Cool start for May….
Posted on | May 3, 2010 | 6 Comments
I hope you have enjoyed my foray into the wonderful world of video. As the season goes on more videos will appear and if there is anything that you would especially like me to talk about, please do let me know – as long as it is legal!
Now it’s time to go back to traditional blogging with words and pictures. It’s rather chilly today as we have turned back to a northerly wind flow for the next few days or more – the joys of living in temperate Britain! As promised, I have attached a few pictures of my now deceased Agaves for your delectation, though I don’t wish to dwell on last winter’s losses. I should be out in the garden at the moment; but today’s temperatures feel as though winter is back again and I seem to have become a wimp when it comes to cold weather and unsurprisingly my cats feel the same!
My only heated Polly tunnel is now at bursting point with tender perennials and annuals ready to go out into the garden, in fact it is now difficult to walk through without tendrils rapping around my legs! I will have to use a machete to get through if it doesn’t warm up soon. At lunchtime the outside temperature was a rather frigid 8C (48F) though without heat it is it is a cosy 20C (68F) in the tunnel under cloudy conditions. Last week I pulled some 50% shade netting over the roof as despite the cool outside temperatures the sun is fierce when shining, easily raising the inside temperature beyond the comfort level for most of the plants I grow. One day last week I wasn’t able to open the doors until midday, only to find many plants wilting at an oven-like 41C (105F)
Most of the garden has been cleared ready for the big plant up in a few weeks time, so meanwhile I have been concentrating on the bamboo garden which was planted ten years ago and has grown way beyond my expectations. My idea was to have a bamboo forest – I just didn’t realize how quickly some of them would grow, hence a campaign of removal has been taking place in recent weeks, digging up and reducing some of the more invasive species to a more manageable size. Where they have taken over grass paths and due to drought and shade, there is now only bare soil, hence I spent yesterday re-sowing the paths with fresh seed which should hopefully produce lush green paths by the first garden open day of the season in mid June. Gardening is certainly a labour of love!
Part of the xerophytic garden before the plastic cover was removed...
Liam and Jamey peeling back the polythene covering on a warm sunny day last week...
Jamey removing the last of the polythene without falling off a five foot high wall!
In March all the Agaves that follow looked fine, probably because they were still thawing out and looked good just like freshly thawed frozen vegetables! Now with warmer weather they have totally collapsed and turning to mush...
Jamey pulling one of the leaves off my largest Agave - now diseased...
The remnants of a large Agave Americana ready for removal...
Amazingly some Agave's like this group have survived without a mark!
Enough of death! Here is a plant that is beautiful and alive, one of my tree ferns - Dicksonia Antarctica coming into new seasons growth...
Pieris forrestii 'Forest Flame' in all it's spring glory...
Fresh new growth on a Kiwi vine Actinidia deliciosa Growing over an old Victorian Pergola...
At the other end of my 60ft long pergola is a large clematis armandii covered in thousands of flowers with a divine scent, looking absolutely gorgeous in late evening light...
And finally – a small gargoyle who lives in a knish by one of the entrances to the garden...
Have a great week in the garden - whatever the weather decides to throw at us…
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6 Responses to “Cool start for May….”
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May 4th, 2010 @ 7:19 am
Hi Will, What a shame with the Agaves, I love watching your garden, can’t wait to visit. Would like to ask if you use Dahlias in your garden? I have seen some quite exotic looking varieties, just don’t know if they would look right. Fingers crossed for warmer weather.
May 4th, 2010 @ 11:27 am
Hi Anita – It was a big learning curve with the Agaves this winter as to those that will survive a long protracted winter and those that won’t.
I do use Dahlias in the garden, especially the dark leaved forms like ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ and Roxy…
May 4th, 2010 @ 6:25 pm
My, Will this is absolutely beautiful to see your garden unfolding for spring.Wish I was there.Love your sister Coreen.
May 6th, 2010 @ 12:43 am
So THIS is what those plastic juggling balls were all about… and HERE is where I can see it
Very simple. Overall effective?
May 11th, 2010 @ 8:23 pm
Hi Will,
Could you tell me if you know of anywhere locally that sells Podophyllium Versipelle, (’Spotty Dotty’), please?
Thanks vey much.
Best wishes, Maddy
May 11th, 2010 @ 9:25 pm
Maddy,
Yes – you can purchase one from me for £12.50. I have just got in some new stock for the summer.