Better late than never…
Posted on | October 3, 2009 | 3 Comments
Many apologies to all my readers for not blogging in such a horrendously long time – slap wrists. As you all know, if you miss a week, it soon becomes three and so on. I have been getting lots of pokes to get on with it – thank you all for being so interested. I see my last blog was on August 21st, missing out the whole of September – hmmm…
OK – now it is time to rectify the situation. The last six weeks or so have been hectic to say the least here at the Exotic Garden, as it is is open every Sunday, with several coach parties every week – busy – busy. I also write a thousand word article for my local newspaper ‘The Eastern Daily Press’ which I will hopefully have uploaded soon, in fact I think I will just add my most recent article to the end of this blog – hope you don’t mind.
Norwich Green part y held their annual fund raising bash in the garden this summer raising them just short of £1,000 and one wasp sting! The garden also held a wonderful wedding reception on a beautiful afternoon in August with lots of guests, a barbeque overflowing with goodies (including Ostrich and Springbok burgers) and of course cakes and bubbly – there were also hundreds of uninvited wasps which stung four gests.
As the President of the Norfolk and Norwich Horticultural society I had the privilege of its members spending a balmy afternoon in the garden with tea and cakes – very British indeed and most enjoyable by one and all.
This week the garden entertained 90 children from Thorpe Avenue Junior School here in Norwich, who are doing a project this term on tropical jungles, and of course this is the place to bring them. The hit of their visit had to be my new Devon Rex kitten – Dweasel – who is absolutely gorgeous. Being a ‘Rex’ he has short curly fur and a bare tummy which is great for blowing raspberries on!
It has hardly rained a drop since the end of July causing severe drought conditions but with careful watering I have managed to keep the tropical part of the garden in good fettle, in fact everything has grown to enormous proportions this summer – a big contrast to last year! The xerophytic (desert) garden has performed superbly this summer, soaking up the sun without a hint of water and has looked marvellous through the hottest of days – a delightful place to sit in the long warm evenings.
The bamboo and eucalyptus garden have performed superbly without a hint of water, though many of the bamboos leaves have curled into tubes with the drought. The grass paths between them are now all but nonexistent, in fact, the last time I mowed in there was the end of July. The drought still goes on and there is still no rain in sight!! Luckily grass is very resilient and with a few weeks of rain will miraculously reappear – I hope!
Last week a good friend of mine Paul Spracklin, who has a fabulous garden on the Essex Riviera came on his annual visit to the garden. He also brought Robert Stacewicz who I met for the first time through this blog. Of course we had a very plant orientated afternoon. Then, after lunch we visited Keith and Melissa who have a stunning garden of about two acres on the other side of Norwich in Ringland. I will blog about their garden soon as their garden deserves far wider recognition.
A few days ago I had the pleasure of having one of Irelands best known gardeners visit my garden for the afternoon. http://www.dillongarden.com She had flown over from Dublin to give a lecture for the Norfolk and Norwich Horticultural Society at the John Innes Institute here in Norwich and what a marvellous lecture it was.
Did I mention I have a new cat?
EDP article for Sunday 4th October
Warm sunny days and cool nights have been the theme for many weeks now, though, like me, I’m sure you’re wondering when the weather is going to break! Enjoy it while you can – our winters are long, but at least it gives us plenty of time for speculation on ideas of how to beatify our gardens in the seasons to come.
Every year I like to ring the changes in the garden, though many visitors to the garden love it the way it is. Change is inevitable though, and at this time of year I like to walk slowly around the garden, with cats by my side, noting what works and what doesn’t. You can either use a notebook, or my preferred method, take a photograph of each border and corner of the garden to remind me in the darkest days of winter how the garden looked in the summer and autumn. When most plants have died back and the months have passed into mid-winter, it is often difficult to remember the height and spread of many of the perennials let alone the trees and shrubs. In some cases, a favourite plant may have become far too big for its position, monopolising the border as it has grown so well that it has swamped other gems, which unless dealt with during the winter months, inevitably fade away.
My passion for gingers for instance and letting them basically – do their thing – has led to some borders being dominated and almost choked by these wonderful plants from the Himalayas. One ginger in particular bought on a trip to Cornwall some four years ago as a smallish plant in a 3 litre pot is Hedychium densiflorum ‘Sorung’, a beautiful ginger growing up to a stately 5ft by mid-August with typical mid-green strap-like leaves, topped with alluring spikes of salmon pink, fragrant flowers, much loved by hover-flies and bees.
When originally planted it only had two shoots, so took a position near the front of the border where it was surrounded with fiery orange day lilies and dark leaved Dahlias. The latter were soon swamped out with Sorungs’ rampant growth, the whole edifice now having 20 plus stems on a plant that must now be at least 6 feet wide with its’ lax habit! You only need a few vigorous plants in a border to realize that nature is doing a fine job of the fittest surviving and taking over. Although it gave a wonderful display this year with dozens of flower spikes, it is now time to think about digging it up and dividing such a substantial plant. This will be done when the foliage dies down after the first frosts which are usually around mid November here. I will then move it further back in the border or plant it in an entirely new position that suits its shape and form.
It is usually advisable to have the lowest growing plants towards the front of the border where they can easily be admired, gradually racking up towards the back of the border with the tallest plants towards the rear. I’m sure, like me, you have seen a plant soon vanish behind the more exuberant growth of a taller plant that grows to double the size it says on the label that came with it! Although reading plant labels and books regarding a plants’ height and spread, they invariably grow to different proportions in your garden and usually taller, so it can often takes a few years to get to know the best position for a plant and how much it spreads over time.
Don’t be afraid to scrap a plant completely if it becomes far too rampant, or does not fit in with a particular theme you might have for a border. Once they are big they are far more difficult to remove, especially when it comes to trees and shrubs. It may not be possible to move them in subsequent years due to their size, hence with these; it is advisable to get it right first time. For instance, a 3ft tall Eucalyptus sapling will gain gargantuan proportions in a few short years, often taking over the whole of your garden in the decades to come if ignored, and can subsequently be very expensive to remove. Luckily though, Eucalyptus is a tree that takes pollarding well (cutting to the ground each year in winter) giving the benefit of masses of bush growth from the base with an annual height of no more than 5-6ft.
Despite the long period without rain, the Exotic Garden is still looking fabulous and like many of the plants here, has obtained large proportions. With my style of gardening there are several roots that can be taken to achieve a desirable affect. I have a backbone of hardy trees, shrubs and perennials, interspersed with borderline or tender perennials during the summer months. Having a city microclimate, I am able to get away with plants that might be killed by frost in other gardens, such as the common house plant ‘Wandering Jew’ Tradescantia fluminensis, which has survived outside through seven winters here including the last one.
This way of gardening is admittedly a lot of hard work, though the rewards are a fabulous stage set during the summer months that really does make you feel as though you are living nearer the equator. Most gardeners though find this method is simply far too time consuming, hence try to obtain a similar effect with plants that are totally hardy, with maybe a few borderline plants thrown in for good measure. But, without the colour and spectacle of the more tender exotics, it doesn’t quite have the same impact. Though, with a little extra work and a few well placed containers, a splash of colour in the form of dynamic foliage can be added to brighten it up.
The Exotic Garden is open until the end of October and still looks absolutely fabulous – I’m afraid you won’t see roses or hollyhocks here, but you will see how growing the more exotic style plants really does extend the season right through the autumn, even on a dull day. You never know – may even see a few exotic cats lurking in the undergrowth!
Thunbergias grow on you…
Posted on | August 21, 2009 | 8 Comments
It’s already the third week of August and the evenings are drawing in fast, but thankfully many plants are only just coming to bloom or are now at their best. Before writing an article I like to have a slow meander around the garden to see what catches my eye. One such family of plants that are flowering to perfection at this time of year are the Thunbergias, plants I have adored since a boy. I remember buying some Thunbegia alata seeds, more commonly known as ‘Black eyed Susan’. I just adored its intense orange flowers with a deep, dark throat – so alluring. They were among the first seeds I bought from Thompson and Morgan when their catalogue had no pictures or descriptions with a yellow cover – anyone remember their 60s catalogue?
I still grow this easy annual to this day in two containers either side of the front door of my house in 12ins (30cm)terracotta pots with a wigwam of three canes about 5 feet (1.5m) tall with a scaffolding of string surrounding the canes for support. The seeds are planted in mid April when the days are longer and the sun is stronger after the dull days of winter – planting the seeds too early makes the young plants stretched and week (Etiolation). They are grown in plastic trays with individual cells so they have little root disturbance when planted out, usually about five plants per pot depending on size. They are rapid growers, reaching the top of the canes by July. The stems that stray are gently pushed back into the wigwam, where they soon twist around each other, forming a very attractive shape tightly packed with foliage. The flowers appear fairly early on in their growth but reach a crescendo at this time of year. If you want continuous flowers it is advisable to pinch out the dying flowers before they go to seed. In saying that though, they produce seed very easily, so let a few flowers go to seed so you have a supply for the following year.
Thunbergia is in a genus of about one hundred species of annuals, evergreen perennials, climbers and a few shrubs, found growing in woodlands or rocky areas, climbing through trees and shrubs in their native habitats of Tropical and Southern Africa, Madagascar and subtropical to tropical parts of Asia.
The most commonly available and most well known is Thunbergia alata which grows up to about 6ft (2m) in our climate with triangular, pointed, toothed, mid-green leaves. The whole plant is covered from summer to autumn with masses of solitary five petalled flowers which are normally bright orange, yellow or white, either with or without a dark blackish brown centre, up to 4cm across.
Thunbergia alata ‘Beauty Spot’ is a range by Thompson and Morgan with three of the most gorgeous and delectable Black-Eyed Susan’s; orange, vanilla and pure white, all with a dark beauty spot. ‘Salmon Shades’ are very attractive, in varying shades of soft salmon, each with a distinct central black eye. Thunbegia alata ‘Superstar Orange’ is a spectacular bright orange, almost day glow Black-Eyed Susan with the largest flowers in the range.
Another Thunbergia I like growing here at the Exotic Garden is Thunbergia battiscombei, more commonly known as ‘Blue Boy’ or ‘Clock Vine’. It is a stunning perennial that is always popular with visitors to the garden. It is a herbaceous plant, dying down in the autumn then returning again in mid spring, then rapidly growing to about three feet tall, forming a loosely symmetrical mound of foliage. The light green herbaceous stems hold large 5-7 in (12.7-17.8 cm) heart shaped leaves. These are bright green, smooth edged and arranged oppositely along the stems. From the axils (where the leaf attaches to the stem) arise racemes (clusters) of interesting 1in (2.5 cm) long hairy greenish-white flower buds. From these emerge the most intense blue-purple trumpet shaped flowers that create such a stunning sight against the handsome foliage that seem to glow in the evening light.
Thunbergia gregorii or ‘Orange Clock Vine’ is another perennial form and well worth growing, though it douse need to be protected from winter frost, so I grow this delightful evergreen Thunbegia in a container that can be overwintered frost free at around 41F (5C), though with a heavy mulch it might be worth trying in a sheltered well drained situation. It is an evergreen vine that grows to 8-10 ft (2.5 -3.5m) tall or if left without support can become an extensive groundcover in warmer countries, but here more like three feet. This delightful plant has bright, intense, almost day glow orange flowers. It blooms year-round in coastal California gardens and in Madeira, though it still performs well here for the summer months.
There are two species that I would dearly love to grow in the garden which can get absolutely enormous, but unfortunately they can only be grown in conservatories in this county – Thunbergia mysorensis and Thunbergia grandiflora. I am mentioning them here because I think they are absolutely astonishing plants that I always look out for when travelling in the tropics.
Thunbergia mysorensis or ‘Clock Vine’, is a woody-stemmed, evergreen climbing plant from India, in fact the name, mysorensis is derived from the city of Mysore in southern India. This spectacular vine often reaches 20 feet (6 metres) in warm countries and has narrow, glossy, dark leaves from 5-6ins (15–16cm) long. The flowers are formed on long pendant chains 3ft (1m) or more long. The individual flowers are brownish-red with a striking yellow centre, blooming from spring to autumn. I remember walking through a curtain of many racemes of this wonderful Thunbegia in a garden in southern India.
The last Thunbegia I am mentioning is Thunbergia grandiflora, a staggeringly beautiful plant that from a distance looks like a morning glory though on closer inspection is very different indeed. The tubular flowers of the ‘Sky Flower Vine’ are about 3 in (7.6 cm) long, and are borne in drooping clusters that can be 6ft (2m) or more long. The most commonly seen varieties are sky blue to light violet although there is a white flowered version as well. The leaves are quite leathery and have a distinctive elongated heart shape. The plant grows fast in warm climates; in fact I have seen this magnificent Thunbergia covering large trees in the Caribbean, looking absolutely fabulous against the tropical sky.
Planting spiky things…
Posted on | August 6, 2009 | 7 Comments
Hallo fellow gardeners. It is high season and very warm here at the Exotic Garden with everything going crazy, especially with all the rain of late. In the last few days the heat has turned up a few notches with very warm humid days and nights. Visitors to the garden have risen appreciably since Matt Biggs article on the Exotic Garden appeared in this month’s edition of the RHS garden magazine.
Out of my studio window a friend of mine (Jamie Spooner) who has just come back from 20 months in New Zealand, is planting a very large Puya chilensis. This is a vicious plant with sharp spikes along the leaf edges that point inwards – ouch! He is now sporting many fine wounds…
Many of the gingers in the garden have started to bloom with Hedychium wardii being the first with intense lemon flowers, while a large clump of Hedychium densiflorum ‘Sorung’ is starting to put on a show of sensuous salmon pink flowers.
At this time of year the Ricinus communis sown in April are now beautiful large leaved plants, though I especially like the new growth and flowers.
This year has been the worst I have known for lily beetle, which have all but devastated some of the many lilies grown here. For your delectation though, I have only photographed one of the cleanest blooms I could find.
Finally – for those of you who like to see strange things in the garden, here is one of my baby doll head moulds sporting some cool shades…
On bended knee in the tree house…
Posted on | July 22, 2009 | 16 Comments
It’s been another windy week here, plants falling over left right and centre -oh well, this is a British summer after all. I’m still waiting for the full blown hot summer predicted by the Met office!
It is very busy here at this time of year with many coach parties visiting every week, though this was eclipsed by my friend Chris proposing to his gorgeous lady Siobhán on bended knee in the tree house here at the Exotic Garden on Tuesday evening. Oh joy!
In a couple of week’s time the garden is going to host a wedding reception for two wonderful people who fell in love with the garden. They would like to have been married here, but unfortunately obtaining a licence for such a wonderful event is prohibitively expensive.
Despite the vagaries of our British weather, the garden is never-the-less looking blooming wonderful! The gingers are all getting ridiculously tall and should start to flower next month. One in particular Hedychium wardii is only a week or so away from flowering – this one is an absolute smasher. I will post some pictures as soon as the cone-like buds burst.
Some plants in the garden just grow far too quickly for their own good, swamping neighbouring plants in an almost bullying fashion. One in particular – Persicaria ‘Red Dragon’, always grows like it is on steroids, growing from nothing in march to about 5ft tall by June and then it falls over on its face! I find the best thing to do with such a rampageous plant is to give it the ‘Chelsea chop,’ in other words, cut it to the ground. Before you have time to worry about about how it looks, it grows back again to about 2ft high in a couple of weeks. No wonder – it’s related to the well known scourge of the countryside Japanese Knotweed. Speaking of which, I have a very handsome clump of Giant Knotweed, Fallopia sachalinensis.
Before you scream with panic – my plant has 15ft stems with a spread of 20ft or more, and is contained behind a solid concrete block (flint faced) wall on all sides and cannot escape. In fact the growing area isn’t more than about 2ft x 2ft, and no, it doesn’t set seed and has been happily restrained for over a decade. The whole plant arches like cathedral vaulting over a large waterfall with a dark sultry pool at the base.
Enough of giant weeds – the rest of the plants in the garden are mostly well behaved and responding well to the massive overdose of blood fish and bone they were given in May.
For those of you who read the RHS’s ‘The Garden’, you will find an article in the August edition written by Matt Biggs (of Gardeners Question Time R4) on the Exotic Garden.
Finally – here are some random pictures taken in the garden over the last week presented here for your delectation…
Windy weather at The Exotic Garden…
Posted on | July 17, 2009 | 5 Comments
Hallo all – I hope you have had a joyous week in your gardens and that everything is blooming wonderful!
Hosta ‘Sum and substance’
I am writing this in my studio at the back of the house (on my laptop as my main computer is still being repaired) which overlooks the xerophytic (desert) garden, though it’s all but arid at the moment as it’s teaming with rain. The sky is leaden with rippling thunder rumbling like some invisible beast all around. I do love a good storm, there is nothing like it to clear the air and make you feel invigorated.
The garden has come along in leaps and bounds over the last week or so, especially with all the rain of late. So far it has been an excellent summer here with a good spread of sun and rain and warmth, just perfect for lush plant growth.
I may have mentioned in past blogs that I do a phone-in every Wednesday on BBC Radio Norfolk, and last Wednesday a three hour program was broadcast from the garden. If you would like to hear it, go to BBC Radio Norfolk and then to listen again – the Graham and Karen show 16/07/2009 it will be available until next Tuesday. There is a music festival this weekend on the borders between Norfolk and Suffolk called ‘Latitude’ so on the program we took a hippy-ish root to the show. I even managed to find one of my old psychedelic shirts!! After the show had finished, there was a quick tidy up before a coach part of avid gardeners came to the garden in the early afternoon, followed by another coach party in the evening.
It was such a busy day that I didn’t manage to finish watering all the container plants until the twilight time of 9.45pm, hence I felt totally pooped! Unfortunately it was such a windy day, many of the larger container plants kept blowing over, annoyingly breaking off many flower heads and snapping stems. I also find that windy weather dries out all the containers even more quickly than hot weather, hence a thorough soaking was essential!
On Thursday morning bright and early (all plants now propped up) a coach party from Cornwall arrived – another enjoyable though tiring day.
I have been going photographically crazy in the garden over the past weeks, recording as much as I can. It is so easy to miss plants coming into bloom as some flower for such a short period. Below you will find a few of photographs taken over the last few days. Enjoy…
Roscoea
Solanum quitoense
American Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana)
Hedychium ‘Dr. Moy
Tilandsia species with wireman on a rust chicken!
