Echeveria Elegans admired by visitors to the Garden

This is the first year we are 'opening' our gardens to fellow members of the gardening club.  Since this was my suggestion when we were looking for ways to raise funds for the club, and  also looking for ways of introducing a new element to our activities, I am the first to have visitors to my garden.  I explained that it was a very small garden, crammed with plants, and also pots.  Maybe the attraction for some would be homemade tea, scones and preserves, and a chance of chatting to fellow members of the club.  As there is limited seating on the Patio, I gave a choice of dates so that four members could come together.

Already Liz has visited, just one member this time, and we had a good look round the garden.  We agreed that it is really useful to see just how a plant performs in the local area.  I love to propagate and also sell a few plants to raise funds for the club.  On Saturday Fiona and Muff visited, and went away with some ideas for roses.

Fiona was taken with the rose Grace which happens to be the name of her grand daughter and Muff was thoroughly impressed by Princess Anne, which has just started in bloom and is growing very well with glossy healthy leaves.  I heard lovely stories about flowers and ferns, and how Fiona loves growing flowers on her allotment.

Fiona was particularly taken with the succulents, and I now have a home for the next lot of Echeveria Elegans which I shall be propagating again shortly.  From my original plant a few years ago, I grew three, which sit in a small oblong pot above the drain, against a brick wall, just outside the kitchen and which stood outside all winter.  They are now in flower and also sending out little ones again.

Last year when the three plants were doing this, I took the little offsets and just pushed them in a shallow pan with well draining compost, topped with some grit.  All of them took, and these spent the winter in the conservatory.  Their silver blue foliage contrasts very well with the other pots with sempervivums, of course these stay in the garden outside all the year round.

On the hot patio the succulents just look right.