The heat is on…
Posted on | July 2, 2010 | 9 Comments
What a fabulous week of heat we have had here in Norfolk – from freezing cold a few weeks ago to boiling hot, in other words – typical British weather for the time of year! (The driest spring for 80 years!) My watering regimen has been stepped up to cope with the drying heat, especially those porous terracotta pots and containers that often need watering twice a day when the temperatures reach dizzying heights. Luckily for tropical’s this is ideal weather where most plants are putting on a massive growth spurt.
Last week’s open day at the Exotic Garden was rather interesting as several of the visitors requested to watch the England versus Germany match on my TV – no comment on the score! The height of my afternoon though was the arrival of Joe Seamone (aka Boca Joe) an exotic landscape designer from Washington, DC on the East coast of the United States, who arrived suitably attired in shorts and the obligatory Hawaiian shirt. We had a fascinating couple of hours slowly walking round the garden discussing the differences in growth rates of exotic plants on both sides of the Atlantic and as you would expect they are very different indeed! His garden is on a latitude more in line with Lisbon in Portugal, so as you would expect the summers are much hotter than ours at around 30-35C (85-95F) during the summer months and exceedingly humid, though their winters can get down to an arctic -18C (0F).
Joe Seamone outside his home in Washington DC with an exceedingly large Colocasia esculenta ‘Jacks Giant’...
What about the exceedingly cold winters though? Because gardeners there know it’s going to get really cold the more tender planting is overwintered frost free, often in a basement which most houses have in the US, or a thick layer of leaves or something similar is placed over the roots to a depth of 30cm (1ft), which allows them to bring tender plants like Colocasias and Cannas through the winter with little damage, or, like we do, bring them into frost free conditions. It is the summer heat though that really makes the difference compared to our typically luck warm summers. He showed me a picture of himself standing next to a Colocasia ‘Jacks Giant’ with leaves up to a staggering 1.5 x 1.2m (5×4ft) where in this country with warmer winters and cooler summers we might expect about a third of the growth, that is unless we have a hot summer – I’m always in hope.
Things are really moving in the garden this week thanks to the warm weather with most of the exotics visibly growing almost in front of my eyes. In the Xerophytic garden it’s a riot of colour with a sea of the California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) which hails from – as its name suggests California and much of the western US. It is an annual species with intense almost day-glow-orange, silky textured flowers above floppy greyish-blue feathery foliage. I have always loved this plant as it’s very reminiscent of long, hazy summer days when I was a child – I’m sure the summers were hotter then!
For shear over-the-top colour, there is nothing that can beat members of the Mesembryanthemum family (meaning ‘midday flowering’) a delightful genus of drought tolerant plants from South Africa in a range of daisy-like flowers often found in intensely lurid colours. Lampranthus for instance in its many different forms range from shades of white, bright lemon yellows through rich maroon tones to the brightest almost pulsating pinks and purples, all growing on low spreading succulent leaved plants, revelling in a hot dry full sun position giving a real ‘Wow’ factor to the garden. Delosperma is another member of this genus with greyish-green succulent foliage and equally over-the-top day glow colours forming large groundcover mats about 10cm (4ins in height).
Close to these are several clumps of the hardy Aloe striatula, a tough plant which has proven to be hardy down to -8C (17.5F) and probably lower if kept dry. This succulent grows fairly quickly into a multi-stemmed plant around 90cm (3ft) tall in height and spread. The erect flower spikes stand well above the foliage somewhat resembling the flower spikes on Kniphofia (red hot poker) in a shade of yellowish orange. Blackfly are also rather partial to it as well, though these pesky little blighters can easily be removed by spraying them with a very week solution of soapy water. Like the Mesembryanthemums, they must have supper well drained gravely soil for the best performance.
Another rather common but but never-the-less attractive little succulent is Aloe aristata which is just about to come into full bloom. This small succulent is a stemless, clump-forming succulent, with dense rosettes of stubby, lance-shaped toothed leaves with small white spots and soft white spines, particularly beneath. The flowering spike is about 30cm (1ft) tall topped with orangey-red downward pointing well spaced tubular flowers. This one does like to grow in the slight shade of taller plants where it will last for years.
Echeveria glauca is a superb and fairly cold tolerant succulent if kept on the dry side during the winter months. This rather attractive succulent is grown for its bold fleshy silvery bluish-grey leaves which form tight rosettes as they mature from 10 to 30cm across (4ins to 1ft) and look good planted solo or en masse. In summer the foliage is punctuated with spectacular spikes on long greyish stems about 30cm (1ft) tall consisting of waxy flowers that change from red through orange to yellow from the top to bottom of each flower. Echevarias also make excellent container plants as long as they are not over watered which will cause them to rot – dry is best for these beauties.
Thinking of containers – a lovely succulent that looks superb in a terracotta pot is the diminutive Ledebouria socialis, also known as ‘Silver squill’ or ‘Wood hyacinth’ a bulbous species also native to South Africa. It is a small plant reaching only 15cm (6ins) in height with strap-like leaves that are a very attractive silver-gray with dark green splotches rising from small reddish tightly packed bulbs. Once established it forms small colonies which look excellent in a shallow pot in a full sun position. Unfortunately this one is not hardy so must be brought into somewhere light and airy, where you will be rewarded during the winter months with massed spikes of very small, greenish-white flowers – let’s not think about winter yet…
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9 Responses to “The heat is on…”
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July 2nd, 2010 @ 8:16 pm
Oh my goodness! Who needs a parasol when you have a giant colocasia leaf huh?? Stunning pic!
Glad to see that there is now a ‘dress code’ to enter the garden!! Good stuff!
See you in August Will. x
July 3rd, 2010 @ 2:14 am
hey Will,
now that you have made me an international star- what’s left? haha
hopefully a book
so great to meet you and see your place-much inspiration for future projects
Joe
July 4th, 2010 @ 9:53 am
Nat – Yes – that is one whopper of a leaf – if only we had those temperatures during the summer months, though this weather isn’t bad! Are you going to visit this summer in one of your best and most colourfully Hawaiian dresses?
Joe – Mr Washington DC exotisist, it was great to meet you in the garden last Sunday – you now have internationally famous legs let alone humongously big leaves!
July 5th, 2010 @ 11:41 am
I need that Colocasia in my life! That’s awesome!
July 6th, 2010 @ 11:58 am
Chris – stoke up the average British summer temperature to 35C and it’s yours…
July 6th, 2010 @ 12:25 pm
I’ll do my best!
July 7th, 2010 @ 7:48 pm
Yes Will, I have just the dress to rival those beautiful Californian poppies!!!
July 15th, 2010 @ 9:13 pm
OMG! I just have to have one of those “Jack’s Giant” colocasias! I’ve seen some huge alocasias in my day, but colocasias… remarkable.
July 16th, 2010 @ 12:59 pm
Hi,
Nice article…i’m amazed with your large Colocasia esculenta ‘Jacks Giant’…
Regards,
Iskandar