Madeira!!!

Hey all,

Sorry for not blogging for an AGE, I can't use the fact that it's been a busy Summer as an excuse because I've had a couple of months of it off, but there's definitely been a lot of thinking and a lot of stuff on my mind! (Sadly not about the garden, mind!)

Anyway...just a quickie, I'll get around to doing a few update full length posts soon, but just thought I'd give you all a link to the youtube video I did with pictures of our holiday to Madeira this Summer. Hope you enjoy it, I did!!!

Madeira 2009

Will be back soon with more blogging ;)

'Grand Marnier' Progress Report :D

Hey all,

You may remember that back in late February I purchased a Brugmansia 'Grand Marnier' from Hill House Nurseries, along with a Begonia Luxurians;
Well, on June 12th, the first flower popped outta the bud after a good few months of agonisingly slow growth!!!
After another 4 days...*waves magic wand* the first had grown and was bursting to finally show it's beautiful self to me;
Well, after having grown to flowering stage after a few months, he deserved a reward, and was put in a larger, roomier and nicer pot for his debut flowering;
And...after another 6 weeks, of which not a single day has the plant been without a flower, he looks like this;
I'm very pleased with this buy!!! The order was primarily for the Begonia...but I think the Brugmansia turned out to be the best! The flowers are prolific, large, start out pale yellow and darken to orange (particularly during that hot spell we had a few weeks ago), and have the most gorgeous smell ever. During the mild weather we sat outside many evenings and the scent wafting over was wonderful. Am so happy to have my Bruggie flowers back :D

Am kinda dreading how he'll look when we come back...he's getting quite large for the pot again already, but I don't want to pot him on until next Spring at least, because they like to be kept a little pot bound. But this means that the water gets sapped out of the pot very quickly. We've got a watering system up and running on the Bruggie, plus a few other things, so fingers crossed that'll be enough to keep him going!!!

We're off to Madeira!!!

Hey all,

Hope you're well. Just to let you know that, by the time you're reading this, we'll either be on our way to, or in, Madeira for a two week holiday!!! This post has been scheduled to appear just as our flight leaves, so bon voyage!!!

At typing this at 8pm the night before and have yet to do any more scheduled posts [or packing for that matter!!!], but if I get some time I'll try and do one or two to come up while we're away.

I'll be taking plenty of pix so check back in a couple of weeks to see those!!!

I've been looking forward to this holiday loads, Madeira is well known for it's vast array of tropical flora and fauna so I'll have the camera in front of my face half the time! That said, it's also gonna be a major time out from the way I've been doing things for the past few months, and I'm not sure whether that's good or bad. But hey...I'll be coming back to it all in two weeks.

Right, am off for two weeks of sunshine and warmth!!! Have just checked the 15 day forecast and the highest temp forecast is 29C and lowest (including nights) is 19C, along with lots and lots and lots of that yellow disc in the sky, so it should be lovely, especially considering that, as I write this, we must be in our millionth hour of rain today, it just hasn't stopped.

Speak to y'all soon ;)

I'm Here!!! With Garden Update Pix!

Hey all,

First of all, sorry for not having blogged for so long!!! It's just been a mad few months. The computer decided to pack up on us and we feared that all 13000 photos from the hard drive were lost!!! However, HUGE thanks to a cousin who is very knowledgable in computers, we managed to get them all retrieved after a few weeks of anxious waiting. In the mean time, we finally got a laptop and wireless internet, half out of need and half as my birthday pressie!!! So during that hot weather we had for a couple of weeks it was lovely to sit outside with the laptop instead of having to sit in a tiny room all day long watching the clouds go by out the window...

Add to all that kafuffle a mountain of exams at school, as well as the intensive watering the plants needed until a couple of weeks when we finally got rain, and you've got an instant recipe for being over half way through the year without even knowing it's started!!! Because of having exams, I've had basically an extra 6 weeks of Summer holiday as well, which have already passed!!! I should've really got myself motivated to get posting with all that spare time, but they've just flown by, and now we're into the main Summer hols. I have no doubt the back to school madness will seem to commence within minutes of me typing this...

Anyway, with all that warm weather, tropical plants have been growing like mad (when given sufficient water!?!), so I've got a few pix to share with you of stuff that's been going on in the garden since my last blog...so here goes!!!

I'll start with the Dahlias, which I'm am, put simply, becoming addicted to. There are still loads to come out, but I'll probably have to wait a bit to see them because we're not going to be around for two weeks soon, and most of them look set to bloom while we're away. Typical! But hey...there's some grown from seed, some from new tubers this year, and some from last years tubers...

Here's some of the Dahlia's I've grown from seed this year, I think they were from a mix called 'Dandy';

A couple from tubers, one from last year, the other from this year...not sure of name though, sorry...if anyone really wants to know leave me a comment and I'll have a mooch around to see if I can find the packet;

Here's one we bought from a local GC the other week, same applies to the name as the last ^^^;

And finally, here's one we bought from a local nursery. There was no name in this one so I've no idea what it is, but it's a very 'photogenic' flower (if there's such a thing!), so I could only wittle it down to my favourite three (so far this year!);

Here's a picture of the Dicksonia Antarctica, bought last year, with it's fronds fully unfurled. I'm really pleased with this, it had 9 fronds in this Spring's flush, each at least 5ft long. Keeping it well watered with a mister this year (hence the hose thingy around the trunk) so hoping for even more next year. Have also noticed there's a few extra fronds being up thrown up in the last week, although they don't look as big or vigorous as the original ones...and there's also a pic of the Arisaema Consanguineum that has been in the ground for a year now. The leaf on it is pretty spectacular as well (well, was, they're so flimsy they get easily battered by wind and rain...);

We usually only bother getting some orange lilies to fill in gaps and to add some bright colour when there's not much going on;

But this year I bought a variety of bulbs from garden centres to try out...and I'm very pleased so far!!! Like the Dahlia, most look to flowe while we're away which I'm a bit dissapointed about because the two I've had so far have been lovely!!! Here's one of the asiatic ones;

And here's one called 'African Queen'...she's absolutely gorgeous, and has a scent to rival my Brugmansia (which, as many people will know, I can't stop talking about!)...so I had to cut one stem off and bring them inside!!! Hope they come back next year, and I'll deffo be getting more of this type as well for next Summer;

A quick snap of a couple of mystery snapdragon's that we've no idea where they came from;

A fern I bought....ummmm.....Dryopteris Erythrosora I think......it had loads of lovely pink new fronds when I bought it, and they've now gone a loevly lime green, but it's just sent out a few more fronds which are also starting off that lovely pink colour;

A purchase of which I am very proud, Cyperus Papyrus (more on that in a few weeks :D), along with some Crocosmia 'Lucifer';

Bee on a Buddleja that took my fancy;

An Aloe Aristata in flower, this has absolutely masses of offsets and is bursting out of it's pot. Deffo needs separating in a few weeks. Echeveria Glauca (I think) and Aeonium Decorum 'Variegatum' in the background;

And finally, a pic of my Brugmansia 'Grand Marnier' along with that giant Colocasia bulbs I bought a few months back (remember that?) which is doing REALLY well, I'll try and do some proper update pix on that shortly...and then a pic of the Bruggie on it's own, because she deserves it for her fabulous performance so far this year!!!

Hope you enjoyed!!! Check back in for more in the next few days!

Hill House Nursery Purchase Updates

You may remember some time ago I posted about some plants I'd purchased via mail order, from a company in Devon (Hill House Nurseries).Well these plants have been growing so well for me that I thought it was about time I did a quick update :D

The Begonia is really taking off now, especially now that we're getting some warmer, sunnier weather (which makes a change). Upon arrival it already had several nice leaves, which are now starting to die off, but the new ones are starting to be produced pretty fast to replace them! It also had a baby shoot at the base waiting to come up, which is now putting out a couple of leaves, AND I discovered another one emerging the other day, so am hoping for a nice lush plant this Summer. Here's a pic of the overall plant;
And the new leaf as well, can't wait for more of these to appear over Summer! Will looks so nice in amongst the other jungle plants.

That pic was taken a couple of weeks ago still, and it's been coming along nicely since then. Well worth the money paid for it!

The other plant I bought, a Brugmansia 'Grand Marnier' is coming along even better! The white/yellow leaves have almost all gone now and been replaced by healthy, bigger green ones. I think they might have just been down to getting kick started into growth, as all my other Brugmansias that are just starting into growth have also got white/slightly deformed leaves, but the subsequent leaves revert back to normal. BUT, most important of all, we have forking!!!
Before a Brugmansia starts to flower, it needs to have 'forked' naturally at some point, although a cutting taken above a 'fork' can flower without forking. Basically, any part of a plant taken from above a fork can flower. Anywho, I found a teensy fork on the 'Grand Marnier' the other week, which is when I took this picture - the two leaves at the same stage indicate that two shoots are forming, plus I could see a microscopic bud on the other side. It's been progressing agonisingly slowly, but hopefully in a few weeks time I'll have my first Bruggie flower of the season, and I can't wait for it! Here's a picture of the whole plant, taken a week or two ago (just as I'd watered it, hence why it's a little wilted), looking nice and healthy now that green leaves are regrowing :D Will keep you posted on these great plants!

Sowing & Potting Up

Just thought I'd let you know what I've managed to get done so far in the garden!

Have been busy potting up bulbs recently - I potted up the three Lily 'Marrakech', 8 Lilium Oriental Mixed Colour and 6 Nerine Bowdenii which are all now potted up in the greenhouse just to get them going. Hopefully once the garden gets organised I can then plant them out for flowering; I do the same thing every year but they never get planted as the garden never gets organised, but really hoping they make it into the ground this year! Also emptied out a couple of pots of Zantedeschia 'Elliotiana' that I bought last year and cleaned up and repotted the tubers in those. The Sprekelia Formosissima also got potted up; I'm not sure whether it'll flower this year or not as it's quite a small bulb, but hopefully with some TLC it'll oblige next year. That's all I can remember for now!

I also emptied out, cleaned up and repotted several of the Hedychium I bought last year that were simply bursting out of their pots! The only problem is, the rhizomes of these grow horizontally, with the growth point carrying on growing horizontally one end, so by the end of this season the ones that need over Wintering will have filled their pots once again. I guess I'll just have to find the will power to chop the end of the rhizome off that nothing's growing from, but they all seem healthy at the moment, even if nothing's growing from them. Anywho, my Hedychium Densiflorum is showing signs of growing already which I'm pleased about, and several others are still green in the greenhouse and are still growing, so I'll be interested to see if these stems continue to grow this year, and there's a good chance they'll flower quite early if they do, which should be quite exciting.

Also, with regard to the Brugmansia seeds and other bits and bobs I sowed the other week - quite a few of the Brugmansia have come up, and they've now been potted on and are coming on nicely in the greenhouse. The remaining seeds are still on the propagator, and hopefully they'll come up over the next few weeks. Also, I've had a seedling emerge in a bag of 5 Ensete 'Kluay Pa' seeds, which I'm quite excited about. These seeds are usually quite difficult to germinate, so getting one out of just five seeds would be quite an acheivement! However, as it's been emerging, it does look similar to a Canna seedling (which I guess one can expect, being related to them), but as it's now progressing I'm almost certain it's a Kluay Pa, so am looking forward to seeing this baby grow over the Summer, and she'll be getting lots of TLC!

Quite a lot of sowing and growing going on now, and more seeds to be sorted soon so will keep you all up to date!

Bulb Shopping Downtown!

The past few weekends have seen me once again visiting the local garden centre's, and while I've bought quite a few bulbs from there, there are also some good places to buy cheap bulbs in town! During the past couple of weeks, trips to town have seen me arriving home with bulbs from Wilkinsons and Poundland, all for great prices in my opinion. Last year I also bought some nice bulbs from Woolworths, but they are now no more. Bulbs I've bought from Wilkinsons include;

20 Dutch Iris - I grew these a couple of years ago. I planted them around this time of year, and then were all up and budding up just before we went on our 2 week holiday to Florida. Upon arriving home, there were 50+ gorgeous Dutch Iris in flower, and they were truly amazing!!! I think I bought them from poundland that year, and might buy some more from there this year as well, but here's a couple of pics of them from that year. Sorry they're not great, they were taken with the old camera;





I've also come home with 6 Lilium Oriental Mixed Colours (am on a lily addiction this year!), 10 Sparaxis Harlequin Flower Mixed (haven't tried these before, they look quite pretty), 10 Babiana Stricta Mixed Colours (again, haven't tried these before, but look pretty as well), 20 Tigridia Mixed (tried these last year without much success, but they were kept rolling around in pots all season so what should I expect!!!), 15 Anenome De Caen Mixed (have grow these before, they very pretty and easy to grow) and 30 Freesia Double Mixed, which I bought as they look quite pretty, plus they're supposed to be fragrant, so should provide some nice scent around the patio.

And there's more!!! Now we move onto the poundland buys - a 100 bulb collection, consisting of 25 Anenome De Caen, 50 Liatris Spicata and 25 Oxalis Iron Cross, which should all give some interesting plants, and should at least flower next, if not this year, 4 Incarvillea (Hardy Gloxinia), I grew these the year before last and they were absolutely gorgeous, but couldn't find bulbs anywhere last year and seed was expensive! Am glad they're back this year, hoping they'll grow as well again, 8 Scented Lilies Oriental Mixture, again bought for the colour, lily addiction and scent! And finally, a pack of 4 Lily 'Black Out' and 4 Commelina, both of which look pretty and make a nice combo.

Phew!!! So all in all that's around 231 bulbs for £16, not bad at all in my opinion! Will keep you all updated as to how they grow.

Here are some pics of Lilies I've grown in previous years. If anyone knows of any varieties similar to those in my last three picture, or where I can buy some, please let me know as they were gorgeous lilies with the markings, but despite there being a good range in GC's this year, I can't find any that look like those.








Enjoy!

Seed Sorting Once More

OK, this will probably be the last seed sorting post for a week or two, once all of these current seeds are well on their way to become beautiful plants!!!

• Begonia Boliviensis 'Bonfire' - the seeds of these are teeny, so they will be surface sown and then put somewhere humid to endure that the top of the compost doesn't dry out.
  
• Lobelia 'Sapphire' - pretty much routing sowing for these. I'll be sowing them in large cell trays, a pinch of seed to each cell so that nice bushy clumps are produced. They'll be left to germinate in the greenhouse as it's starting to get pretty warm in there now when a little sun hits it.
• Marigold 'Dwarf Double Mix' - like the Lobelia, not really exotic but some simple plants to grow that provide an easy splash of colour. These will also be left in the greenhouse to germinate.
• Tacca Nivea & Chantrieri - have had these seeds for a while so not sure how good germination rate will be, pretty much routine sowing although they will be kept on the heat mat as high temperatures are needed for germination.
• Dragon Fruit - not actually collected from an actual fruit, but sent to me by a friend, these will be sown in a gritty potting mix, and will be kept in a humid environment. Soaking can be beneficial, although I don't think I'll soak them as they're tiny!!!
• Iochroma 'Plum Beauty' - these seeds were also sent to me by a friend, and are related to the Brugmansia. They are absolutely tiny, but require no special treatment. It has however been suggested that starting them on moist paper towels would give better germination rate.
• Texas Start Hibiscus (Hibiscus Coccineus) - again received these seeds from a friend. They have beautiful big flowers, and are quite easy to grow in warmer climates apparently, so I might try some outside over Summer but I may keep one or two in the greenhouse as well. All they need is a bit of warmth to germinate, so that part shouldn't be oo difficult!!!
• Agapanthus - apparently these seeds don't store well, but I'll plant 'em anyway! Pretty routine sowing method for these again.
• Callistemon Rigidus - although taking a couple of years to get to flowering size from seed, it should be interesting to watch them grow. Routine seed sowing method for these also, although I might soak them a little first as they look very dry and in need of some water to break through the hard coat.
• And finally, I have a bunch of different Echinacea (Coneflower) seeds to be sowing.Some suggest that a cool period may aid germination, so I will sow these and leave them outside for a week or two, and then move them onto the heated propagator in the greenhouse.

As I said, that's it for the seed sorting posts for a week or two, I should have some more interesting stuff to post over the next couple of days, as everything's bursting into growth with this mild weather!

Seed Sorting Again

Been doing some more seed sorting this weekend, so thought I'd just update you with some more seed finds that I'll be sowing in the near future:

• Firstly, the Bambusa Arundinacae I mention in the previous post - having looked them up they'll require a little bit of TLC during germination - a 50:50 mix of perlite:peat/sphagnum moss is ideal, as is soaking for a short time prior to sowing. They'll then be placed somewhere warm, and probably in a freezer bag as they like to be kept humid.
• Also, the Datura Inoxia I mentioned in the previous post will be soaked overnight prior to sowing. Am hoping for some nice plants from these!
• Sonchus Fruticosus - this is basically a giant dandelion but looks very lush and jungly. Can't find any information regarding germination of these around on the net, although being related to the dandelion they can't be that hard? I'll just be giving them the routine seed sowing method, and we'll see what comes up.
• Aloe Thraski & Ferox - was given these kindly by a friend, and they look like they'll turn into nice plants eventually. Will be sowing in a mix of soil/sand/perlite, and placing on the heat mat in the house as they like to be as hot as possible!
• Several different varieties of Echium, which I acquired over the last year. These will be sown on the very surface of the compost as they apparently require light to germinate, although again they can't be that difficuly as they self seed all around Cornwall!!!
• Eucalyptus Globulus - I bought these seeds from Jungle Seeds last year, but I never got around to sowing them, so will get them sown and growing this Spring. Some suggest that a stratification period of three or so weeks would be beneficial for these seeds, although I won't be bothering with this I don't think. Routine seed sowing method for these really, although perhaps kept a little cooler than all my other seeds.
• Acacia Dealbata and Baileyana 'Purpurea' - I bought an A. Dealbata plant last Spring but I think it's been killed off by our -6C, so I'll be trying that one, plus another from seed this year, in an effort to see if growing them right from seed and planting them out at an early stage of development will make them tougher plants. Not much special treatment for these, except the seed will be scratched and then soaked for a day or two prior to sowing.
• Cyphomandra Betacea (Tree Tomato) - saw this in several gardes last year and loved the large furry leaves, and was kindly given some seed last year so hoping to get some nice plants going this season. Routine seed sowing method for these too.
• Cobaea Scandens - tried this last year but it didn't get past the seedlings stage thanks to my lack of care, but hopefully this year it will positively thrive!!! Am hoping to do a few pots with these in, and maybe set one climbing up the wall too.
  
• And finally (for today!!!), Canary Creeper, or Tropaeolum Peregrinum. It has lovely little yellow flowers which add to the interest of the unusual foliage shape. Again, I tried this one last year and it was so determined to grow that it even started flowering in the same pot I sowed them in!!! Hopefully will be able to get more outta these plants this year.

That's it for today, although I'm sure I've got plenty more seed sorting to do!!!!

Seed Sorting

Well, having just spent a little time pottering and tidying in the garden, I've decided to start having a sort through the seed box and actually get myself organized as far as seed sowing is concerned this year! I did sow a lot of seeds last year but I sowed them all in big 'batches' so there was a wave of seedlings, and then a wave of potting on etc. so this year I'm hoping to start a little earlier so as to spread the work out a little more evenly, and so that there are seedlings just emerging while others are being potted on etc. and they're not all in need of potting on at exactly the same time! Also, this year I'm going to sow less than I think I need, as I always sow way too many seeds of plants and then end up with a load of extra work which results in plants which are then not planted out/watered/fed so hoping to cut out that work too.

The following are just a small selection (EEK!!!) I'm hoping to definitely get sown over the next couple of weeks. They will all be brought into the house (with one exception) and either placed on a windowsill or on my heat mat set up, depending on the germination temperatures. The majority will then go into the greenhouse once pricked out and potted on, although there may be a couple of the more tender ones staying in the greenhouse for a couple more weeks:

• Nicotiana Sylvestris - I've tried these a couple of times in the past but I've never managed to get them past seedling stage, probably due to lack of motivation! There's an average of 2000 seeds in the packet and every other year for some mad reason I've sown the entire contents, so the fact that it looked like a mat of moss once germinated might have also put me off pricking them out! I'll be sowing an eighth of these at most, although the seeds are like dust so I'll get the magnifying glass out for those!!!
• Amaranthus 'Pony Tails' - I tried the tricoloured variety of Amaranthus last year but, like with the Nicotiana, with little success. Haven't tried this variety before, it's one of the more basic varieties but should look quite unusual and exotic if I can get them to grow into decent plants.
• Cosmos 'Sonata Mixed' and 'Seashells' - although they're not really tropical plants, you've got to love Cosmos for their abundance of flowers and ease of cultivation. Have grown 'Sensation Mixed' a couple of years in a row with huge success, although they did grow a bit TOO big for the border so am now trying the dwarf mix, 'Sonata Mixed' which we also tried last year and was just as floriferous but on smaller plants. I fancied trying the Seashells mix as the fluted petals look quite unusual, and should be something different to the normal Cosmos.
• Rhodochiton - haven't grown these before but they seem to be quite an unusual and exotic climber, and as I'm looking for a couple of different climbers to try against the house and up supports both in pots and in the ground, might as well add these to the mix.
• Something a little less unusual - Tomato 'Red Cherry' seeds will also be sown this week. We also grow a few tomato plants in the greenhouse, well worth it for the difference in flavour!
• Chilli 'Cayenne' - perhaps more exotic that the Tomato seeds, but I've not really tried chillis before with much effort, but am hoping to get some fruits off the resulting plants this year, which will be growing in pots in the greenhouse.
• Datura Inoxia - having heard varied reports on this plant being growing in the UK, I ordered some seeds from the US via E-bay last year but it was a bit late in the year to get anything decent out of them so I've saved them for this season. They'll be getting a lot of TLC as the flowers look similar to one of my favourite plants - Brugmansia - except they face upwards, and they're also slightly fragrant too, so might make a nice patio plant?
• Bambusa Arundinacae - more a novelty that a serious effort, but I bought these seeds last year so might as well have a go at germinating them. Apparently not at all hardy in the UK but if it ever gets so big that greenhouse over Wintering is not possible, then I'll be pretty proud!
• Sunflower 'Velvet Queen' - I'll be sowing these one seed to a cell and then keeping them in a coldframe outside. I'm always a bit too caring with Sunflowers and start them off in the house where they don't get a good start in life as they get leggy, so am hoping they'll be a little more toughened up if they're grown outside right from the beginning.
  

There are plenty more seeds still to be sorted so be prepared for many more of these posts, although hopefully the results this year will be worth the effort I'm going to put into growing them!

Plants From Hill House Nursery

About a month ago I was browsing the web site of Hill House Nursery, a nursery in Devon dabbling quite a bit in the more unusual types of plants. I was overjoyed to find that they had Begonia Luxurians available - a plant which is particularly difficult to find in England. There was one nursery that was selling it last year but I think they only had a limited amount and now they're all gone, so Hill House Nursery is the only place selling it at the moment in the UK as far as I know, although I'm sure they'll sell out pretty soon as this plant is quite popular. The reason the plant is much sought after is not to much for its flowers, which compared to the tuberous and bedding begonias are rather dull, just small white clusters, but for its foliage, which is palmate and very unusual. Here's a picture I took of one growing at Cotswold Wildlife Park (a kind of zoo set within gardens, which have a general tropical/exotic theme) last Summer, which was growing very well;Anyway, having decided to definitely order a Begonia Luxurians, as I absolutely love the foliage, I noticed the P & P increase for a second plant wasn't that great, and they had many other nice plants so of course it would've been rude not to buy another! In the end I chose Brugmansia 'Grand Marnier'. It is supposed to be quite an old variety, although there are loads of different 'variations' flying around, although the true one, which I'm hoping this is, is supposed to be very vigorous and free flowering once it gets going, with highly scented pale peach to yellow pendulous flowers. I haven't got a picture of this one but hopefully I will have latter in the Summer!!!!Having ordered my plants I completely forgot about them for a few weeks - the Brugmansia was available to deliver straight away but the Begonia would only be ready in late February so I decided to go for having them shipped together to save on the costs. And, right on time, they arrived on Wednesday, and they were duly unwrapped and tidied up! Am very pleased with the quality and size of the plants. The Begonia has three decent sized leaves with another just emergin, plus another shoot just starting to come from the base, and it has a few flowers on it at the moment, not that they're anything to shout about!!!I'm hoping the leaves will straighten up a little but I won't be too bothered if they don't as by the time it comes to either planting it out or potting it up for the patio (I'm not sure where it's going to go yet), it will probably have grown quite a bit more so should look a little more tidy. And the Brugmansia, although a little yellow, most likely from lack of light during shipping, is a good sized plant, with plenty of shoots coming on it. Can't wait to see this one bloom!!!Am very pleased with the quality of the plants, well worth the money and when I contacted them at Hill House to ask for some advice regarding shipping etc. they were very helpful and nothing was too much trouble. Would definitely reccomend them!

Local Garden Centre Tour

Well, as my week off draws to an end, I just thought I'd let you know where we've been off out to!!! I did manage to get some time in the garden, but I didn't manage to get as much done as I'd have liked. There's just so much tidying up that needs to be done out there at the moment, and all that has got to be done first really before anything else happens! Loads of leaves still hanging around from the Autumn, and we have hundreds of pots all over the garden. We usually bag up the leaves to make leaf mould and organise the pots into piles around the side of the house, but that's now become such a mess that that's got to be sorted out too!!!

Plus the shed is really on its way out now. It's had a leak in the roof for absolutely ages, and the panes of glass (it's actually a potting shed, with glass on one side) are beginning to slide out and are supported by pots, so that is in desparate need of replacement. But then this brings about another round of problems - where does the new shed go? Personally I think it should be moved further back around the side of the house, because at the moment you can actually see it when you're sat on the patio, and I'd rather the space be taken up by plants and the shed be hidden from view! However, as always the parents are disagreeing, saying they want it in the same place, so the debate continues! Also, if we're going to put it in the same place, that means taking everything out and finding somewhere dry for it while the old shed is taken (or perhaps it'll just collapse!?!) down, and the new one erected. Either way, a new shed is needed this season.

Anyways, aside from being out tidying in the garden, we've also been doing a round of the local Garden Centre's, and it's nice to see all these exciting brightly coloured Summer bulbs in stock! The bedding plugs are all starting to come in now as well, and the weather is beginning to warm up, so there are signs all around that the seed sowing and Spring mania can begin!!! As always, I couldn't resist making some purchases in the Summer bulbs section, so aside from the giant Aroid bulb I bought mentioned in the previous post, I also came away with (sorry the pics aren't brilliant, just took them and the light's not very good at the moment):

Sprekelia Formosissima - this looks to have a very exotic flower! It's related to the Amaryllis, and can be grown in a similar way, but I'll be potting mine up soon and then keeping it in the greenhouse. Not sure if it will flower this year as the bulb isn't exactly massive, but we'll have to wait and see;
A Dahlia 'Jescot Julia' - absolutely loving the colours on this one, and a lovely flower form too;A mixed bag of 8 bulbs of Oriental Lilies. I've always admired at the colours and patterns on these, and at 8 bulbs for 4 quid, I couldn't really resist!
And finally, without a picture, three bulbs of Lilium Asiaticum 'Marrakech', not only because the name itself is of an exotic origin, but it is a very beautiful deep red. Can't wait to get all of these growing! I'm hoping to plant these lily bulbs up soon, and then I'll buy a few more so I can stagger the planting to acheive flowers over a longer length of time. Summer colour, here I come!!!

Giant Colocasia!!!

Last year, a local shop, Wilkinsons (a sorta buy all sorts of things cheap store for all of my non-UK readers), stocked a very good range of tropical plants and bulbs in Spring, ranging from brugmansias and gingers to tree ferns and palms! Being a person always looking out for a bargain, I had to give some of these things a try!

I bought a couple of tree ferns (I'll save those for another post) plus many other things, but the items I bought that relate to this post are some Colocasia tubers. They were sold as Alocasia and were £2.99 I think, and I bought several as several people had had excellent results from similar tubers purchased from the same shop the previos year, with leaves nearing the 1m mark in length!!! Anyway, these tubers were probably at the most 2" in diameter, which is pretty big compared to normal bulbs! In high hopes for some 'mammoth' sized plants, I potted them up into large pots and set them going on the heat mat mid February;Over the coming weeks it grew at a fabulous rate, definitely living up to the fast growing and living plants that the tubers had produced in previous years. After just a few weeks of growth, the leaves were nearing the 1 foot mark already;
And around, I think, early May, they were transferred to the heated propagator in the greenhouse, where I was hoping they would toughen up a little and harden off;The growth slowed down over the new week or two, although I guess that is understandable as it is still cooler compared to the conditions in the house! In late May, it was planted into a half barrel outside (once again in high hopes for a large plant) and the root system was simply bulging out of the pot, yet another good sign. However, from there on it simply refused to grow, pushing out just another 2 or 3 measley leaves during the entire Summer. This probably had something to do with the weather as last Summer wasn't the best for tropical plants I guess, but the sucess people had the previous year was not to be found with many peoples plants, although many people produced decent plants given the weather!!! It has been 'rumoured' that the variety of these bulbs is Colocasia Esculenta 'Mammoth', which is supposed to be a very vigorous variety, with, as the name suggests, 'mammoth' sized leaves! However, as no proper tests have been done, I guess we'll never find out. If they stock them again I might give another one more a go but we'll have to see.

BUT there is hope on the horizon!!! Whilst doing out whirlwind tour of the local Garden Centres, imagine my shock when I saw some bulbs three times the size of any I'd ever seen before!!! Low and behold, they were of course Colocasias, although the variety/species name was not given. At £4.50 a piece I just had to give one of these ago, so I bought one of these giants home with me, and he has now been named Bobby. He weighs in at a hefty 2kg, and here are some pics;This is the top of the bulb, where I'm hoping it'll shoot from;
And you can see here at the base of the bulb where the offsets have been removed, which I'm guessing will be propagated to produce this years harvest!

It has been suggested that bulb size has in fact nothing to do with the size of the plant produced, and while there is no actual Scientific evidence that there is a link between the two things, one would assume that the larger the storage tuber, the more energy contained thus at least the more vigorous and fast growing the plant will be? Either way, I have a good feeling about Bobby! He'll be potted up ASAP, and I'm hoping to get a bell jar to put over him while he's on the heat mat, just to increase the humidity a little bit! I'll keep you updated!

Has anyone else had any experience with the Wilkinsons or similar Colocasias, or with some of these 'giant' bulbs? If so, please let me know and leave a comment below!