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!

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!!!

More Dahlias!

We decided to take a trip out to another local Garden Centre this afternoon (Notcutt's this time). Just as we were setting out it started to pelt it down with snow, but it only lasted for a few minutes so we continued. To be honest, it wasn't really worth going - I feel that Notcutt's has slowly been deteriorating, and the Cafe in our local branch is absolutely diabolical! Only came away with one thing - yep, you guessed it, another Dahlia tuber! The one I picked up today was called Firebird, a nice fat tuber and it looks similar to a flower I've taken a photo of elsewhere.

Upon arriving home it started snowing again but once again that didn't last long and it's now a tropical -2.9C outside, with a wind chill of -9C. I know I've already said it once, maybe twice, but I can't wait until Spring!!!

So to draw my mind from the weather outside I decided to look through some Dahlia pictures I took on a couple of visits to one of our local National Trust Properties - Baddesley Clinton. They have an absolutely massive collection of Dahlias, and we visited once in Autumn 2008, and then in Autumn 2009. Personally, I'm not very interested in History and the like so the house isn't much interest to me, but their Dahlia border is a sight to behold. They also had a plan of which Dahlias were where, which I did take a photo of, but it's kinda hard to decipher which is which! Anyway, here are some pics of just a small selection of the gorgeous blooms that they had!!!

And it's this final one which looks similar to the Dahlia 'Firebird' I bought today. I can't find a decent picture of 'Firebird' anywhere, but if mine looks anything like the bloom in this picture, I'll be pleased!

I'm hoping to start all my Dahlias off in late March/early April, so that way I can take some cuttings from the sprouting tubers and then let them make a second flush of growth, so I should have some back up plants as well by the end of the year. Hope the pictures have cheered you up on this bleak and cold night!

Garden Centre!!!

Well, I didn't get around to sowing my seeds today.

But we did get to go to the local Garden Centre! Haven't been for several weeks so it was nice to be back in plant land once again. Unbelievably, they still had some Christmas stuff in at 75% off! It felt weird seeing Christmas stuff again, as it seems like ages ago now, but we couldn't resist a few bargain buys, mainly tea light holders for dad!

Anywho, on the more interesting side - THE SUMMER BULBS HAVE ARRIVED!!!

I love seeing stand after stand of gorgeous Gladioli, delectable Dahlias and luxurious Lilys. So now, for me anyway, Spring has begun in earnest, even if the calenday says different. Seeds have been sown, and bulbs have been bought.

I got some gorgeous Dahlias (they're all on the National Dahlia Collection website if you'd like to see a pic, but the website's giving me some problems tonight so I can't get pics to show you what they look like);

• Marlene Joy
• Garden Festival
• Bodacious
• Kaleidoscope

I'm getting to be quite a fan of Dahlias now - I especially love the brightly coloured ones, and the bicolored ones, and the collarettes, and the giant waterlily types, and the ones with the curled up petals, and the...so anyway, I digress! I might buy a few more different types from the NDC as they have an even better selection and some excellent colour combinations. I only bought one variety of Gladioli ('Little Darling') but I'll probably wait until the GC get the rest of their Spring bulbs in and hopefully they'll have some of those big bags of 40 bulbs, and I'll pick up one of those too.

I also discovered another one of my Canna 'Crozy's Hybrids' has emerged today ;) Not sure what's going on next weekend yet, although I'm sure I'll find some more seeds to sow!

Greenhouse Tidying

I decided to go out in the greenhouse today and do some tidying - I simply couldn't stay inside with all the sun we've had today! We've only had a high temp of 6.5C (44F) but it was a little warmer in the greenhouse, plus I put the heater on full for a short while, as the floor was quite wet in the greenhouse for some reason, so it helped to dry that out pretty fast.

Most of the stuff is looking pretty good after a tidy up, except my 2 Alocasias - Alocasia Wentii 'Aline', and Alocasia Portadora. I'm quite dissapointed about the latter as it was doing extremely well and it's supposed to be one of the more hardier ones, but I'll be trying it again this year! The Wentii 'Aline' was a very jurassic plant, with speckled, red backed leaves. Not to everyones taste but I'm dissapointed to have lost that, although it is one of the more tender Alocasias. They were both bought from Akamba (see the 'links' section for their website), which is one of our localish nurseries, so hopefully they'll be stocking them again this coming season. Here's a pic of the Portadora in Summer;

And the Wentii 'Aline';


Still, Spring is drawing ever closer, and I'm looking forward to perusing the local Garden Centres for some lovely Dahlia tubers, as well as other exotic looking Summer bulbs. I saved quite a few Dahlia tubers of our own from last year, but it's always nice to add a couple more to the mix! Heres some pics of last years Dahlias (sorry if they haven't got a name, I lose track of all the labels!);

This one's called 'Pumpkin Pie'

And this one's called 'Fashion Monger'

Anywho, remember those seeds I planted last weekend? Well the first one came up yesterday, one of the Canna 'Crozy's Hybrids', so hopefully that will be followed by many more in the coming week. I'm also hoping to sow some Hedychium 'Carnival' seeds tommorow, and then that will probably be it until February. Hold on, what am I saying? Next weekend will be the start of February! Oh excellent, I can start sowing all the February seeds! I'll probably leave it a week or two actually as seeds I've started early in the last couple of years never seem to do well if I have too many on the go at the same time! It's supposed to be raining tommorow too, so we may visit the local Garden Centre in the afternoon. I must remember to restrict my spending this time!