A short visit with plants. Part 1.

Last weekend I finally got to the island of Madeira. It was only for a few days and with the in-laws, so there was limited time to visit gardens.  We did manage to sneak in a few gardens though. I had been warned in advance that Madeira is not famous for succulents; a lot of rain and no frosts make it perfect climate for too many other plants.  So the next few posts will contain lots of photos, but very few succulents, hopefully the gardens will be of interest, just for something different.

First morning we went to one of the orchid nurseries,

This is pretty much in the centre of Funchal, only 1km from the front. However it is all up hill, and in Madeira that really means up hill.  So having recovered, it was a pleasure to be greated by this set of aloes inside the gate.

This was the only larger aloe I saw on the whole trip. In the garden you get the advantage of those steep hills.

The outside area did have some lovely other plants. I expected the tropical flowers, but didn't expect to see so many different trees.

Anyway you don't visit for the trees, and as soon as you get into the nursery it is clear why you are there.

It would be pretty amazing if that was the whole place, but it wouldn't be Madeira if it was. No you have this:

The photo shows two of the main sections, turn around and you get even more:

I loved that they use tree ferns to create deeper shade. You can see the whole site is on slope, there is no flat land anywhere. There is another section the same size on top of this.  It was an amazing collection and if the orchids were not enough you can look up and notice that the vine above the main path is a jade vine.

The flowers are such a stunning colour, and if possile the buds are even better.

It takes some getting used to, having so many spectacular plants everywhere you look.

You could spend hours there photographing every flower, and smelling them to find out where the different scents were from.  When you do finally leave you are greated by the owners other interest which is bromeliads. Initially it is just the odd pot

Then you are out into the path between the shade houses.

There was a little spanish moss starter wall,

It is such a simple idea to form balls or boxes with a little bit of spanish moss inside and then in a few years you have your full waterfall.

 It doesn't matter what they look like, they will be hidden before you know it. I did try a few years ago, and forgot to water so lost my little clump.  I am tempted to try again.

There were some nice clumps of tillandsias as well. If only mine would grow into clumps like this.

As an introduction to Madeira it was perfect, such plant extravagance you simply don't know where to look.

Another ceramic pot experiment

I am sure many of us are constantly on the look out for unusal plant pots for our succulents. Back in January, just happened to pop into a shop and found this one.

It really reminded me of a clump of sea anemones.

Back home and time to think what to plant in it. The planting holes are not large, and potting was going to be difficult. So slow growing and perhaps something that could just be planted and left to get on with it. Mulling over ideas my pot of deuterocohnia brevifolia came to mind. This little bromilaid, also known as Abromeitiella brevifolia f. chlorantha, forms nice mounds over time. My pot had put on a growth spurt over last summer and was looking good.

Wouldn't it be amazing to have each hole planted with these; over time they would envelop the pot forming a multitude of little mounds.  I considered splitting mine, but it was too perfect, so one project led to another and a second pot was purchases.

Doesn't it look good in its new home, It is bigger than it looks, the pot is 22cm.  

Now just the problem of finding another plant with enough heads to fill the 20 holes.  It took a while to track down a large enough plant, and it arrived yesterday.  It was straight down to seeing how many plants with roots it could be split into.

6 good plants straight away. A few more delicate splits, some with roots and some without, resulted in 14 plants.  Next job to decide which holes to fill.  I though it would look better initially to leave some empty, to allow watering and to give something different while the plants establish.

It took quite a few attempts to settle on this one. Then time to fill it, and the realisation that this was a really stupid idea. The holes were between 1 - 2cm and with a plant, many with root, getting soil in was going to be difficult.  How any times in succulent gardening do we use unusual tools.  Todays a teaspoon.

It took about 30 minutes to spoon the soil mix into the holes, shaking the whole thing to get it spred evening through the pot.  Another 15 minutes to top it up around the plants.   The the real fun started; how to get the gravel around the base of each plant.  I tried the teaspoon, my hand and finally resorted to a pair of tweezers and placing 2 or 3 small pieces of gravel at a time.  Yep 1.5 hours later and the pot was finished!

Should be fun as it fills out, initially forming individual mounds and then as these join together into one amorphous blob. It was a lot more work than expected, but should be worth it.

Some eye candy for those into the softer plants

I understand not everyone shares my obsession for the spikier plants.  So just for you here are some of the other plants from the Kew trip.

 

 

 

 

Another first: Dykia marnier-lapostollei

Dyckias are an unusual group of plants, most with lethal rows of teeth along the leaf margins.  I have had dyckia 'morris hobbs' for a few years now and I get more cuts from this one plant than almost all my others put together. A garden full of these really would be a dangerous place!  For me the true stars of the are the silver varieties. Unlike the agaves and echeverias, the silver colour is not due to a powder that washes off, so the plants can be handled without spoiling the look. Which is lucky given the number of grubby fingers that seem unable to resist reaching out to touch them. Probably the best (at least of the available plants) is dyckia marnier-lapostollei, a beautiful silver star. Sadly there is a large demand for the few plants available in the UK and they tend to go for stupid money. It took me a couple of years to finally get one, I was kindly given it as an un-rooted offset last year and have been nurturing it ever since.  This was it at the start of the summer:

This year it has grown at a good rate and is now showing the traits that make this plant stand out form the crowd.

I would have been happy with just the amount of growth from this year.  I kept it in the shed in full sun, and it obviously appreciated the extra warmth. We can do that in the UK as our temperatures are not too hot  and the sun is not as strong.  It is suppose to burn in stronger sun, something to watch out for. This one has done so well it has produced its first offset. These come out from between the leaves,  so can not be removed without taking the plant out of the pot.  I don't want to risk this one so I will leave it on until at least spring, something I am finally getting better at doing.

It is amazing to think that these beautiful plants are a totally natural species, it would be amazing to see them in their natural habit in Brazil.  But for now, this one in London will continue to be pampered, at least for another year.

A kew fix.

Popped along to Kew for a quick visit with some friends and to check how the agave flower was coming along.  It has already gone through the roof and wont be long before the flowers open.

They have taken the pane of glass out so it can continue growing, it will soon be visible from outside the greenhouse as well as in.  The plant is going to leave a huge gap once the flower finishes but I am sure they will find something to take its place. 

Most of the aloes have finished flowering but one or two were just starting.  I love the flowers when they are at this stage.  They seem more dramatic than when they start to open and separate into the individual flowers.

The bromeliad log was was doing well.

 

In the Palm House the jade vine had mainly finished flowering,  but the fruit is still there.

Hardly anyone seems to notice it hanging there and I imagine even less know exactly how rare it is.  Apparently it has only been managed anywhere in the world about 4 times before so it is a huge event.  We were talking about it and a few people looked up to see what all the fuss was about and seemed very underwhelmed.

They have a whole series of metal sculptures there at the moment, some better than others, these are some of the good ones

 

I'll end with my personal favourite.  It reminds me of some one, but I can't think who.