Anual trip to Crete Lodge exotic garden

So yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting Crete lodge exotic garden again.  Melissa and Keith have continued their tireless work in the garden and it was looking better than ever.  Sadly the memory card in my camera seems to have got scrambled, so I lost a lot of the photos, but some had been downloaded first.

The sunken garden is a good place to start as there is always something in flower.

Look at the size of that agave ovtifolia. Sadly it is starting to suggest it may flower, the same for the agave weberi and with the horrida in the first photo already flowering that would be three flowers in that section of the garden alone!

Ther are so many sections to the garden and that is before you even get to the cactus house and other greenhouses.  The biggest section is the main succulent bank and the new sections the other side of the path.  Looking down from the sunken garden you get the first glimpse over the green roof.

Melissa is particularly proud of the new pot.

The bank has some of the largest agave montanas scattered across it.

A bit further down and you come one of the newer parts of the garden.

I love the combination of the succulents with the traditional UK gravel garden plants.

Every angle gives you a different set of plants

The bank carries on around to a section full of yuccas and palms, these photos didn't make it, so back up to the terrace, via a lovely little olive bed. Keith does all the main structural brick work and then Melissa does the decorative fronts.  The whole garden is covered in these lovely little sections meaning no planting opportunities are missed.

The terrace has some feature agaves as well.  The larger one maybe about to flower but this time I had lost count of the number.

Annoying all the other photos were lost.  So I'll juts have to go back another time and re-take them. Those on facebook can go to their page, found here. It is always an inspiration to visit and obviously I always leave with a plant or two, even if I'm not allowed to liberate everthing I would like.

I'll leave you with one last photo looking down the main succulent section, it is hard to believe this is the UK.

British Cactus and Succulent Society national show

The good thing about having been busy over the summer is having a backlog of trips and other posts.  First up the BCSS national show, which  sadly is only once every four years.  Apart from a good plant buying opportunity it's a chance to meet up with like minded friends and to drool over some show plants.

I didn't take too many photos, but did manage to take some of my favourites.

This pachypodium densiflorum var brevicalyx is a good place to start, there is always one of the densiflorums at the showt.

What's not to like about these strange bulbous plants.  These and the euphorbias were probably the biggest groups in the show.

Euphorbia horrida

One of the stand out pots for me was an aloe I have been trying to grow, Aloe haworthioides x descoingsii.

There are always a few aloe erinaceas, usually single plants given how slow they are, so it was good to see this clump

Not a great photo but this haworthia nigra var diversifolia 'nana' was too good not to include.

I'm not sure about the "nana" aspect tot he name, I always associate that with a paler or yellow form. The plant above was the darkest colour I have seen in a succulent.

Then onto the echeverias. The plant that seemed popular this year was echeveria agavoides ebony.

It was good to see more echeverias this year, there were some nice plants. You can often see the progress of plants that were shown at the previous shows, the ebonys for instance were all much more established this time, although I think my main plant is still bigger than those at the show. One year I will have to actually put one of mine in.

Then the agaves.

This agave polianthiflora x victoriae-reginae hybrid was lovely; very neat and compact.

There were the usual suspects as well; agave utahensis var eborispina

My favourite agave this year was agave echinoides, rare to see them in shows and even more so at this size:

One thing that was noticeable was the amount of plants in nice pots. I have mentioned before that we seem to be behind the States in this respect, this year a lot of the plants were in nice pots. It transferred through to the staged pot section.  There seemed to be two thoughts, the fun side and the more sensible one:

Then to top it off a new UK potter was showing some of their pots. I first saw their plant and pot in the show, sadly I just couldn't get a good photo (a little ironic as I have since learnt that the potter is also a photographer). Anyway there were cards on another table with his website, so I was able to make contact.  His name is Mark Follon, you can see his website here.

By coincidence he posted a picture of this pot on facebook a few days later, so I was able to find out a bit more about his work. Needless to say having been through his site I have already selected a pot which he is kindly keeping for me while I decide if any others should end up with me as well.  Seeing the new pots he is putting out, I am guessing a few more will end up at mine in the future. Great to have someone else in the UK producing pots specifically for succulents.

After looking around the show tables, it was time to shop. I  was very restrained, but along with a few little things I did pick up this aloe polyphylla

It is already spiralling and I selected one that spirals in the other direction to my main plant.

I also picked up some aloe polyphylla seeds, there may be a major new project next year and I'm going to need a few of these.

As usual it was a great day, now just another 4 years until the next one.

A major case of plant and gaden envy

One of the main reasons for the weekend in Norwich was to visit Keith and Melissa's garden.  I have posted about it a few times before, mainly here and here. Melissa makes my obsession look like a passing interest, there are succulents EVERYWHERE. Mind you it helps when you have so much space to plant them out not to mention one or two greenhouses.

This is not exactly the best time to visit her garden, the covers have only just come off, and the jungle and fern areas have yet to fill out.  Given the mild winter and early spring it was however looking the best I have seen it on these early tips.

So starting in the cactus house. Lots of very happy plants in here.  It has filled out a bit since the last visit, but there is still space for a few more plants.

This aeonium looks really strange, it seems to be forming new heads, but the rosettes are not opening. I don't think it is a weird flower. 

I have a massive soft spot on this form of agave titonata.  It has a great colour and lots of good teeth and who wouldn't want one that size! Sadly they are not at all hardy and space limits what I can bring inside.

This variegated aloe arborescens is one of the plants that got me totally hooked.  Years ago now, she posted a picture of it and it was love at first sight.   It should have formed an amazing clump by the end of the summer. The cacti on the right  reminds me of "cousin it" from the adams family.

She has recently started planting up unusual pots to enter into her local cactus and succulent society meetings. Apparently no one else does, so she always wins.  This tea cup is one of her larger ones. Her latest was an tiny snail shell.

The cactus house is on the edge of sunken garden.  Both were finished last summer and the mild winter was a welcome break to allow the plants more chance to settle.

The dalmatian puppies are all grown up, but still have their puppy energy. Apparently they are not ones for sticking to the paths and have formed their own tracks through the undergrowth.  Thankfully the sunken garden is mainly dog proof. There are so many lovely plants there including this aloe polyphylla.  It is strange that some spiral young and others take a lot longer (mine seem to be taking their time as well).

The cycad corner still looks great. I can't wait to get my cycads in the ground like this, almost more than anything they add an exotic look.

One of her larger agave parrasana which is almost perfect. It is a good combination with the ice plant and looks really blue against the bright green.

Typically Melissa got there first on the pines, although we have spoken about them before, so maybe I can claim she stole my idea. This dwarf blue one looks great, there are a few around the garden, explaining why Urban Jungle didn't have any when I was looking for them.

The other greenhouses are still in winter mode, so it would be unfair to post any photos in there, instead moving onto the main succulent plantings. Melissa has been trying to convert me to having some cacti outside and this one shows why. It is amazing what you can grow with a simple rain cover for protection.

At this time of year there is a lot of colour, from the alpines.

I am so jealous of these mounds, there are a few scattered around which are all doing well. I keep killing mine, maybe they don't cope with my flood or drought type watering.

Onto the bank and some of the agaves are a really decent size now.  Last summer and the mild winter means there are all in good shape. I am certain it makes a massive difference to hardiness if plants have a good summer to put on some growth and then a gradual led into the cold giving them a chance to shut down.

One of her groups of agave montana, I thought mine looked good, these are even better. I am guessing they must be some of the biggest in the UK.

Back towards the sunken garden on the middle path and there are more pines.  Are you seeing how well they work yet?

If you don't like the blue creeping forms, you can go for one of the cone or bush shapes.

Finally my favourite yucca this year. It is strange I usually just walk past this one, but this year have added it to my list of plants to find.

The middle path takes you via the green roof which was already looking good.  The alpines are just getting going here.

It is always worth the drive to visit the garden and Melissa and Keith are great hosts.  My only complaint is the plant and general garden envy I always leave with.

To finish a couple more pictures of the dogs, I know there are a few dog lovers who look in.