With strong winds and lots of rain, it feels as it Summer is drawing to a close. Non the less, I am still hoping this is just a blip, and that there will be more sunny and balmy days ahead. One thing that won't change is the shortening of the days. I am an early riser, often before six, and enjoy my little trip around the garden, which inevitably leads to changing the water in the bird bath, and slaying a few slugs on their way home from a hard night of nibbling. Soon there will be no time for this without delaying breakfast. My dearly beloved is usually still in bed until he hears the kettle being turned on!
This week the succulents, which have been spending the Summer in the garden, have been the focus of my attention. On sunny days, it is still too hot to have them in the conservatory, but it is also too wet for them outside. Earlier this year I passed on duplicates, or triplicated, and ditched all my larger specimens, whittling down the numbers so that I can handle them safely, making moving them around so much easier.
(1) The 'Crown' of the last year's large Aeonium Velour , is already growing well, and is just about the right size for me to carry comfortably in and out of the Conservatory. It has a special table!
A couple of neighbours had kept their Aeonium Schwarzkopfs in their open porches quite successfully , so I am going to risk those and some of the other succulents, and only bring them indoors, if temps are forecast to drop too low.
(2) A new small allium is flowering in the gravel garden: Allium senescens montanum var glaucum. When I saw the plants earlier this year, I just had to buy the pot of 'curly whirly spirally blue green leaves'..now the flowers have arrived, I am really pleased I did get it.
The rains have brought on the cyclamen hederifolium in the garden, and also my specials in pots, into flower, and strangely several of the coum are in leaf too.
(3) I decided to plant the pot grown Cyclamen cilicium album, straight into the gravel garden, with two small corms that I had grown from its seed. At the base of a rock for shelter and warmth they are flowering for the first time. The mother plant seem to have 'melted away'.
(4) Last year Cyclamen hederifolium Lysander mainly gave leaves, but this year it is flowering very well. At first the flowers were growing from a central point straight up, unlike the others, but in the last few days, more flowers have been coming from deeper down or along the edge of the pot.
(5) Polypodium cambricum 'Richard Kayse: a week ago I cut back the old growth to better admire the newly emerging fronds.The bright fresh green is indeed a treat at this time of the year.
I note my wife is developing an increasing interest in succulents. There will be less space available to me in the glasshouse!
ReplyDeleteYou're right Noelle, your cyclamen are paler than mine and less colorful, but they're pretty too! My aeonium is still in the greenhouse and I will bring it home when we get close to 5 ° at night ... Yours is almost like mine, but mine is rather leggy. It must have looked for the sun last winter ...
ReplyDeleteI shall be on the lookout for darker flowered hardy ones. Do you know the variety? With my Aeoniums, when they get too tall, I start again! During the winter I like to keep them as cool and as dry as I dare to avoid drawn out growth. In the conservatory they have the maximum light I have, but keep overnight a froststat to stop any freezing.
DeleteLovely plants as always, but I must admit I am drawn to your labels, what pen/pencil do you use on the black labels and is it weather hardy?
ReplyDeleteI get both the labels and Pen-touch markers in Fine from The Essentials Company: https://www.theessentialscompany.co.uk/marker-pens/pentouch/
DeleteThey have lasted two and half years here in the sun, without fading. I use silver on black, as they don't stand out like white labels, but are still readable.
Thanks,that is brilliant x
DeleteI'd not heard of that allium before. Interesting. I'll be on the lookout for it.
ReplyDeleteI was very taken by the Aeonium velour. It seems to sit in its pot so happily - it's not an ungainly top heavy plant like many I've seen.
ReplyDeleteThe cyclamen look lovely. I've not had much luck growing them but will keep trying as your photos have inspired me.
I find the best way is to grow them from seed. If you contact me next Summer, I'll send you some. These are the autumn flowering ones, and then there are the coum which flower later or early spring. All of the seed pods seem to ripen at the same time. I sent Jim some fresh seed this year, it best to sow fresh seed.
DeleteThanks - that's very kind of you.
DeleteYou did indeed send me seed, it is sown and I check it regularly but nothing is up yet. I have a similar coloured plant to Fred's if you want me to tag it and try to save seed. It may be a named form, I didn't look. I had 'Richard Kayse' once but it appeared to have something badly wrong with it, virus or eelworm perhaps, so it grew very poorly and I dumped it. I should look out for another, a good one is a lovely thing.
ReplyDeleteI planted about the same amount of seed in two pans, so we can see how they do. I am going to a Rare Plants Fair in two weeks...hurrah! I may see some darker cyclamen there, otherwise, yes I would love some seed. Consider a section of the Richard Kayse rhizome yours, you will just have to advise me how best to cut it and when.
Delete