One agave bracteosa that is not staying outside

For me this is one of the the most under-rated agaves, not just for the UK given how cold hardy it is, but in general for its squid like looks.  I have several of different sizes and they have all lived outside pretty much since I got them.  They don't get any protection and sail through without problems or damage. One good thing about them is that it gains its winter hardiness from a very small size, unlike many agaves. This is the largest before it was dug up for the move, during which I found it was starting to pup so should be a nice clump.

This makes them very easy at this time of year; they do take part in the fight for space in the cold frames.  Until this year that is, when I am the proud owner of the variegated from a. bracteosa 'Monterrey Frost". This is a plant that has taken me years to find (at a reasonable price) and having finally got one I am not risking it outside even in one of the cold frames.

It is plants like this that best highlight the difference between the USA and the UK, the blog Danger Garden showed a nursery with rows of these all lined up, while the Piece of Eden has one planted out on one of their banks (assuming the puppies haven't eaten it).  These new variegates and hybrids make it into general cultivation so much quicker, and while it is hopefully still considered a special plant, it wont break the bank to purchase and so can be used more freely in the garden.  In the UK though it is a different matter, you pretty much solely find this one on ebay and they can go for stupid money.  I had to apply my golden rule, which is to decide the price the plant is actually worth and not be tempted to bid higher.  You will always get it in the end, even if you have to wait a year.

So for the time being, this is one agave bracteosa that will be firmly mollycoddled inside out of reach of frosts (and slugs). That is until like the USA, I can pop down to the local garden centre and pick up a couple of spares. 

Starting young

Over the last couple of years my niece has developed an interest in gardening and has grown fruit and veg in their garden over the summer.  Her family all helped us move the plants during which she had great fun going through all the different pots deciding which varieties she liked the best. For her 10th birthday I promised we could go cacti shopping so she could start her own little collection.

For once I was actually very responsible; normally I take great pride in being an uncle and buying the presents that her parents would most dis-approve of.  After all isn't the whole point of uncles. But when it comes to plants I couldn't bring myself to let her buy things that would only die.  So the plants were limited to those that would survive indoors overwinter on her windowsill. Aloes and echeverias and the like were out as they tend to get leggy and need careful control of watering, while many cacti being so slow growing cope without problems with less than perfect care.

So last weekend we visited a local garden centre and selected a few small plants for a little bowl planter and one for an individual pot.  We also selected some gravel dressing, no let me correct that, she selected some gravel for top dressing (the reason is obvious from the photos). Here is the little bowl:

And the pot with a little now compulsory pink grafted cacti

It was interesting to see how she selected the cacti, wanting different shapes and textures.  Who knows she may become spiky obsessed as well. Although we are going to have to work on her colour selection for gravel.

At last a day in the garden

Being such a sunny day, we decided to treat ourselves and have a day off from decorating.  It was great to spend a proper amount of time in the garden and I of course used it clean up some of the pots.  At this time of year I am checking for damage, treating against vine weevil (a must if you have echeverias) and this year removing weeds and snails. Then it was on to the winter protection.

I mentioned this time last year the different levels of protection plants get; from being brought in, down to having a bit of fleece thrown over them before it snows.  As mentioned in the last post, I have lost my shed and this was a major part of my winter storage, so the cold frames are having to be far better planned. The first one is up and in the best place in the garden.  It gets sun from sunrise until about 4pm and is against the house so will benefit a bit form that.

Normally I don't have much problem filling it, it is just a case of taking the plants that wont fit inside or in the shed and putting them in here until there is no more space.  This year though I'm having to make some really tough decisions, while there will be another cold frame, it will not be as warm plus there are more plants that are used to better protection.  So I have done a test run using plants I am most concerned about or that are my favourites. These can at least start to dry out, but there are bound to be a few swaps.

I am also wondering if I could fit a second level in as well using the shelves form one of those mini green houses you find in garden centres. There are a lot of plants still waiting for a winter home and leaving them unprotected is not an option for most of them. Thankfully most of the larger plants are hardy and while a rain cover will help if I don't have space then it is fine and they can get a simple fleece cover before any snow. This collection is just half of those still sitting around!

There are a couple in there, like the agave attenuata, that have to be brought inside and I have started to put together those that will be brought in. 

Most of the very delicate ones are still at my parents and will have to be brought over in the next few weeks, they want their shed back for their own plants.  At the moment I am just crossing my fingers that everything is going to fit.  It's not just a case of putting them anywhere, if the light it not strong enough it can totally spoil the look of the plant, even when they are almost dormant. Still a long way to go, but at least there is some progress.

Hopefully this will be the last year I have to go through this and next year I will have an actual greenhouse!

Who would have guessed I would miss my shed!

What with all the stripping of wall paper, woodwork, sanding and painting I have hardly had any time in the garden.  When I do get out, it tends to be just a quick look to check everything is OK and to dispose of any snails.  I am finding it very hard not to plan the garden and just want to get out there and get started. As we are having the garage demolished (the roof is asbestos, a strangely British thing), plus building an extension so we have a larger kitchen and my OH gets the sewing studio she has been dreaming about. All this means I can not plan anything until the architects have done their bits.

Instead I am focusing on the things that I can do and rapidly need to be done.  Firstly some winter storage for the plants.  I was thinking about building a greenhouse-sized cold frame out of polycarb sheeting.  That was until I priced it and found out I could buy a green house for roughly the same amount.  So while it would be great for the short time, there are probably better things I can spend my money on at the moment, (my OH seems to think carpets and furniture should be higher up the priorities).  So instead it looks like I will be adding a second cold frame to the one I usually build. I know these work for most of my plants, as it is much keeping them dry as protection from the cold.  Here is the one from this time last year, filling up ready for the front and top to go on.

There will be a few more plants brought in this winter, on special permission (I have filled out the required forms in triplicate and got them signed), so my precious plants should all be OK. It does mean I won't have anywhere outside to potter and made me reminisce about my old shed.  It wasn't big or grand, but it turned out to be very functional for storing plants both in the summer and winter. 

Many happy hours were spent pottering in there, examining every detail of whatever plants were on the shelves at the time. No matter how cold or rainy I could pop out without getting wet and the rain on the roof was very calming. For much of the year it was full of little flower spikes, often creeping up to the shelf above. 

Once the new garden is started and the workshop and green house are all in place, I will have all the space for endless pottering.  But no doubt as I walk down the garden in the rain to get to them, some part of me will remember back to my first little shed and how dry it kept me.

The horror!

Weeds in my pots!

Everywhere I look there are weeds growing, in some places it is almost jungle like:

Yes I finally got time to go out and have a good look at my plants and it is amazing what can happen in a few short weeks. Most of the plants seem perfectly happy, as do the snails, who have very expensive taste.  Remember my lovely echeveria subridgida x peacockii hybrids:

They don't look so good now:

Sadly the one plant that has not coped with the move is my little clump of scleranthus biflorus sso uniflorus.

It is not such a lovely little clump anymore:

If I only loose one plant from the move then I will not have done too badly. Now where are my trusted tweezers when I need them. 

Agave hybrids: part 2

Looking though the photos of my purchases from the BCSS national show, I noticed that all my agave purchases were hybrids.  It was not planned, I purely bought plants that caught my eye on the day.  Part 1 of this post was on my friends a. obscura x a. lophantha hybrids, maybe it was being given these on the day of the national show that subliminally put hybrids into my head. The first purchase was a. isthmensis x colimana. You can't see the good red margins to the leaves in this photo.

The second purchase was one of the few a. bracteosa hybrids, A. 'Mateo'. I don't have a photo. but it is basically a wide leaved bracteosa with a pale mid stripe.  The final purchase is probably the stand out plant. I pointed it out to a friend to find out what it was, and he bought it, leaving me a much smaller one.  I wont be making that mistake again. It is a. macroacantha x appalanta

Looking at the photos reminds me I must pot them all up.  One of the strangest things about being in limbo while the new house is re-wired, is not being able to pop outside to look at the plants. Hopefully this weekend I will be allowed some time off to play in the garden and take some photos. I need to get going on the greenhouse for everything this winter, otherwise none of these new ones will survive.

Agave hybrids: part one.

Agave flowers in the UK used to be rare, with the amount of collections and time many growers have had their plants, they are getting more common every year. I know many people who have had not just one plant flower but several.  Once flowering, the ultimate dream for many growers is to produce a hybrid. So It is no surprise that more agave hybrids are coming on the market all the time, some purposely produced, others lucky coincidences. 

Once such event happened with a good friend.  His a. obscura came into flower and he managed to get hold of some pollen from a. lophantha. I was offered some of the resulting seed, but not having much luck with seeds I waited until there were some young plants. They seems to fall into two groups, one with a well defined mid stripe, the other with darker spines.

The one on the right has nice dark teeth and for me is the nicer of the two forms. I prefer good teeth to central stripes and it has a more defined look:

I am sure the donor will be asking for regular updates to check he hasn't given away the best plants. Mind you he has a few spares, plus a few hundred seeds left.