Return to the dasy

You'll have to forgive the lack of posts, another trip to Tanzania for work.  The problem of going away for two weeks is that the other projects build up, so you get back to a desk piled up and then have to slog through everything.

Thankfully the garden looks after itself and is looking great.  The joys of succulent rockeries requiring no maintenance. 

The dasylirion serratifolium flower is now in the cherry tree, but at least it has stopped growing.

The flowers are starting to open and very disappointing.  I would have put more effort into the flowers and less in the stalk. 

The bees however seem to disagree.  The whole stalk buzzes and everywhere you look there are bees. It doesn't seem to smell too strongly and the colour is not super bright, but something is working for them.

Many of them have leg sacks full of pollen.

The garden is full of bees, they are on every succulent that is flowering.

The other plant they are loving is the euphorbia

All these bees are a good thing, and promising for the future. I found at the last house,  that once the bees found a plant they would return in force the following years.  Sadly they will be disappointed to find the Dasy not flowering next year.

The irony of all these bees, is that the only plants go no where near are the flowering plants I bought especially for them! It just goes to show, even the bees think that succulents are the way forward.

It's about time.

As many of you will know, there has never been a major flowering in the the garden, not even the yuccas.  It is almost personal now, with things flowering as soon as they were no longer in the garden: plants taken to the work garden, and plants in the old house garden all flowering.

So on Saturday, sat having lunch and looking around the garden when I see it:

The dasylirion sarratifolium coming into flower. Conveniently the flower was just at the top of the leaves, so it is easy to monitor growth.

2 days later:

So one foot (30cm) growth in two days, not too bad. Already level with the top of the fence, now getting worried about the cherry tree above it.

A day later and another 6inches (15cm) so fairly consistent growth.

Now sure it is going to get up into the cherry. There is only a 3foot gap from top of flower to first branch now. At it's current rate that is only 6 days of growth.  Admittedly that is the lowest branch and the leaves don't start then, but guessing this will carry on up.

So advanced planning: going to pull it away for the fence, the posts gives something to tie to. Most likely the spike will just kink to grown straight up again, but the little adjustment should hopefully be enough. Alternatively, I could let it grow into the cherry and use it to secure the flower spike. It is windy in the garden, so could be helpful.


While I decide, it is just a matter of sitting back and watching it grow. It is all very exciting for someone who hasn't had a major flower before.

Tin snips are my favourite tool of the week

In a blatant spin-off from Dangers Gardens "My favourite plant this week", which is excellent for those that have not seen it (The latest post can be found here), my favourite tools this week are giant tweezers and tin snips. Shown in the photo below with a standard trowel for size.

The giant tweezers look like a joke but are perfect for fishing leaves out of those hard to reach agave and yucca crowns. 

The tin snips, usually used for cutting thin metal sheet, turn out to be perfect for trimming dead leaves off yuccas and dasylirions.  I must admit to being in the "no skirt" group.  Before you get too concerned this is just a term used to describe the ring of dead/old leaves that hang down around the trunk forming a skirt.  Some people think the plants look better in this more natural state, for me though they have to go. Getting in to trim them off you need something with enough power to cut through the fibrous leaves but precise enough to get a good clean look.  Secateurs are often not strong enough, and sheers are messy. The tin snips made light work of a dasylirion serratifolium and I'm amazed I never thought of using them before.

As it happens dasylirion serratifolium would be my favourite plant in the garden this week.  It has been in a pot since I got it, and really needs to get into the soil as it must be chronically root bound by now. It copes with London winters unprotected without any problems at all, and apart from having to watch the serrated leaves needs no care at all. Pop over to Loree's Danger Garden blog to see what others have selected as their favourite plants.