Where has the autumn gone?
Posted on | December 16, 2009 | 3 Comments
Where has the autumn gone? I think my brain needed a rest after a very busy summer here at the Exotic Garden, hence the lack of a regular blog. Shame on you Will!
I have felt particularly bad about this, though I do have a good excuse for the last month! On the 11th of November the autumnal winds brought a large branch crashing to the ground from a rather stately old (dead) pear tree in the garden, tacking my telephone line with it. I was assured by my phone provider TalkTalk (all communications through India) that it would be fixed in a few days. I was even told that it had been fixed on the 18th November, even though the telephone line was still dangling forlornly from the tree! A few days ago five sturdy BT Openreach chaps arrived with a new 35 foot pole in hand to fix the problem. Three hours later and ten cups of tea – I am now re-connected to the outside world. I’m not going to mention this anymore or steam will start to emanate from my ears! Hssssss…
As for the garden, well, it has been all fun and games here. A friend of mine (Jami Spooner) has been staying in my tree house at the weekends since the summer and in return has been bringing in all the tender perennials in over the last month or so. The garden now looks as though it has been hit by cluster bombs, with craters all over the place; never the less all the tender exotics are now residing in various locations in and around Norwich. My main polytunnel (10-20ft) is heated to a minimum of 5C (40F) with a large propagator inside heated to a min of 15C (60F) for the really tender stuff. I have two other tunnels of the same size with plants that need protection from winter wet, and these are only heated if we go arctic! I also have a large conservatory stuffed to the gunnels with mostly Brugmansias. Amazingly and despite the chilly weather of late, they are all flowering their hearts out, so much so, that I can smell their intoxicating scent with the door closed!
The tree house is also home to many Kentia Palms, Philodendrons, a rather large variegated rubber plant and several Chlorophytums, making it look more like the interior of the Palm house at Kew Gardens. My ever expanding collection of eighteen purple bananas – Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’- are now having their winter holiday away from the garden as I have no room left for storage. Many of the bananas had reached 12-15ft tall this year, hence had to be decapitated down to a more reasonable 6ft high, cutting the giant paddle-like leaves off just above the trunk and removing most of the roots. Half of these are now in a large greenhouse at Urban Jungle, a marvellous exotic plant emporium on the other side of the city from the Exotic Garden. The other half are now comfortably housed in a tunnel in the Bishops Place Garden in the grounds of Norwich Cathedral, where they should be nice and cosy for the rest of the winter, where they will have zero water until late March-ish.
The Colocasias – Alocasias and the more tender gingers were left in the ground until last weekend as frost had not touched them and they were still putting on good growth. Yesterday I went around the garden taking cuttings of the many different types of Tradescantia that grow in the garden – in fact three carrier bags full as I want large drifts of these delightful sprawlers in the garden next year. I’m glad I did as all the top growth was blackened this morning. All I have to do now is dig up the Cannas which were in radiant health until last night’s frost, so these must be dug up over the next few days before the roots freeze. These will be placed in large trays of bark for the winter months and wintered frost free. For years I have left most of my Cannas in the ground, but unfortunately lost the lot last winter so am now being very courteous indeed.
My guilt has been eased by writing this blog – at least for a few days. Should I squeeze another one in before Christmas?
Just checked out Rob’s new updated blog http://dirtyhose.blogspot.com – do write more about travel Rob – we all love it…
Iresine herbstii Brilliantissima and Colocasia esculenta still looking good untill yesterdays freeze.
Dweezal Mc Sqeezal enjoying the garden a few days ago from the dizzying heights of a Cordyline australis
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3 Responses to “Where has the autumn gone?”
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December 16th, 2009 @ 11:35 pm
Thanks for the mention, Will!
I hope you’re coping okay so far this winter. It’s been mild until now, but you didn’t cave in to booking an exotic holiday? A nice holiday somewhere hot would go down a treat for me about now…
I can only imagine the expressions on the BT technicians’ faces when they saw your garden – they look very happy in the picture!
December 17th, 2009 @ 12:06 pm
Nice to get a winter update. Which tender gingers have you taken under cover? Unfortunately I have no greenhouse, and no space for a polytunnel so all my Gingers and Cannas are going to have to cope in the garden – poor things!!!!! Except I have dug up my Canna Musiflora and my red/purple leafed banana. They are living in our spare bedroom over winter!!! The Canna has even grown 2 new stems and has 4 giant leaves on each stem. It is doing better in the bedroom than it did in the garden through the summer!! I have not even given it much water!!!!
December 17th, 2009 @ 12:44 pm
Rob – I would also like an exotic holiday right now, though I will be leading a tour around the Caribbean with Matt Biggs (Gardeners Question Time) next November. Brrr… It is certainly cold here with snow predicted tonight.
Andrew – although many gingers are quite hardy and flower well from the ground, some like Hedychium gardnerianum and Hedychium wardii tend to be very late flowering, so these I bring in and plant out again the following May to guarantee big plants with large flowers, especially if fed well with manure, chicken pellets or blood fish and bone. If left in the ground though, I would definitely recommend a deep mulch of leaves or straw to stave off the worst of the winter weather.