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 gunnii, Ensete 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.