The Exotic Garden

Day 2 - Today I have been given the responsibility of the Exotic Garden. It's my favourite part of the garden at the moment, where tall banana leaves overhang, lush tropical growth & vibrant Roses, Dahlias & Cannas encloses around you. The morning was cool, crisp and dewy, with a light that gave the place an otherworldly experience and made the plants glow almost translucently.

I have to keep it looking good, deadheading any Roses and Dahlias that have finished flowering, pulling out any dead leaves etc. and staking any grasses or other plants that had gone too enthusiastically into the path. But it has to be approached with a certain sensibility to retain the magical feeling of being surrounded by all this foliage and colour. Staking here becomes an art also, doing it in a way that you cannot see the sticks that help support the plants, so that it doesn't disrupt this illusion.

Here are some of the Dahlias you would encounter:

Dahlia coccinea Lady Mary Keen, single petal, most likely to need deadheading more often - 

Dahlia 'David Howard', a popular choice because it has good strong flowers and seldom needs deadheading -

Dahlia 'Dove Grove' - similar to Coccinea but a deeper magenta, darker leaves -

This is the motherboard of all Dahlia - 'Emory Paul'. Yes this Dahlia is as big as my head -

Dahlia 'Stevie D' -