At last – the weather has warmed up and the sap is rising!
Posted on | March 18, 2010 | 9 Comments
Of course I always have BBC Radio 4 on while working...
After such a miserably long and dull winter it is so wonderful to have the sun back – well at least for the last few days, with temperatures that are far more respectable than of late. I have been a busy bee in my Polly tunnels getting ready for the summer months to come, going through all the plants one by one, inspecting, tidying and sprinkling blood fish and bone around some and re-potting those that are pot bound. It’s amazing how some of the plants; especially the Cannas, have distorted their pots with fat tubers ready for action.
This is the first year I have been able to remove the pups (side growths) from some of my larger bromeliads – something I have been looking forward to since I started growing them a few years ago. Most books will tell you that a minimum temperature for their survival and well-being is a minimum of 15C. For the last few winters I have successfully kept them at a far chillier 5C, though on one night this winter while I was away, the temperature dropped to a frigid 2C! Touch wood, (my head that is) I have lost none this winter. The answer seems to be keeping them bone dry during the winter months; in fact I empty the water from their centres in early November when I bring them under cover. Now that the days are becoming warmer and of course the nights as well, I have re-filled them and re-moistened the otherwise dry potting mix. The pups are all happily potted up and living in a large propagator kept at a minimum of 20C on the coldest nights.
They have now been joined by four new Bromeliads – Alicantaria extensa, A. geniculata, A. glasoiuana and A. vinicolor, all grown by a friends of mine Rick Martin, an Englishman who has lived on the glorious island Madeira for the past forty years! He told me he would never come back because of the English winters. If you are interested in Bromeliads, he sells plants on eBay at: http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/Madeira-Exotics
As for the garden, well, it looks like any garden that has suffered the worst winter in decades. The coldest temperature recorded outside was -5C which is nothing like as cold as some of the bitterly cold temperatures other gardens have suffered this winter. My rather forlorn and bedraggled clumps of Musa basjoo have lost all their smaller shoots below 6cms in thickness but the larger ones are fine. I cut through a few at head height and found they were OK in the middle. A few days on and 3cm of growth has risen up from the centre, so the garden will still have descent sized plants in the summer, though they might be rather slow coming into growth until the weather really starts to warm up.
All my purple banana Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’ have been overwintered under glass and are fine – these will be replanted about half way through May.
Of course this is seed sowing time, and as usually I have sown far more than I need, with some like Amaranthus having germinated after only two days!
It’s only a matter of days now before the clocks change, and then the hard work really begins….
New Bromeliad pups from Madeira...
Germination is inevitable...
Half of the propagator – unfortunately it looks warped because of my wide-angle lens, not the weight of plants!
Bromeliads and Cannas...
New growth inside Musa basjoo trunk...
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9 Responses to “At last – the weather has warmed up and the sap is rising!”
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March 19th, 2010 @ 2:28 am
I think it was a very cold winter for all of us. I even had snow in Central Florida!! The cannas look a great. Isn’t nice how everything seems to perk up a bit(even your mood) in the middle of March?
March 19th, 2010 @ 2:32 am
Wilzers,
Your cannas are growing fast already, nice nice! I have my first seed sprouting today.. new grow light arrived too… it’s going to be a canna filled year methinks!
March 19th, 2010 @ 7:30 am
I found your book “the new exotic garden” in a small bookshop in Istanbul. It’s fantastic. I’ll put new brugmansias in my garden and a lot more of cannas.
March 22nd, 2010 @ 5:10 pm
Wicked Gardener – Yes, it’s been a hard winter both sides of the Atlantic, but of course that never stops us gardeners, as we know that our personal paradise will be even better this summer…
Christo the Canna Obsessive – Of course – this year is going to be blooming wonderful!
Oguz daver – Istanbul! Wow – that’s an interesting place for my book to turn up. Some years ago I found a copy in Ecuador! Thanks for the compliment – Cannas are delightfully over-the-top and as for Brugmansias, when in bloom they are sublime…
March 23rd, 2010 @ 8:04 am
Dear Will,
In my garden in Istanbul I never ever used any pesticide or insecticide. Are you using any chemical in your garden? Even for the snails, I try to collect them, or put biere in a jar(snails love the biere), I even caugth two hedgehogs for my garden, they love to eat snails. My plants? I let them by themselfs. If they are sick, I cut them (I’m very radical)and I never plant the same plant to the same location. And of course I do not plant the same plant in a large quantity. This year I’m puttig a lots of cannas, do you think that I have to use chemicals. What is your experiance?
March 23rd, 2010 @ 12:14 pm
Hi Oguz,
I have never gone out of my way in not using chemicals; I just seem to be fairly green by default. The plant foods I use are Blood fish and bone and pelted chicken manure. I also have a big compost heap, so have a large amount of organic material.
I have been picking off snails in my Polly tunnel like mad, they seem to be everywhere at the moment so I have to be very vigilant, especially with the small ones that get into my heated propagating frame, where the like to feast on my new Canna seedlings. Once seen, they are quickly dispatched to another dimension…
March 24th, 2010 @ 10:46 am
Hi Will
What a winter indeed Hey!
Here in Cornwall it has been freezing, snowy and wet.
Can’t believe how many casualties I have found in my garden!It’s very sad!
Great to see how your garden has been through the winter,(I’m sure it will look as beautiful as ever come the summer!!)and how your young plants are doing, they look very cosy in there! It’s the start of that exciting time of year now, I love it!
Very sorry to hear about your dad.
Best wishes
Tania
April 14th, 2010 @ 11:51 pm
Hi Will.
Being a canna newbie, I did not dig my canna up that was in a container last winter. I’m in the Pacific NW in the US and we had a relatively mild winter. Will my canna survive? I haven’t seen any signs of new growth yet?
Thanks,
jessica
April 19th, 2010 @ 7:39 pm
Tania – yes summer is coming, let’s hope it is a really good one. Are you going to visit Norfolk this summer?
Hi Jessica
I think you had a much milder winter in the Pacific Northwest than we have had here in England. A few of my cannas have survived in the ground – about 10%.
All my containerized cannas were brought into frost-free conditions so they are fine. I would tip yours out of its pot to see if any of the rhizomes are firm and alive – if so re-pot – if brown and withered I’m afraid you will have to start again…