made a nice clump
IMG_6967.jpg
Festuca Elijah Blue with some Heuchera I grew from seed (Metalica or Emperor's Cloak, or one of those - they have grown better for me than the poncy varieties I have bought plants of)
Deedee

Re: Kristen's Blog : Jungle Garden - Year 2 - Planting Out

Post by Deedee »

Impressive kristen, love the TF entrance, I need Big TFs like yours, they have the wow factor, the fronds on my 2 are a lot smaller this year so a bit Un-Wow :mrgreen:
I also need Musa's, couldn't find anywhere selling them up here this year, or Ensettes for that matter, just ordered 3 littleuns, im hoping to get a bit of a show before summer ends! Persicarias are great, arent they? just chop bits off if it gets too big and i love the way it grows through neighbouring plants.
All in all your jungle is looking jungly, are you enjoying growing tropicals or do think its a bit of a chore, overwintering etc..
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Yorkshire Kris
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Re: Kristen's Blog : Jungle Garden - Year 2 - Planting Out

Post by Yorkshire Kris »

Looking impressive Kristen. The leaf colour and textures are working really well.
Kristen

Re: Kristen's Blog : Jungle Garden - Year 2 - Planting Out

Post by Kristen »

Deedee wrote:I also need Musa's, couldn't find anywhere selling them up here this year
Grew mine from seed. They got to 6'+ in the first year ... challenge is whether they [the ones left outdoors] over winter, or not, as none of this year's seed has germinated so no replacements for next year if they go T.U. over winter.
Persicarias are great, arent they? just chop bits off if it gets too big and i love the way it grows through neighbouring plants.
I got a nice, green, complementing Persicaria "Oriental Dragon" in Holland recently (Googling it was only bringing up Dutch sources, so maybe not common in Blighty?)

Image

made a note about these that I liked too:

Persicaria microcephala Silver Dragon
Persicaria microcephala Night Dragon
Persicaria microcephala Dragon's Eye
All in all your jungle is looking jungly, are you enjoying growing tropicals or do think its a bit of a chore, overwintering etc..
Plenty of Faff in my garden, so not sure its more aggro than other parts. Very rewarding though, I think. Only downside point I can think of is that it is not presentable until end of July ... but then its "perfect" through to November, and I have plenty of Shrubs and Herbaceous that are Wow! for a month (many only for a week) and then That's It :)

OTOH the Jungle looks completely bare in the Winter. That's fine in a large garden, of course, because I just don't go there.

Big wins for me are:

The Boy thing. BIG leaves. Brash in places. Thick culms on bamboos.

I can put any colour plant in there. e.g. "rejects" from other parts of the garden on the grounds of colour-clash.

Single plants work well. Elsewhere I have a clump of something. In the Jungle I have single plants in many places. For example I have Arundo donax (obviously was only planning one of them anyway!) forming a clump, and then where not yet large enough I have planted one each of Ricinus (the Blue one), a Solanum laciniatum, a single Cleome, one Canna, and perhaps a couple of other tall-ish / architectural plants which are all vying for the same space. The combination looks "right" somehow, whereas elsewhere in the garden single-plants like that would look skinny / mean

The speed:

Planted last year (first season) in mid June it was grown and ready for viewing by end July.

Planted-out in 1st week of June this year, ready for viewing by mid July, looking good by end July.

Reaction of visitors ... no one I know has seen / considered a garden remotely like it in the UK. Friends ask me if they can come to see it (having seen it before, or having heard from other friends). They don't ask that about the rest of my garden!

My wife and I love looking at What's New there. The [teenage] kids think its brilliant (and, predictably, are ambivalent about the rest of the garden)
Last edited by Kristen on Tue Jul 30, 2013 1:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Kristen

Re: Kristen's Blog : Jungle Garden - Year 2 - Planting Out

Post by Kristen »

P.S. I also bought (from CGF)

Persicaria amplexicaulis Blackfield
Persicaria virginiana var.filiformis

be interesting to see how they get on too :) The second one has some nice "eyes" on the leaf.
pdid

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

Post by pdid »

Coming along brilliantly Kristen, I might have to tap you up for a few persicaria cuttings icon_thumright
Kristen

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

Post by Kristen »

pdid wrote:I might have to tap you up for a few persicaria cuttings icon_thumright
The Red Dragon I have done root just by looking at them, so finger's crossed I'll have plenty to share.
GoggleboxUK

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

Post by GoggleboxUK »

Looking great there Kristen :)

I got a Red Dragon cutting from Deedee which did great in the year I got it but has done very little this year. Seeing yours makes me realise how it used to look.
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