Friday 16 August 2013

Planting up the Exotic

Before

Thurs 13th June
Weather: It went up to about 16°C apparently, but felt colder.
Worked with gardener Graham to clear an area in the Exotic garden for planting, taking up old Hedychium plants and some very old roots of a Yucca, and potted on anything that looked like it still had life.

After
In that area we planted Colocasia esculenta & a banana Musa basjoo

Fri 14th June
Weather: Hot
I did more planting in the Exotic Garden, the Yucca elephantipes came out again, this time smack bang in the middle of a bed alluding to the feel of a desert island, Dahlia 'Twynings Number 8' with dark read leaves put in a bigger block and a more prominent position this year (they were a little overcrowded last year),  & an Arundo donax.

What the island looked like a few weeks after.


Sat 15th June
I gave a tour to some Finnish people who were interested in gardens.

Mon 17th June
Weather: Cloudy & a bit of rain at first, then hot sunshine. Went up to 18°C.

Taking out smaller plants of Musa basjoo.


Planting continued in the Exotic Garden - Senecio petasites, Arundo donax, and Impatiens sodonii (pink one). We took out some young banana shoots, which had to be dug as close to the main plant as much as possible so it would come away with enough roots for them to survive.

Hemerocallis trial & the start of the Exotic


Tues 11th June
Weather: Around 14°C. Grey but warm & hazy, with a very fine drizzle later in the day. Quite beautiful weather actually.

Last year in October, we prepared a bed in the High Garden to accommodate for a Hemerocallis trial. We planted in 96 cultivars & added another 8 AGM ones later (114 in total) and we put our own stock of 'Marion Vaughn' & 'Stafford' next to it. I gave the area a much needed weeding and started labelling them up properly. We never label our plants, except sometimes we have small ones for our own guidance, so it was quite a sight to line out 114 labels. They were like soldiers or a concrete poem. I will give some highlights of the trial soon.

Weds 12th June
Weather: Windy, 14/15°C
The wind can change everything in a days schedule. We had to go round quickly supporting lupins, Ferula glauca, Anthemis with hurdles, canes & peasticks.

Double tying the Ferula glauca, with a short stout can and tarred twine against the direction of the wind. 

Then we started moving some of the plants out of the cold greenhouse like Schleffera, Aralia & all sorts of a strange array of plants - we have started to plant up the Exotic Garden it is terribly exciting.

This photo weirdly reminds me of Vietnam. 

The beginning of the Exotic Garden:

To see a photo of its wintry state, click here

Some of the plants we have started to put in:

Left to right - at the front the brighter green leaved plant is a Tamarillo - the tree tomato (Solanum betacea), behind this to the background is Ailanthus altissima (Tree of Heaven), a young plant of Eucalyptus gunniiEnsete ventricosum 'Maureli' - the red banana plant that looks a little like a canna leaf/ The variegated grass is Miscanthus  sinensis var. condensatus 'Cosmopolitan'. The big plant next to the tamarillo, is a Japanese Kalopanax, which Fergus took out later. Then carrying on right at the bottom is Begonia luxurians that luxuriates in shade & a rather handsome Dryopteris wallichiana.

At the back on the left with interesting shaped leaves is Macleaya cordata. The three plants in the middle are Dahlia australis 

Ginkgo bilboa

A small Amicia zygomeris to start with. It is quite hardy & we have kept some out that have survived, overwintering others in glasshouses and then planting them out in July.