A hotch potch week

Tues 18th June
Weather: Muggy, cloudy hot & humid, strong sun in the afternoon. Up to 20°C!

A day of many things - we put some Cyperis papyrifer in some non-sterilised loam so that they were ready to be put in the Sunken Garden pond. We tidied up the cold greenhouse to make more room for plants to grow on a bit more. The cold greenhouse was not so suitable for storing succulents & Agave over winter because of the lack of sun (it is North facing) and is too humid, but it is working out as perfect once there are no more frost to grow on our staples of tender perennials like Salvia confertiflora, Senecio petasites and Tibouchina urvilleana, especially because it has good height. Then we dug out some dock (Rumex) all around the edges of the meadow down at the farm complex, broad leaved dock types - Rumex obtusifolius L. & Rumex crispus. The small leaved ones can be so beautiful, one of my favourite accidental combinations has been a type of maroon Rumex with some hogweed! - Heracleum sphondylium. Then we made sure the Exotic Garden was well watered because of lots of recent new plantings.

Accidental wild combinations. 

Rumex acetosa (common sorrel) is the nice reddy dock that we do keep in the meadow.

Weds 19th June
Weather: Similar to Tues. The sun was so hot in the afternoon that plants had started to wilt in the hot greenhouse & I had to do some rapid watering & extra damping down of the floor. Watering is now up to three even four times a day. I have to be careful that when its too hot that watering is done before lunchtime to lessen the risk of wilting.

We processed Tetrapanax papyrifer and Musa basjoo (that we had dug out and needed potting up). We potted a series of Salvias for the nursery - Salvia confertiflora, S. leucantha 'Purple Velvet', S. mexicana var. minor, S. microphylla 'Belize' (beautiful variegated white & dark red stem with bright red flowers), S. 'Blue Enigma'. Then for us in the garden S. microphylla 'Bellhaven' and S. 'Indigo Spires'.

Processing Tetrapanax by trimming the roots, dividing them up, then putting them in pots of
slightly bigger volume. 

Thurs 20th June
Weather: Warm humid days. Up to 19°C
More potting for the garden, this time we potted on some tender salvias for ourselves. Fergus was relieved to get them ready for growing on so that they would be in good form for planting out when the time is right. Any surplus stock we potted up for the nursery. More of the same as yesterday, but also Salvia vitifolia, Impatiens bicaudata & Impatiens tinctoria (these had red flecks on them because of restricted growth but with more room they should grow out of it).

Then I did a little planting in the Exotic Garden - Dahlia australis two between two Rosa 'Madge' (I think it was the same as last year that section). We lined out plants in the sun just outside of Exotic Garden, that had been under the adjacent dark hovel for possible planting. Then I repotted some Canna 'General Eisenhower' and made more room in the hot greenhouse for them.

Moment of the roses in the Exotic Garden, the one on the first left is Rosa Chanelle, which
flowers May - June, then repeats late summer - September/ October. The light pink one closest
to the front is Rosa Madge. 

Fri 21st June
Weather: Hot & sunny most of the day.
Carried on potting - Petunia Old Fashioned Climbers, green & red striped Pennisetum and Scabious 'Ace of Spades'.