The Prop this week is hunting for spaces for places, I 'commiserate', it is his own fault but with all those plug plants he will have the most amazingly colourful garden come the summer.
Its too hot, the sun is too bright, the change too sudden, plants are running amok or else popping their clogs. I'll focus at the end on a few beauties just to calm me down.
1. Popping their clogs.
Under the shelter of a narrow overhang by the front door, I like to place plants in pots. Sometimes it is to have some shelter from the rain and gain a little protection from the walls behind, but in the hotter weather only succulents or geraniums can put up with the temps. Maybe a very large pot would heat up and cool down more slowly, but I am past the stage of heaving large pots around.
One of the 'collections' in the garden is of sedums: above is a picture of some of them before their demise. Once I grew them in pans all separate and named, and then they got mixed up and were assembled when it was time to replant in a selection of little second hand bonsai trays which I picked up along the way from here and there in different second hand shops.
It may be that I tried to compensate for the high temps by overwatering, but long and the short of it is that I have lost about half of them. They were probably 'boiled' then quickly given the coup de grace by a fungus in less than a few days. It was the ones with 'hairy' leaves that succumbed. No dreaded grubs of the Vine Weevil to be found thankfully.
I shall be on the hunt for a few new sempervivums; it is time to get some new interesting varieties. I have had most of these for nearly twenty years! Not the same ones or course, the trays are replanted around every two years with the offsets.
The lesson to be is not to have anything there when it threatens to get that hot! Or at least find a piece of shading to cover them with.
2. Plants running amok. Something that most gardeners have to contend with at this time of the year!
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| View of the gravel area with dominant Echiums |
It could have been right plant right place, if there was room, or if the soil was so poor that they had not grown so large, much larger that where they were growing in a gravel drive at Mendip Hospital Cemetery, where my friend Jean is the Head Volunteer gardener. The rosettes last year gave an interesting architectural note, but oh dear it was taking over some choice miniature 'alpines', and was fast becoming out of scale.
I gritted my teeth, and removed them this week. I feared for the damage they may have done, but I think I cleared it just time. I ought not to have sown them there or ought to have removed them far earlier. The 'arrogant' me really felt they would have made quite a statement this summer.
3. Another plant running amok has been the chives. I cannot believe there is now such a thick edging growing so tall, all from a couple of little tubs of chives from the supermarket. When they have finished flowering and all the bees have had their fill, they will be removed! Maybe a few small clumps will replace them, but I shall be sure to keep them on the small side in coming years.
4. Salvia Leucantha is putting down its roots nicely and the little flowers are starting to emerge. On bigger stems I think the flowers will be larger. From from Gill at Off the Edge Gardening, it arrived autumn last year as a very small rotted cutting in an envelope. Now it is flourishing. If it turns out all purple it is probably 'Purple Velvet' and I am sure if Gill sees this she will know.
5. Mr S played the game of spot the violet, it kept him occupied as they are spread around the garden. Thanks Jim for Viola Tricolor seed. It was a question of 'sow your own plug plants' rather than buy trays at a discount like Jon.
6. I added an extra bag of bulbs to my order of species tulips last year. These are Scilla Litardierei and a nice effect at this time of the year when the main spring bulbs are over. At present they are in pots, but may well be released into the garden.
This morning I shall construct a diy trellis with a couple of bamboo sticks and lengths of twirling stems of my 'defunct' Solanum laxum 'Album'. The Solanum died because I gave it too hard a prune at the wrong time. Do I regret that? The rose doesn't, and really neither do I, however, it was interesting to grow for two or three years. A choice small and dainty clematis may be much better.
I'm linking in with Jon now and going off to see what other fun other gardeners are up to.
