Getting Canna seeds goin'.

Many Cannas, especially those bought as tubers in spring are infected with virus, which cause poor distorted growth, marked leaves and flowers. It'll spread like wildfire to any other Cannas you grow, if you're lucky enough to have uninfected plants. See this earlier post.

One way around this is to grow them from seed, though of course the plants won't be anything like the showy named hybrids, but the species varieties hold a certain charm of their own.

Last autumn I was sent seed of a species Canna from the states by a Facebook contact (what did we ever do before the time when the internet connected us with plant lovers all over the world??)

I held off planting them up until spring was well under wayas I don't have additional heat, seeds are started in the house where light conditions aren't brilliant.

It was supposedly given the name Canna compacta var. cinnabarina by Yuccado Nursery but is actually C. indica var. Maculata.

Canna seeds have incredibly hard outer coats, so tough that they have supposedly been used as shot during the Indian mutiny when the soldiers ran out of bullets. Urban legend? I dunno.

See here.

I used nail clippers to nick the seed coat, just enough so that some of the white endosperm can be seen, but not deep enough to cause damage to it.

I then put them in water and place in warm conditions, near the hot water tank in my house. I then change the water daily so ensure that it doesn't get the chance to go stagnant.

Within a couple of days many begin to sprout with a small white radicle (embryonic root) pokes through. 

After another couple of days when over half have sprouted I remove them from the water and plant them in modules

The modular seed tray then goes back into warm conditions for a few days, it's not long before they poke their heads through the soil surface.

It's then time to move them into bright conditions, so far I'd say I've had about 75-80% successful germination with this batch of seed.
A count yesterday showed 48 young seedlings. Plenty to grow on for myself, as well as loads to share with friends and use in plant swaps.

In which Benson the destroyer wreaks havoc and other general maintenance takes place

Looking suitably sheepish, as well he should. 

It's self explanatory really, he chews things. 

So far he has got through half a Schefflera aff. brevipediculata, demolished a Pseudopanax lateus, pulled over the winter protection constructed around Musa basjoo, in doing so snapped the overwintered stem cleanly at the base. 

He had munched on Carex 'Everillo' leaving it looking like a balding middle aged rock band roadie. So on Sunday it got a thorough cutting back, not ideal with an evergreen sedge, but needs must.

Yet, he's worth the damage.

You know how it goes, you start one job then notice another that needs done. Astelia 'Red Devil' and the nearby 'Westland' needed a bit of a going over to remove dead growth. I find that it's not immediately apparent that there's much in there but when you start pulling dead leaves then you see more and more that need to be tugged out, along with all the leaves from nearby trees that get caught in the crown.

Increasing numbers of winter weary leaves become apparent to the now critical eye that has been somewhat lacking in focus for some months. The secateurs are fetched and the satisfying slice of blades cutting through succulent fleshy stems of Farfugium and the firm leaf bases of Trachycarpus wagnerianus bring contentedness, work continues and the ever increasing pile of discarded leafage grows.

We are avid composters in our house, (though without being irritatingly evangelical about it) but the volume of material produced on Sunday would have overwhelmed our small composting bin, so off to the municipal composting facility it must go. 

An exotic selection of foliage fills the brown bin and a feeling of something worthwhile achieved fills the gardener.

Succulent stock take

'Grow plants suited to your conditions'. 

That's what we're always told. I get it, it makes sense. I want to grow things that thrive. 

But I make an exception for succulents. 

Green and lush Ireland isn't quite the place that springs to mind when someone mentions succulent gardens. 

It's not the cold, its the wet over winter that does the damage. So religiously dig them up in the autumn and plant them out again in the spring. They enjoy getting their roots down, growing fat and lush.

Over winter they spend their time in my cold greenhouse. Right now they often start to look tired after a cool winter without any water. 

Some have fared better than others, I mean none have died, but a few look a bit wrinkly such as this Agave 'Cream Spike', however it's nothing that a good watering won't fix.

                                      

Generally things are looking good.

x Mangave 'Macho Mocha' has overwintered unmarked.

Agave 'Cornelius' doesn't have a mark, I'm happy so far.

Aeoniums are starting to grow.

Looking full and healthy.

As does Agave mitis, currently fighting it out with Tropaeolum.

 Both trays of Echeveria need some fresh soil to kick them into growth.

 But they take on beautiful tints when stressed.

Vertically challenged Aeonium tabuliforme is pristine. This is my first time growing them, and I'm hooked.

The coloured Aeoniums are regaining their purple tints,'Voodoo' in this case.

I wish my this variegated form would produce side shoots so I can propagate it, I know I could take out the centre to induce branching but I'm too scared...

It won't be long now until I'm planting them out for the summer. Excitement grows!

Reawakening

Hibernation over winter has been enjoyable. I've taken an almost complete break from anything plant related, save reading other gardening blogs and books. 

It's not just the blog that has been sleeping for some months, I have done very little in the way of gardening since my last post back in November. 

The winter for what it was has been incredibly mild, but wet. Actually, wet is an understatement. Drenched, everything has been thoroughly drenched, that more accurately describes what's been going on for the last few months.

The recent addition of a new puppy to the household has also got me a bit concerned about how the garden will hold up. He's a chewer. 

As yet, he hasn't been digging but he has munched his way through a Schefflera delavayi and a Pseudopanax laetus. I may be able to salvage what's left of the Scheffy, I'm less certain that the Pseudopanax will resprout.

I'm hoping that when teething has finished that he will quit eating plants. Hopeful, but realistic.

The culprit. 

Sunny weather over Easter week got me thinking ahead, so I thought it an opportune time to try to resurrect my Ensete plants that I'd overwintered. 

I've been trying to keep them just ticking over, not growing, in suspended animation. It's a bit of a balancing act. They have to be very dry otherwise rot can set in at the base but as they're still small they don't have massive amounts of food reserves stored up in the corm so at this size you don't want them to go entirely dormant.

This one managed to keep some leaves, so I just chopped those that had dessicated.

The leaf bases are incredibly fleshy, storing massive amounts of water, they're satisfying to slice through.

The plain green Ensete ventricosum had lost all foliage so had to be drastically pruned, I may have to go lower to ensure any damaged material doesn't start to rot. 

New growth pushing up from the centre, with a bit of heat it should hopefully continue.

This one had lost all roots but I'm hopeful that with careful watering it will quickly produce new ones and power away into growth for the summer.

I took a gamble and didn't lift any Cannas from the ground. It's generally mild so cold temperatures aren't normally the issue, it's the combination of cold and wet that causes rot to set in. 

I decided to dig them up now, in order to start them into growth earlier so it's not the end of summer before they start flowering. This is a new shoot on 'Orange Punch', and there are more so things are looking good. I've potted a few (and will do the rest of my collection over the next couple of weeks) and have moved them indoors so the extra heat will kick them into growth. 

I think my winter hibernation in now officially over.

The big dig

Please excuse the fact that the text is centred, I've edited it numerous times but blogger refuses to play ball today. 

Succulents are a major thing in my gardening life now.

A few years ago I wasn't keen on them at all, as a group of plants. I suppose I'd seen too many specimens in my time, sitting on windowsills indoors, not getting enough light and merely existing. They seemed so inanimate, of course I was aware that they grew but any change seemed unperceivable not the most exciting, or so I naively thought.

A seismic shift in my thinking occurred about four years ago. A visit to Cornwall in the extreme SW of the UK with a great gardening friend introduced me to succulent growing on a grans scale, how it should be done. The mild climate of the area allows Agaves, Aeoniums and the likes to grow fat and proud, relishing getting their roots in the ground and wallowing in the ample rainfall that the region receives.

The Minack theatre not far from lands end occupies a precipitous position, tumbling down the cliffs in a natural amphitheatre which was turned by Rowena Cade during the last century into an outdoor theatre. It receives the full force of the Atlantic ocean right in the face, there's nothing but water between this point and the east coast of the USA.

The Abbey gardens on Tresco in the isles of Scilly which were visited later in the week were a revelation and cemented in my mind the slowly forming ideas of how succulents should be grown. Not dotted about here and there with bare soil between, but growing cheek by jowl, making the most of the varying shapes, forms and colours.

Since then I've been building on my collection, adding more each year, but however unlike in Cornwall, my succulents are not outdoors year round, my conditions over winter are just too much for many of them. It's not the cold, but the wet. From autumn right through to spring we get prodigious amounts of rainfall and this combined with cold conditions would be the downfall of manys a juicy plant, growing on the edge of hardiness.

 

Contrasting texture is what I'm after, playing hard and loose with the rules of what should and shouldn't be grown together.

Pelargoniums (here the variety 'Mrs Pollock') come from a Mediterranean climate, so why not bed them in next to Aeoniums?



Certain plants such as various Astelias and Aloe striatula are planted permanently, while the x Mangaves and Echeveria are crammed in around them from late April through to September.







 

Smaller specimens are tucked in among the stone walling, giving the illusion that they're happy year round residents, which I think is key. This little Agave 'Cream Spike' produced, (like all the Agave do when bedded out) masses of roots, really enjoying their summer holiday in the ground.

Agave 'Cornelius' is a new favourite, picked up from Cotswold Garden Flowers (don't let the name put you off, it's a treasure trove of the unusual) near Evesham, Worcestershire, last May. 

But then, the time comes, normally around mid/late September, where I have to think about digging up the majority of them. I try to time it so that they're dug following a dry spell, that way the go into the cold greenhouse relatively dry. Rot is then is much less likely to set in during the dark, dank days of winter. Most will not receive any water unless absolutely necessary when residing in their winter quarters. It's a tough regime offering them little love from October through to April, luckily they're resilient characters.

This was a sport I found on an Aeonium, though I don't know the parents species name, I'm incredibly fond of it and hope it'll start producing offset soon so I can prop it as I'd hate to lose it. It easily popped from the ground and was potted into a teracotta pot.











Echeverias are incredibly easy to deal with, most will lift easily out of the ground and are placed in trays with a little compost in the bottom, and will be happy here until spring.

With each passing year, and assuming that I'll have them for some time, the Agaves become trickier to deal with.

Quite apart from the spines which impale me given the slightest opportunity their increasing size means that housing them in pots and carting indoors becomes more difficult. Though the spikes in the hands are an occupational hazard that I'm more than willing to accept.
It's really just a more adventurous form of bedding plants, but not using carpets of Impatiens and Begonias, not that I'd rule either out if I thought them suitable for the look.



Autumn jobs to be done

One of my doodles:

My garden, a brief late September walk though.

Inspired by Loree over at The Danger Garden I decided to do a bit of a walk through of the back garden, to give an idea of the general layout. It's quite a small space but I tend to cram a lot in, lush foliage abounds. When taking pictures I often focus on small details, individual plants or showing compositions, rather than taking a step back to show a more general view.

Most of the pictures were taken on my phone a couple of weeks ago, the quality and sharpness of some ain't amazing but here we are.

The entrance to the garden, along the side of the house. There is planting behind where I'm standing but it needs an overhaul so will not feature in the blog today.

The chairs are incredibly comfortable, but they are quite stark, their whiteness shines out and slightly jars, I'm trying to relax about them, though it didn't help when a friend suggested that they looked like two bath tubs.

The cat isn't ours, he has started hanging around, as cats tend to do. I honestly don't know why he has decided to choose our house. 

We've called him Jim and it seems to fit.

Looking left, the Lophosoria is becoming rather triffid like, some plants in this bed need trimming back while others providing less interest will be removed.

Moving along the rear of the house is the micro patio and seating area, this has not been a summer for dining out, the rain and general greyness was not conducive to outdoor living. Damn metal manhole/drain cover! Ignore it please.

One of my container plantings, a mix of hardy and tender plants, little in the way of flowers, relying heavily on interesting foliage for colour.

Having children, toys can be found anywhere, the raptor fitted in with the jungly, Jurassic feeling, especially given the presence of Tetrapanax papyrifera 'Rex' in the background.

A new border, planted up in June this year, so just establishing and will need a bit of tweaking to improve its look next year.

The Dicksonia was only moved here in May, and has settled in nicely. It was originally located close to the back door (and before that at my parents' place) but its arching fronds made progress difficult and downright unpleasurable when dripping wet.

Partially hidden behind the tree fern is a shady planting with three slowly establishing Trachycarpus wagnerianus, Musa basjoo, Borinda papyrifera and Bergenia ciliata. 

Moving farther along I've created a path leading behind the oil tank (damn it but I hate that massive green plastic thing) This is the sunniest part of the back garden so I'm trying to make the most of that with my plant choices.

The Sonchus fruticosus behaves as a semi herbaceous perennial, having survived three or so winters outdoors. Normally it concentrates on producing lush green foliage but this summer it has decided to push out these yellow flowers. I'm not keen myself, but as you can see the insects approve so I've let them stay.

Honey bees have been making a bee line in order to indulge for weeks now. 'scuse the pun.

Looking down and to the right the planting mix is filling out, enjoying the extra light since removing a Fargesia 'Simba' recently.

Doing a 180 degree turn and looking at the scene I'm less that impressed overall, a jumble that doesn't work from this angle, more tweaking will be required here.

Ditto.

Though there are elements that I'm happy with, the planting in the middle distance is a bit of a nondescript fuzz, 

Winter will give me time to ponder what needs to change to give a more cohesive look that works better from all view points.