Wednesday Vignette

Finally got around to planting up my Tonka truck.  I went back and forth over which plant to use; somethin structural, something colourful, something that will take over. In the end I settled on orostachys spinosa, which will spread out over the surfaces.  I like the way it looks like the truck is now full of  rubble.

When photo records fail.

It has not been the summer I expected.  Having started well, it got to mid July and the workshop floor was down, so the proper work on the garden restarted. Then I hurt my knee and had to spend 6 weeks not using it, strictly no gardening.  Then I had to go to Uganda for 2 weeks for work, followed by two lovely weeks in Spain (I come back to that in another post). Then got back to the UK and spent every weekend visiting friends or them visitnig us, and suddenly it is October!

So much to catch up on. Today I was cleaning up in the front garden and noticed how much the buttlers sink had filled out.

It was a mixture of left over plants, so a bit of test.  I love the little mound forming alpines and have been looking for some that give me the look I am after. These have grown much quicker than
expected.

I thought these were suppose to be slow. In my defence the one on the left was tiny when planted last year.  It will have to be moved next spring, I think I'll re-do the whole planter as I love this end, and the other is to diverse.

So having taken some photos, I come inside to check the plant names and nothing!  Normally when I do a planter like this, or any pot, I take a photo of the whole thing and each plant with the label.  Then if the label vanishes I have the photos for ID.  There is no chance I wouldn't have done it, I just didn't upload the photos.

I hate not knowing plant names. I sense there will be a few weeks of searching in the hope something turns up.

More circles

They seem to be appearing all around the garden, from the circular seating area and most recently the moss circles (from the post here.) Can't resist showing the photo again.

The front garden gives more opportunities to bring in circles.  There will be a circular raised bed for a start, and lots of mounding plants in the gravel.  Two that will definitely be added:

This arenaria aurea seems fairly keen to stay in a circle anyway and the white flowers will go well in the white garden.

Gypsophila aretioides may provide a different challenge, to keep it perfectly circular or to let it just grow how it wants.

No surprise here: scleranthus biflorus. The watering is working, now it is just the big winter test.  There is one in a pot and one in the ground, so hopefully that should give an idea of how it copes.  The one in the pot is growing in a perfect circle, the one in the ground is a bit all over the place.  So may need to select the plant carefully and look at how to keep it nice and circular.

This got me thinking about what other plants could be grown in circles, maybe by giving them something to grow in.  Looking through the greenhouse I spotted the copper slug rings.  They come in different sizes and could be half buried in the gravel or rested on top to give slight different heights.

Photo from slugrings.co.uk

Now for plants. Sempervivums form nice clumps and the smaller forms could be contained by the rings.  It just happened there was a good clump of sempervivum arachnoideum cobweb that needed a new home, so time for a test.

Will be interesting to see if it can be kept within the ring.  There needs to be more, whole groups.

I probably have enough small semps to fill a few of these, but it opens up a whole range of small plants. I am thinking of doing a run of them up the centre of the parking space. Need to get a few more and try joining them together to give large sizes, then the fun can start properly next spring.

So what other plants would work well in these?

Alpines loving the rain

July was a month of two halves. The start lovely and warm with the hottest July day on record, the end cold and wet.  It is interesting watching how the plants reacted to these different conditions. Some agaves loved the heat, others stopped growing. Almost all the alpines struggled, with the heat and are loving the colder wetter weather.

There are quite a few sempervivums in different stages of flower,

Sempervivum 'Green Dragon'

Sempervivum 'Lilac Time'

Sempervivum 'Lion King'

Sempervivum 'Engles'

Sempervivum 'Virgil'

Thankfully all have offsets, so no need to replace them.

Those that are not flowering are looking good as well, I'm liking this small form at the moment, such perfect little rosettes.

Sempervivum ciliosum

This trough was only recently planted so they still look a bit un-natural. It's a good offsetter though, so next year should cover that end.

It is not just the semps that are happy, remember my poor little orostachys fimbriata. The foxes dug it up scattering tiny bits around the garden. The original post can be found here. These were planted up in the hope some would survive.

My first flower.  It doesn't look as interesting flowering on its own, but then I am trying to re-build the clumps to fill the entire trough, so good to only loose one. This is much smaller than the normal form, part of the charm, so it's going to be a while before that is filled.

I finally I may have cracked my other nemesis, scleranthus biflorus. I think I killed three of these in the last garden, then found out the problem was treating them like succulents and not watering them.  These now get watered and so far so good.

I've just spotted the label is still there, sorry Loree. These are usually either buried or removed once I have photos and can place what is where. Anyway, it has doubled in size since being planted a few months back, and has already filled the space nicely. If the success carries on and it survives winter, I have plans to use them more widely in the front garden.

While the alpines may be enjoying the cooler weather, we could do with getting the sun back again now. It is meant to be summer not Autumn.

Alpine planters updates

With all the new pots, it is easy to forget about the two larger alpine planters that have been created over the last couple of years.

I can't remember what the plant was that is missing.  Strangely I don't have a photo of it when planted, but I am guessing it has not grown much as two of the plant are known to be slow growers.

The next one was suppose to be quicker.

The little androsace sempervivoides (top right), flowered and then died. I have another else where in the garden and that hasn't done well either.

The orostachys spinosas (centre middle, and top) both struggled last year shrinking right back.  I thought they were gone, but this year they seem to be making a bit of a recovery. For both of these water is probably key and they can't cope with baking.

The two sempervivums have both thrived. I hadn't noticed them growing, but the photos show how much more space they are taking up.  Red devil has got quite big, for something I thought stayed small. The green dragon, is just doing it's thing, slowly creeping out with lots of little plants.

The eagle eyed among you, may have noticed two semps were removed from beside the red devil.  These turned out to be a different form and have been moved.

The other plant, armeria juniperifolia, has done well. Again water is an issue, got to keep an eye on it as it has a tendancy to suddely turn brown in sections, which totally spoils the look.

And what happened to the other sempervivum, it is now all planted up with a semp lilac time.

They look slighty dwarfed at the moment, but it is semp 'lion king' so wont stay that way for long.  Hopefully the two should work well together, as 'Lion King' looks best in spring and then fades a bit, which 'lilac time' gets better as the summer progresses.

The main thing I learnt from last year is not to treat them like succulents in high summer.  They need a bit of shade or more water.  I am determined to get it right this time and actualy take notice of the water needs.

A mixed bag

Last weekend it was the first plant fair of the year, this one at Savil Gardens.  I try and go every year, meeting up with friends who normally laugh at my complaints that the only plants to buy are sempervivums.  This year with the new sections in the garden there was actually an opportunity to buy different plants.  Sadly I forgot my camera, so only have photos of the plants once safely back in the garden.

Typically what was the first stall there, a succulent one!  They have never been there before and had a great selection. I really wasn't looking for any more non-hardy plants but couldn't resist these three miniature haworthias.

The main part of the fair was more traiditonal plants, usually specialist forms which make the trip worth while. One of the best purchases was mahonia soft caress.

A friend had recomended it for a corner in the shade garden.  It is under my OHs studio window, so there were strict instruction that any plants were not to obscure the light.  This should get up to sill height, or maybe just wave the tips of its delicate leaves in view without worry of it getting bigger. This was on my list of plants to look for, I almost missed it, thankfully the same friend pointed them out before we left.

Then there were the random buys like this veronica gentianoides.

The blue is much more defined than in the picture, which makes up for the slightly boring leaves. That corner gets a bit more sun than the rest of the section, so should be fine there. It is definitely lighting up the space at the moment.

I'm still very much finding my way with the non spikie plants, buying them the same way I buy succulents: just because I like the look of them. No doubt there is going to be a lot of re-planting in the shade areas to make it more interesting year round.

Back onto something I am more confident about, the alpines.  The usual stall was there and instead of just going for sempervivums which I have enough of at the moment, there was a great range of other interesting plants.  My favourite mounding plant was there scleranthus biflorus. I have tried this a couple of times in pots and have been looking for it to go in alpines rockery.

It was also an opportunity to ask where I had been going wrong.  The consensus was lack of water in the height of summer.  So the area was dug out a bit and more soil added in the hope of stopping it drying out too quickly.

I also picked up a cotula hispida, although haven't decided where this one is going yet.

A total suprise find was this crassula sarcocaulis.

I've been looking for a bonsai tree style alpine for years, hoping this will fit the bill.  A few pieces have already been taken to propagate and once settled in it may be trimmed to get a better shape.   I should have bought a few to experiment with.  Hopefully now I know the name, I'll be able to find more online.

The alpine bed is now filling up, and the shade area is well underway although still lots of space for new plants as well. 

Spring Alpines: part 1.

This is a great time of year for the alpines; lots of flowers and the sempervivums are waking up. Over the last few years I have been adding named forms to my collection and have been keeping track of how they perform. Some

Some like S.'Titania' look great right now and make you think they have grown loads. (Photo below taken yesterday)

Until you look back at the summer photos and see that they have actually lost lots of leaves and actually look their best later in the summer. (Photo below taken last August)

Often you buy the at this time of year and they look spectacular, like S. 'Rosie' (photo taken yesterday)

So lush and a great colour, sadly it doesn't last and being alpines they may not like summer sun and lack of water. (Next photo taken last August)



Then you have the ones those that look good in summer, like S. 'Virgil' (next photo taken last august)

You think they look good all year only to see their spring colour, which really blows you away (next photo taken yesterday).

Finally you have the ones that look good all year and just keep growing. S.'Lion King' was slow to get going but has settled in now.

No matter which group they fit in, at this time of year they are all sending out runners with new plants on. Some snake out long distances, S. 'Lively Bug' sends out some of the longest. These are just getting started and will be two to three times as long in the end.

Others cluster their offsets forming tighter and tighter clumps. S. 'Green Dragon', is one of my favourite clumps right now.

And sometimes it is just good to look at them. This is S. 'Ohio Burgundy'

Some colour and some planting.

It has been stresfull in the garden with the issues with the succulents, but work hasn't stopped.  I'll come back to the agaves in a later post, but today it's time to focus on what else is going in the succulent rockery.

There are a few flowering plants in amoung the agaves, the aim is ultimately to have bee friendly flowers available for the entire time the bees are around. 

The vertical posts work to give you different views, with the odd splash of colour peaking out form behind them.  This one is pulsatilla vulgaris, it's a delicate little plant which apparently will form little cumps about 20cm across.  Sady the information suggests it's a little fussy, especially about root disturbance.  Hopefully the position is out of the way and in a few years there will be a nice big clump. It would be good to see a group of these flowers filling the space. 

Just noticed the lizard on the rock, a present from my neice, so while not my taste, it's allowed to stay. It gets moved every time the come over, so you never know where it will pop up next.

The next one, was a bit of a test, tulips are not something you probably think in relation to succulent gardens.  Probably not something I ever expected to end up in the rockery. The jury is out, and it didn't help that they flowered on the one weekend we were away.

At least they were the dwarf form they were suppose to be. Other plants are not so well behaved.  The main agave bracteosa has been a bit of a pupping machine since being planted.  One of todays tasks was to take off all the unwanted offsets and decide if they could be re-homed.  Here is mum after the offsets had been removed.

There were three plants all with roots, the largest was re-homed to another part of the rockery. These are so reliable, that they make a good backbone to the other more risky plants.

While planting, I also added an asphodeline lutea. It has been sitting in a pot since last summer. Originally this was going in the front, but a change of plan there required a re-think.  Like the tulips the jury is still out on this one. The blue leaves are lovely and the flower spikes should be good. The question is if it will be too messy for the very structured succulent rockery.

They form clumps, but if it does stay I may be tempted to keep them as individual plants and scatter them about the garden as a repeating feature.  Time will tell if this one makes the grade. There is going to be a more messy/jungly part to that bed, maybe they will end up there.

It was good to spend time in the garden not worrying about the agaves and instead getting on with planting for the second summer.  If you are wondering about the eremurus, they are growing away. The e. oase especially is really strong and it looks like both plants will flower this year.

It is not quite the californian version of flowers and agaves, I am working up to that. There were however lots of bees around, so hopefully as the season progresses and more flowers open they will be happy.

Look what I found

I got to spend some time in the garden today and look what I found dropped the other side of the garden gate.

It appears that the fox carried it around for a bit before deciding it wasn't edible.  Amy commented on the last post asking why foxes would take plants, and I have no idea. I would guess that the digging up is to get at worms, but why they would take plants, or even just carry them in their mouths for a bit is a total mystery. Maybe it got spoked and ran off before it could drop the plant.

So while the plant is not quite what it was, at least the two largest are still around and stand some chance of surviving to form new clumps.

RIP orostachys fimbriata

You may remember a little while ago my post on orostachys fimbriata (found here). It has gone from strength to strength since the photo was taken. Until last night that is.  I went outside this morning to find a hole where the plant used to be and soil scatted all over the ground.

A fox had dug it up.

We have a real problem with urban foxes in London, and there is one around here that likes to dig. It doesn't seem to mind where it digs, empty flower beds, or into gravel or through plants themselves. 

So where my lovely little orostachys fimbriata once was, just a hole. Careful sorting through the gravel did turn up to tiny offsets so fingers crossed I can grow these on, but it is not exactly the best time to be removing offsets.

So in memory of this lovely little cluster of plants here is the original photo as a reminder.

RIP orostachys fimbriata, and foxes beware this means war!

How do you know your plants have taken to their new homes.

It has been a couple of months since the succulent rockery was planted up. It's been interesting watching which plants settled straight in and which have taken they time. There are two obvious signs that the plants are happy. Firstly they offset.

The largest agave bracteosa has pupped prolifically, so much so I have to remove most of them or they will take over.

The other sign is they flower.

The campanula carpatica alba have continued to flower all year.

They offset

Aloe Aristrata

and they flower

Drosanthemum hispidum

If they are not offsetting, they are sending out new stems / branches

Aloe striatula sending out lots of new stems

And yes they flower.

The cacti not wanting to be left out

And offset

And flower

Lampranthus roseus, is going to need taming if it survives the winter

Even the last few plants in pots have been getting in on the act, you have to love the determination some agaves show,

This agave parryi is sending out pups through the holes in the bottom of the pot.

So far so good then with the main rockery, although the real test is going to be the first winter.