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.

More exciting news

I have been excited about the new section of garden and planning the green roof. Then having been away for a weekend, on my usual walk around to check on the progress of the succulent bed, I spotted this:

Yes my aloe polyphylla is flowering!  An aloe flowering is nothing new, but this is perhaps the one everyone wants to flower, at least in the UK.  It's in the perfect place, right next to the steps down to the garden, so I get to admire it each time I go in or out of the house. 

The plant itself is looking good now and has continued to grow.

 The rain cover keeps the main weather out of the crown and so there was very little damage from the winter.  Annoyingly there is one very visible black spot, I am sure I will get used to it, especially as the flower develops. 

Now i just need my smaller one to grow and flower at the same time so I can get seeds.