Bromeliads

I seem to have amassed a confection of bromeliads over the past few years. They're just a bit collectable! They are extremely adaptable plants, and range from moss-looking plants (Tillandsias uesnoides in Sarasota) to gigantic triffids (Puya raimondii).I've found a few to be fairly tough, but not fully cold hardy in a London winter.  

This one is a hybrid called 'Sueños'. It is thought that the parents are Aechmea recurvata and Aechmea gamosepala. It's a real gem of a plant, and had survived a number of years outdoors, until the winter before last when I nearly lost it completely. Fortunately I managed to salvage a couple of offsets and restart it. From now on it will be my pet, cosied away in the garage over winter. You may not be able to tell from the pic, the plant is about 15cm tall.

This is Aechmea gamosepala, one of the commonest bromeliads in subtropical climates. It's fairly tough here too, but a heavy frost will usually bleach the ends of the leaves. I love the flowers on this one.

 

This is a Tillandsia aeranthos (stapled to an apple tree), which decided to flower recently, despite having been through -9C unprotected last winter.

These two Tillandsia bergeri have been outdoors for years, gradually offsetting/branching and a few flowers this year. I believe one to be a larger form, bought from Croston Cactus. The smaller is what I believe to be the typical form. Who knows? You can also see a Billbergia nutans flower, originating from a plant living in the hollow of the apple tree.

A typical winter scene!

Even out of flower they look cool!

The name's Pond....

It's been a while since my last post, and the next couple of blogs are likely to be the last for a bit longer. What can I say? Time is fleeting.

I managed to get my pond installed just before I went on my mad holiday trip (see earlier post). Here it is today, several weeks after having been installed;

I dug down a bit and the pond is three sleepers high, so the water is pretty deep. Thanks to Owen (a.k.a. Mad Chicken Man!) for advice on the sleepers, the information was very useful and much appreciated. The water seems to be nice and clear, and the lilies are flourishing in their new home.

I wonder if anyone knows why the Albizia 'Summer Chocolate' fades to that coppery colour during the summer? Do others do that? I rather like the purple leaves as they emerge.

I make no apologies for posting even more waterlily pictures...

Mesembryanthemum of the day

The Livingstone Daisy is a family favourite. There are family photos from way back which featured these in the background. In hot weather like this they look superb. 

Just to add - it's worth opening in a bigger window if you're on a fast connection.

Sorry if it burnt your retinas.

Open Gardens

It seems the quintessential English garden never really died (perhaps I was going to the wrong gardens?). These pictures are from a couple of weeks ago, when I went on a dash around eight gardens over the course of a Saturday and Sunday. This involved driving up to North London and down to the New Forest area down in Hampshire. They are in no order, and will remain un-credited, unless anyone particularly wants to know where these gardens are.

Starting the tradition of a Cream Tea and a slice of cake...


A traditional English cup of tea.
This garden was no-where near the seaside!
The first evening opening I have been too. A great time of day to see a garden.

After much cake eating over the open garden weekend, I've just sent off for a pilchard-based diet scheme. I'll let you know how I get on...

Back from my holiday(s) and new pond.

After a little break, I'm back to blog another day. My holiday started off in North Wales a couple of weeks ago. We had some beautiful weather, and I was away from the Monday to the Friday. The next day I was due to go on a cactus and succulent tour of the Netherlands with Jan Kolendo and Paul Spracklin. So after a bit of a dash around, we returned back on the Sunday with plants in tow.

The very next day (Monday), I flew off to New York, and stayed with a friend in the Upper East Side. Had an amazing time, and I have to say, it has been the most amazing two weeks I can remember. I returned back to London on Friday, and spent the weekend visiting friends and open gardens. It's a hard life!

Today I spent a bit of time on my new pond. My new Lemon Goldfish were released into water, and it looks like they love it. The waterlilies were placed at the bottom, and several new marginal plants were set in place. I had been planning to put my Zantedeschia 'White Giant' (picture below) in also, but it would have meant planting into a much larger pot. So I made the decision to just plant a couple of cormlets from the main plant.  

A bit more on this one, as it has to be my plant of the year. I had always loved Zantedeschia aethiopica, but could never really keep it happy. It always seemed to go into decline after I had managed to get it to any decent size. 

A gardening chum of mine, Mark Everson, has been growing this form of Zantedeschia for several years, and always held it in high regard. After seeing his plant, I knew I had to have it. The flowers were fully 6' tall, and the entire clump almost the same across (leaf tip to leaf tip).

When it became available at Pan Global Plants, I snapped one up. The plant was about a foot tall in July/August last year. With good watering and regular potting, nearly a year later, I have a plant that is several feet tall, and currently onto its third flower.

I can see the plant being a big hit in the next few years. I didn't mention the nicely spotted leaves, and its hardiness to -8C, did I...?

I'm going to let the pond settle down for a few weeks, but sure as Federer will win Wimbledon, photos will be posted.

So much to blog, and so little time...

Time for a mid-year sabbatical.

Today saw the installation of my new pond. It all actually happened very fast, but I'm so pleased with it - it's pretty big!

Tomorrow I'm off on a jaunt up to North Wales, with plenty of nurseries and gardens to see, indubitably.

Then it's Belgium and Holland for an intensive cactus/succulent/garden/nursery/plant collection visit over Saturday and Sunday. 

Who knows where I'll be next Monday, but I'll be sure to have my camera to hand.

Over and out, for now.

It's all me, me, me, me, me...

I might stop posting about my own garden soon...

Quite by chance I found some old pictures on a CD marked 2004. As you can see, I've made some changes in the last five years.

1) The Pinus sylvestris and Chamaecyparis has gone to the great wood chip pile in the sky, and the Musella lasiocarpa has gone to the gooey mush pile in the sky.

2) The grass looks even worse now.

3) It used to be much more jungley. Since then I've become more of a conformist, or have I?