Monday 19 March 2012

It's too early

For everything to be in flower but it has been such a good and sunny start to the year that all the echeverias are way ahead of where they should be.  Looking around the shed today it is a mass of flowers, not just the spring but early summer flowering varieties.  Normally at this time of year it would just the the echeveria roseas in flower like these, with varieties like e. agavoides just starting to show their flower stalks.

The dry bed is well and truly waking up.  There are signs the agaves are starting to get into growth, but this time of year really belongs to the alpines.  On my wish list of things for a new garden I have: more space, a greenhouse, a south facing slope and a stone wall for alpines. It would be a dry stone wall where every crevice has some interesting little plant to catch your attention. One group of plants that would feature are saxifragaceae. There are so many varieties, the ones I like are the tight clump forming ones.  I have a few in flower at the moment, although they don't look as good in the ground as stuck to a wall.


Thankfully they don't all have yellow flowers, the next one does, but I love the shape of the clump.


Finally a different flower type


This one is so small it tends to go unnoticed in the dry bed for most of the year.  Another good reason for my alpine wall.  If I ever get my wish, part of the fun will be searching for lots of other varieties to complement the few that I currently have.

5 comments:

  1. It's never too early! =0) Thanks for a fascinating post - I can see why you're a Saxifracea [Saxifrage?] fan. My DH is a fan of Portulaca too for similar reasons, and I've finally found a variety with a single flower that he might like. It's a good day. ;0)
    Amy

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    1. Thanks Amy. Portulaca are not a group I know anything about, but it is always good to find a treat for the OH.

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  2. Definitely! We want to encourage this form of insanity as much as possible in our spouses. ;0) Amy

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  3. I love your ideas! I hope some or all happen this year.

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    1. Thank you. Hopefully we'll find a new house and that will give me the space for some of these.

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