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!
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3 Responses to “Better late than never…”
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October 4th, 2009 @ 12:41 pm
Hey Will, great to see you blogging again, it’s good to know it even happens to the best of us
I must get going again myself, it’s been quite a hectic Summer, although sadly not on the garden front!
Garden is looking STUNNING, as always! I sometimes lose enthusiasm a bit when I look out the window at our garden and just see a mass of green and sometimes brown that looks like a slightly abandoned jungle, but seeing other peoples gardens like yours always inspires and enthuses me to keep going
Loving the photo of ‘Sorung’, too – looks like a lovely flower, captured beautifully. Thanks for blogging, speak to you soon!
October 4th, 2009 @ 9:49 pm
I love Gingers too. This year I have added Densiflorum Assam Orange, Stephen and Sorung to my existing collection of Gardnerianum, Forrestii and Coccineum Tata. I love the flowers. Such a pity they only last a couple of weeks.
Cannas are another favourite. I have 3 Indica’s which have been flowering constantly for the past 3 months are they are still getting new flowers even in October. Pretoria and Burgandy have just started flowering – lovely orange flowers. Canna Musifolia Grande is still producing leaves. I assume he will need to be over wintered indoors? Not sure how hardy Musifolia Grande is in Southampton!!
October 5th, 2009 @ 5:49 pm
great blog will – good to keep in touch with all the wonderful things that you get up to in the Exotic Garden – keep them coming!
Hope you got some welcome rain today?