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What a week! Snow everyday, frost every night, country's running out of grit - and England is still populated with almost 70 million people! OK, this Winter has been pretty harsh and unusual compared to the slightly milder Winter's of the past decade or two that we've been getting used to, but I'm still determined to move away to somewhere warm later in life - and it's especially at this time of year that I crave those places most!!! While I must admit, waking up to have views like these just down the road, and getting two days off, is very nice, I'd much rather be sat by the poolside surrounded by my own piece of tropical paradise year round without having a glass roof over my head!
Although we did have a rather nice sunset last night - not a patch compared to those to be had in warmer places of course, but pretty good for this time of year;
Anyway, did I mention I loved warm places? Well I was watching an episode of 'Natural World' earlier that we recorded a month or two ago, and I was absolutely fascinated by the variety of life that occurs in the rainforest, both plant and animal. I mean, come on, where else would you find the worlds largest single flower, the Rafflesia, growing naturally [wish I'd have been there taking this photo!]? 
Amorphophallus Titanum - the worlds largest unbranched inflorescence. Although popular in many Botanical Gardens these days, it is still only indigenous to the tropical forests of Sumatra [this picture was taken at a Botanical Garden, once again not by me, but one day I will see one in the flesh!];
And these final three pictures, although all taken in the Eden Project, Cornwall [actually by me this time!], represent another couple of plants found in tropical rainforest - Etlingera and Heliconia - the latter of which I actually own one (Heliconia Schiediana), although it's in its second Winter in the frost free greenhouse and looking a little exhausted!
While many of the plants found growing indigenously in tropical rainforests cannot be growing here in England unless you have a year round warm greenhouse, similar plants can be used to similar effect in temperate climates, so the lush tropical effect can be acheived even in England! And while the Orangutans, Gorillas and Toucans may be substituted with Blackbirds, Pigeons and Crows, I'm still trying to acheive a similar atmosphere to the rainforest.
And one way in which I am aiming for this is through adding sounds that instantly evoke images of lush canopies and a huge array of brilliantly coloured birds hiding in amongst the foliage. One website I find very useful and helpful in this is Andrew and Sarah Skeoch's 'Listening Earth'. Through this website, they make available recording they have done in real rainforests, and many other exotic locations. I got a couple of their CDs for Christmas, and love listening to them when I'm thinking of creating ideas for the garden, or even just relaxing. I can't wait to get the garden speakers out and start blasting tropical birdsong out this Summer, to add to the rainforest atmosphere I'm trying to recreate! I would highly reccomend their recordings - whether they're for playing in your garden or just listening to while relaxing, they're very good quality and not overly expensive either.
Anyway, back down to Earth now!!! Still not much to report on the seed germinating front - 3 Canna 'Crozy's Hybrids' are now up, 1 Karchesky Canna Hybrid is up, 2 Brugmansia Sanguinea are up and 1 B. Arborea seedling is adventurously peeping its head out of the compost! Hopefully the weather will improve over the week so that I can get out in the garden and continue the seed sowing and start moving plants around - the garden plant for this season is almost complete, although whether I'll stick to it or not is another matter!!!
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!
Well, as it says in the title, the weather outside is still frightful and Christmas is well over and done with! It's presently 1C outside, with a windchill of -5C, and I think I've just seen the greenhouse take off! We had winds like this during the Summer and it wan't very nice at all - expecially as quite a lot of exotic plants are leafy, so they just shred when it gets too much. I hate having to go around after a windy night and stand every single pot up - this year I'm hoping to try and use more bigger pots for Brugmansia seedlings and the like, and cut down on the smaller pots, as not only will this stop them blowing around but they shouldn't dry out as fast (even though it's not like we're ever going to suffer a drought in England! Or will I need a slice of humble pie after this Summer?).Anywho, as there's not really much to talk about outside at present, I thought I'd just show you a couple of photos of houseplants in bloom at the moment. Here we have a Clivia, started blooming a couple of weeks ago;
I bought this about 18 months ago at half price, from the bargain section of a local Garden Centre. It sent up a flowering stem about 6 months after buying it, and since then, it hasn't exactly been given royal treatment - watered as and when I think about it, and the leaves were dusted once a couple of months ago, so I'm very pleased it's decided to flower again for me! If only all plants were that easy! The other plant that has just opened today is an Amaryllis, I'll try and find the name tommorow as the label's in the greenhouse;
We bought this as a bulb a couple of months ago, and it was potted just before Christmas. It currently has two flowering stems which are fighting in the race to flower, but I absolutely love this flower - beautiful colours and so bright for this time of year, an excellent counterdose to the weather outside! I'm hoping to pot up the other three bulbs I mentioned in a previous post that I've saved from last year, and I'm looking forward to seeing if I've been successful in getting them to flower again. In previous years/months, I've also tried orchids (never at full price, mind!) but once the initial flower has gone over, they just seem to die a slow and ungraceful death. I keep meaning to look into the perfect conditions and what I may be doing wrong, and I'm sure I'll get round to it one day!Still not much to report on the seeds I planted a fortnight ago - 3 Canna 'Crozy's Hybrids' are now up, and 1 of the Karchesky Canna Hybrids emerged today, but I'm hoping for some of the Brugmansias to begin emerging at the beginning of next week. Fingers crossed!
Although we did have a rather nice sunset last night - not a patch compared to those to be had in warmer places of course, but pretty good for this time of year;
Anyway, did I mention I loved warm places? Well I was watching an episode of 'Natural World' earlier that we recorded a month or two ago, and I was absolutely fascinated by the variety of life that occurs in the rainforest, both plant and animal. I mean, come on, where else would you find the worlds largest single flower, the Rafflesia, growing naturally [wish I'd have been there taking this photo!]? 
Amorphophallus Titanum - the worlds largest unbranched inflorescence. Although popular in many Botanical Gardens these days, it is still only indigenous to the tropical forests of Sumatra [this picture was taken at a Botanical Garden, once again not by me, but one day I will see one in the flesh!];
And these final three pictures, although all taken in the Eden Project, Cornwall [actually by me this time!], represent another couple of plants found in tropical rainforest - Etlingera and Heliconia - the latter of which I actually own one (Heliconia Schiediana), although it's in its second Winter in the frost free greenhouse and looking a little exhausted!
While many of the plants found growing indigenously in tropical rainforests cannot be growing here in England unless you have a year round warm greenhouse, similar plants can be used to similar effect in temperate climates, so the lush tropical effect can be acheived even in England! And while the Orangutans, Gorillas and Toucans may be substituted with Blackbirds, Pigeons and Crows, I'm still trying to acheive a similar atmosphere to the rainforest.
