Echeveria laui flower

I have said it before, there are few echeverias that have the drama of echeveria laui in flower.

Potting up the white echeverias

There comes a time in the year it can be put off no longer. The other plants have been potted on, the other garden jobs have been finished, nothing left to do but face the white plants. This year is particularly difficult as the echeverias have flowered so well.

I raised my E. Laui  up to allow the flowers to hang down more and it is still flowering now. The plant itself is now almost totally white and doesn't have a mark on it.  This one can wait another year year before being repotted, but I'm already dreading it.

Other plants needed it this year, so onto the job at hand.  The hybrid E. subrigida x E. peacocki is still flowering as well. This one has a great flower in which the nectar from the flowers seeps out and makes it look like the flowers are wearing lipstick.

Thankfully there was enough space to allow the plant to removed from the old pot and placed into the new one, without having to touch it too much.

Next up was E. mexican giant.  There was not choice but to carefull tease this one out of it's pot and into the new one.  Thankfully not much damage to the powder covering on the leaves.

Finally to give myself a bit of a break, E. colorata var brandtii.  This one is probaly more blue than white, but still have a thin layer of powder.  Again not too many marks after re-potting.

I love the tinge this one has on the tips of the leaves.

There is still one to go, my rare E. John Catlin, but I may top cut that one so I will save it for another day.

The curious taste of bees

It has been mentioned before, that bees in the garden seem to have very definite tastes.  It doesn't matter how bright the flowers, how large, if they smother the plant, or if there is just one.  It seems bees like what bees like.

In some cases this is understandable; complex flowers, no nectar or flowering when it is too cold.  In the case of aloe striatula the lack of bees never made sense.  If you have ever looked at A. striatula flowers they drip with nectar, the flowers are covered, the top leaves are covered.  If there was ever a plant that provides a perfect bee filling station it should be this one.

There is the issue that the flowers are not form the UK, they are not designed for bees, but the amount of liquid dripping onto the leaves makes easy pickings.  It has been observed that bees tend to stay away from plants they have not come across before and it's only when a bee finds them, perhaps by accident, then reports back that others identify the flowers as a food source. This seems to have been the case in the garden a couple of days ago.  From no bees, to bees all over the flowers.

20 minutes trying to get a photo, and that I end up with is a blur

No wings

and more blurs. 

So while no amazing photos, it is great to actually hear the plants buzzing as more bees arrive each day. Maybe they taste is not so curious afterall.

The hardy aloes starting to flower

There are very few aloes that are hardy in the UK. A. striatula and A. Aristata are the two that seem hardy across larger parts of the Uk without needing any protection. Then A. polyphylla and A. saponaria in the warmer parts, or if given protection from the snow and rain. There are a few more people grow, but they seem to be much more variable.

So I grow all 4 in the garden and have had them all flower at different points, A. Polyphylla for the first time last year, but sadly not this year.  The rest are flowering better than ever. 

The photo above shows the largest clump of A. striatula. There are three clumps around the garden, all flowering and two, for once, aphid free.  You can see that it is rampant, and has turned my ordered, tidy succulent bed into more of a jungle.

There are two groups of A. aristata just out of the photo and several in pots.  I have them in pots so they can be moved to fill gaps, or placed next to other aloes in flower.

The A. saponaria I have is a variegated clump.  It started off as one plant, and is now a clump of variegated plants, some better than others. I am always surprised it survives each winter and then flowers. 

This years flower is the best to date. The flowers have good colour and are a decent size. In the morning sun it glows, the photo does not do it justice.

The bees are a bit unsure of the aloe flowers, they are finding out how to access them so seed pods have been few to date.  This year with everything flowering so well, it may be time to try some hybrids. I was thinking about which to try and remembered I already owned an A. aristata x A. striatula which is very disappointing in both looks and hardiness.   So it looks like it is going to be A. aristata x A. saponaria and A. strataula x A. saponaria instead.  To try and ensure the best success, I will be getting the paint brush out to help everything along. 

There are lots of other aloes in flower as well, mainly the smaller ones.  The only larger one in flower is no longer strictly an aloe, but kumara plicatilis. The flowers has lasted really well, holding their colour and not just opening and dieing with in a day or so.

Then you have the haworthias and the aloe x haworthis crosses, but that may have to be another year.

It's all about aloe polyphyllas here

So the main event in the garden so far this summer has been the aloe polyphylla flower.

They are strange flowers, as it grows any lack of water on hot days results in it just flopping around. 

I kept a close eye on the bees to see if they found it and what other aloe flowers were in flower at the same time.  The aloe striatulas were flowering away and I brought a big pot of aloe aristata over from my parents.  They are moving and I agreed to look after the pot until they were settled, very convenient.

The orginal plan was to take some pollen to a friend house, but their flower was way behind mine, and the two did not overlap.  It shows how far ahead the rockery can get. So plan B, have as many flowering aloes around as possible, and hope the bees do their job and something is compatible. 

A long shot, but you never know.  Although now we do as look what I found.

Not exactly a massive seed pod harvest, but one is better tha none.  I'm out there each day checking on it.  The aloe aristatas also have a few seed pods, the aloe striatula still have flowers, so time will tell how many seed pods develop there.

The next stage is to see if any of the pods produce seeds.  Then a whole other set of fun.  To prepare I have also been trying to germinate a set of 50 aloe polyphylla seeds I purchased at the end of last summer. There is lots of information about germinating them by putting them in water, so this was the methd used.

After about 10 days half the seeds had germinated. By 20 days all but 4 had germinated which was amazing. They were potted up into groups and given my skill at killing seedlings I expected most not to make it.  One pot full succumbed within a few days, going from the water to soil obviously wasn't popular.  I hoped to maybe have 2 or 3 left to grow into plants.  So was pleasantly surprised to have managed to keep 12 alive in one pot and 4 in another.

They are almost past the danger stage, hopefully they will not be so susceptable to damping off or to drying out. I have great plans for a few more polyphyllas; one in the main succulent bed, a couple in the new bed by the workshop and then some on the planned green roof. There is probably space for a couple in the front as well.  Can you ever have too many?

Looking through old phots

We have bee looking for a photo to use on something, so looking through some of the old photos. So a quick set of eye candy for you.

 I have cut down the number of cacti in pots, but there was no doubt the flowers were spectacular

The other succulents don't let them have it all their own way and have a different type of beautful flower

The flower update.

I have been keeping a close eye on the aloe polyphylla flower as it develops.

It took over 6 weeks to get to that size and the growth was really slow. Then we finally got a bit of warmth and that made a big difference. 

 Over the course of a long weekend it grew, coloured up and the individual flowers started to open.

It makes going and coming back from work each day interesting as thre is noticable change.

There are a few other aloes in flower in the garden, the usual A. aristata, and a hybrid A. aristata x A. variegata. The A. striatula are a little behind ssome so there should be overlap there. Plus my variegated clump of A. saponaria. 

I am going to leave polination to the bees, they love the aloe flowers and have got used to landing on them.  Strangely we don't seem to have any honey bees, it is worrying.  We do however have lots of bumble bees.  They have been very persistent working out how to get into the aloe and echeveria flowers. It's funny to watch them fighting their way in.

They actually have quite a few flowers to choose from at the momet, the succulent rockeries are putting on quite a show. Some are subtle, other not so much.

The purple is still not going down well with either the OH or the bees.  This is its third year in flower and still the bees don't go near it.  The very occasional one will land on a flower and then mover straight on.  The litte white dianthus on the other hand they spend ages on each flower and then move onto the next. 

The echeveria elegans river of flowers was better than ever.  In the evening the sun shines through them. I've been trying to get a photo, this is as good as I've managed so far. It still doesn't do it justice.

It seems the bees have got so used to succulent flowers they are confused when faced with anything else.  It seems Lilly flowers are just bad taste.

So are the Star of Bethlehem flowers. I love them, they really glow, but the bees don't seem to agree.

The plants are expensive in the UK, but I realised the bulbs are a fraction of the price.  So come autumn I will be planting a lot of these throughout the garden. They are currently part of the new bed, which is coming along.  There have been a few succulent purchases as the style developes. Hopefully we'll have a post on the new plants soon.

The succulent rockeries are getting starting to put on a show

It is going to be a year of firsts flower wise around the garden, the aloe polyphylla flower is getting bigger

As is the plant itself.

The variegated aloe saponaria is also showing what a mild winter it was.

I may dig these up this year and replant just the main variegated one, the others are a bit more green.

The aloes in pots don't want to miss out. This one, apparently called aloe Tiki Tahi, got in early. 

There are lots of others in flower as well, but as they don't stay outside all year, I will limit this post to the really tough plants. Strangely the more common plants are being really slow; no sign of flowers on aloe aristrata, or striatula. 

The big question is going to be what to do with the polyphylla flower; do I try and polinate it?  Apart from the aloes in the garden, a friend has just found theirs is flowering as well. So there is a chance to swap some pollen.  Sadly she's not in the closest of locations, but it would be an excuse to drive over to see her garden and she lives around the corner from two great nurseries.

The echeverias after also flowering away, the echeveria elegans stream gets better every year.

There are a few gaps where plants didn't make it, but they are fillig out quickly and by the end of this year it is going to be overflowing.  The echeveria agavoides in the front should also have filled out. They are not as wet tolerant, so next winter I may have to bite the bullet and cover them. 

I know I said it was plants that live outside only this post, but my agavoides bowls are just looking too good.

Lots of offsets in the mixed pot, but pretty hard to get past the ebonys!

They are still getting darker having been in the unheated greenhouse all winter. I'm torn if I want to keep them together or give one it's own pot just to see how big it will get.  As you know, I tend to over fuss my plants, so maybe this time I'll just let them get on with it and see what happens.

I'll save the agaves and greenhouse for another post, but it feels like we have got past the dangerous time of year and everything is into growth and can just be enjoyed.

Front garden update.

There hasn't been a front garden update in a while.  It has all been a learning experience, with far more bulbs and traditional plants than in my usual rockeries. The mild winter means the bulbs are behaving very strangely; they are suppose to be a continous stream of flowers from the early snowdrops and crocus to the late anemones. While the crocus and snowdrops were at their usual Feb and march flowering, come march everything came into flower including the anemones which are not suppose to flower for months.

It does make it very colourful out there at the moment.

These iris are still some of my favorites

The alpines don't want to miss out on the party, at least they are flowering at the correct time of year.

The excitement in the front are the eremurus himalaicus. Three bulbs were planted, and I've got to say I was a little skeptical having had no luck in the past. Not only have all three come up, but all are sending up flower spikes. At a possible 6 feet they should look great in a few year when they have bulked up into small groups.

The little circular bed, is filling out, and the candytufts are a mass of white flowers.

The succulents had a mixed time.  The echeveria elegans are mainly OK, with only the odd plant suffering any major damage.

The echeveria agavoides were not so lucky, as in the back the main plants all died, with only offsets getting through where they were protected from the rain.

The agaves were all pretty much untouched which is good.

The large one, has a good blue colour to it and doesn't have a single bit of damage.  There is also a small one,  I really didn't need another (my fourth) but this one is a little different, big gummy teath and a good red colour.

I'm hoping now it's in the ground it should grow quickly. If it stays with those teeth and the colour it is going to be my best agave montana.