[Help] Gardeners Question Time.

[Green Cross Code Man]

Mine seem to be better every other year too. I think it's because they're triennials. If you want a good crop every year, I believe the way to do it is to sow seeds in consecutive years. It was a very mild if wet winter, but this year's crop is wonderful. If you want any seeds later in the year, I can easily get them to you. That includes anyone else in the vicinity of Brighton or not too far in Sussex.

That's very kind. I may well remind you of that offer as I sometimes get seedlings but very sporadically due to having too much shade.

This is the sort of photo I spend a lot of time looking at

Cheers! I am still waiting for pictures of your garden btw!

Here's another I took from the other side of the Persicaria today.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

You showed us your Persicaria. I'll show you my pininanas! I've got a bit of the car in for scale. The bees do seem to love 'em - the Echiums, not the cars!!

How tall are those Echiums? Looking pretty tall from the picture!

 

[Jack Straw]

Yes please! I've not grown it since 2009-10........we know how that ended

It will be a pleasure to spread the Echium love. I'll let you know when the seeds are ready, probably in about 12 weeks' time.

 

[Jack Straw]

How tall are those Echiums? Looking pretty tall from the picture!

I reckon the tallest one is not far short of 20 feet.

 

[Jack Straw]

Here's another I took from the other side of the Persicaria today.

You have done wonderfully. It's superb. Well done.
Puts my two Trachys, crop of Echiums and an Albizia julibrissin to shame!

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

I reckon the tallest one is not far short of 20 feet.

Amazing! I think that is about the highest I've ever seen. Love it!

You have done wonderfully. It's superb. Well done.
Puts my two Trachys, crop of Echiums and an Albizia julibrissin to shame!

Thanks very much. When I first got into gardening I quickly decided to go all out exotic. I love the escapism.

Albizia is something I've never had much luck with. Had a few but they've always succumbed. I like the chocolate variety but that bit the dust as well.

 

[Coldeanseagull]

Can't quite see what you've got growing on one of the D.A.'s?
I'm changing the style of my garden at the moment to a more lazy formal mediterranean. It's currently a cross between a Thai jungle....and Steptoes yard!
I might do a photo shoot of the transition

 

[Jack Straw]

Can't quite see what you've got growing on one of the D.A.'s?
I'm changing the style of my garden at the moment to a more lazy formal mediterranean. It's currently a cross between a Thai jungle....and Steptoes yard!
I might do a photo shoot of the transition

Yes please. We like photos of posters gardens on here. The second part of your description sounds more like my bedroom!

 

[wellquickwoody]

Amazing! I think that is about the highest I've ever seen. Love it!Thanks very much. When I first got into gardening I quickly decided to go all out exotic. I love the escapism.

Albizia is something I've never had much luck with. Had a few but they've always succumbed. I like the chocolate variety but that bit the dust as well.

You can tell who is a gardener when talk turns to Albizia. Had one decent size one in Hove, but lost it to something attacking the trunk at ground level, planted another but moved over here before seeing any great growth. Got one here but keeping it in a pot till we move to our permanent home one day.

 

[Jack Straw]

Amazing! I think that is about the highest I've ever seen. Love it!Thanks very much. When I first got into gardening I quickly decided to go all out exotic. I love the escapism.

Albizia is something I've never had much luck with. Had a few but they've always succumbed. I like the chocolate variety but that bit the dust as well.

I went through an exotic phase many moons ago, inflicting my likes on little bits of Brighton Council's land. Not having much of a garden myself (It's basically a very small car parking space), I'm very limited on area, but I'm quite close to the sea and the garden is quite enclosed so I could grow some pretty weird stuff. The down side is that it's open-plan, and it's used as a dog-toilet, drug dealing area, and loads of litter blows in!
I've re-landscaped a friend of mine's garden and look after it once a week so call that mine now, hence a previous post about "my" variegated Fatsias.
Over thirty years ago, I used to have a wonderful Phormium collection, but they all died down in the harsh winter of 1985 and never recovered. That put me off of exotics a bit. During then and now, due to climate change, we are getting the climate here on the Sussex coast that Cornwall enjoyed thirty years' ago. We are seeing more palms now than ever before in this neck of the woods. The winters just don't seem to be overly harsh now?
As for Albizias, they do seem difficult to establish. They just seem to tick over for a few years before either just dying or as mine has done, gone beserk! Mine was going to be thrown out of a nursery. It had been in a pot for a few years and done nothing. I dug a huge hole and put four sacks of the finest compost/manure mix. I think they're very hungry and must have a rich soil. It's just coming in to leaf. I'll put a photo on here when it looks a bit greener and when it flowers, as it has for the last three years. I seem to have typed a lot? I blame the Leffes!!

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Can't quite see what you've got growing on one of the D.A.'s?

I hope the picture will answer the question!

You can tell who is a gardener when talk turns to Albizia. Had one decent size one in Hove, but lost it to something attacking the trunk at ground level, planted another but moved over here before seeing any great growth. Got one here but keeping it in a pot till we move to our permanent home one day.

It's weird that many of the exotic plants we grow here have a very hard time in Australia as it's often just too dry and hot. I'm thinking particularly of the somewhat ubiquitous Musa basjoo which struggles by all accounts over there.

I went through an exotic phase many moons ago, inflicting my likes on little bits of Brighton Council's land. Not having much of a garden myself (It's basically a very small car parking space), I'm very limited on area, but I'm quite close to the sea and the garden is quite enclosed so I could grow some pretty weird stuff. The down side is that it's open-plan, and it's used as a dog-toilet, drug dealing area, and loads of litter blows in!
I've re-landscaped a friend of mine's garden and look after it once a week so call that mine now, hence a previous post about "my" variegated Fatsias.
Over thirty years ago, I used to have a wonderful Phormium collection, but they all died down in the harsh winter of 1985 and never recovered. That put me off of exotics a bit. During then and now, due to climate change, we are getting the climate here on the Sussex coast that Cornwall enjoyed thirty years' ago. We are seeing more palms now than ever before in this neck of the woods. The winters just don't seem to be overly harsh now?
As for Albizias, they do seem difficult to establish. They just seem to tick over for a few years before either just dying or as mine has done, gone beserk! Mine was going to be thrown out of a nursery. It had been in a pot for a few years and done nothing. I dug a huge hole and put four sacks of the finest compost/manure mix. I think they're very hungry and must have a rich soil. It's just coming in to leaf. I'll put a photo on here when it looks a bit greener and when it flowers, as it has for the last three years. I seem to have typed a lot? I blame the Leffes!!

There is no such thing as too long a gardening post! If I ever try Albizia again I'll do what you did! Another one I have killed a few of is Acacia baileyana a gorgeous Australian Acacia. I so wish that was hardy. It would most probably be in your garden.

 

[razer]

Is it possible to grow edible mushrooms on the trunk of an elm that died two years ago of Dutch Elm disease?

 

[clapham_gull]

Anyone know what this is ?

I bought some small random crocus bulbs in the Amsterdam Flower market last year. The small short crocus came and went in the spring, but three of these shot up behind them.

I assumed it was some sort of seed pod, the flowers were covered in a papery membrane containing what looked like seeds. But now its started flowering.

They are about 50 cms high, about the height of a large tulip. You can see an earlier one just behind.

It's beginning to look like a mutant version of the original plant (similar coloured flowers ) or perhaps some random other bulb got mixed in. However they were small crocus bulbs and these are very tall.

 

[wellquickwoody]

It's weird that many of the exotic plants we grow here have a very hard time in Australia as it's often just too dry and hot. I'm thinking particularly of the somewhat ubiquitous Musa basjoo which struggles by all accounts over there.

You are quite correct. Worth remembering that most tropicals prefer a constant ish temperature of between 25 and 35 Celsius with high humdity. Down here in Melbourne we can vary between coldish winter days, 10+ Celsius, to summer days of 45 degrees. Humidity can fluctuate from biblical rainstorms and flooding to arid desert like drought. So plants do have a tough time.

I am trying to create an upper canopy that will tolerate the harsh, dry, windy heat that we can get. Once established this can hopefully protect the lower levels from the extreme sun and wind, and create a marginally higher humidity level in the dappled shade below. I am still going to need to throw a lot of water at it in the summer but I love a challenge.

 

[Worried Man Blues]

Give me spots on my apples but leave me the birds and the bees please?

International Bee day today........less pesticides more planting for bees..............................

 

[Weststander]

I hope the picture will answer the question!



It's weird that many of the exotic plants we grow here have a very hard time in Australia as it's often just too dry and hot. I'm thinking particularly of the somewhat ubiquitous Musa basjoo which struggles by all accounts over there.



There is no such thing as too long a gardening post! If I ever try Albizia again I'll do what you did! Another one I have killed a few of is Acacia baileyana a gorgeous Australian Acacia. I so wish that was hardy. It would most probably be in your garden.

Hi,

Is that your garden in the photo, or a stock photo of the plant you’re talking about?

If the former, wow, a little piece of paradise.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

You are quite correct. Worth remembering that most tropicals prefer a constant ish temperature of between 25 and 35 Celsius with high humdity. Down here in Melbourne we can vary between coldish winter days, 10+ Celsius, to summer days of 45 degrees. Humidity can fluctuate from biblical rainstorms and flooding to arid desert like drought. So plants do have a tough time.

I am trying to create an upper canopy that will tolerate the harsh, dry, windy heat that we can get. Once established this can hopefully protect the lower levels from the extreme sun and wind, and create a marginally higher humidity level in the dappled shade below. I am still going to need to throw a lot of water at it in the summer but I love a challenge.

Interesting.

Which plants are you using to create a canopy? I would imaging Eucalypts and Acacia would be suitable for that? Are there any other native plants that would also suit? Grevillea? I would love to grow Grevillea.

Hi,

Is that your garden in the photo, or a stock photo of the plant you’re talking about?

If the former, wow, a little piece of paradise.

Hi [MENTION=21158]Weststander[/MENTION]. I have to hold my hands up and say that is my little piece of paradise. It is in its 12th year and is now mature. This picture was taken last July, the garden is not all that large but it contrasts with the neighbours.

 

[Weststander]

Interesting.

Which plants are you using to create a canopy? I would imaging Eucalypts and Acacia would be suitable for that? Are there any other native plants that would also suit? Grevillea? I would love to grow Grevillea.



Hi [MENTION=21158]Weststander[/MENTION]. I have to hold my hands up and say that is my little piece of paradise. It is in its 12th year and is now mature. This picture was taken last July, the garden is not all that large but it contrasts with the neighbours.

Amazing.

I love gardening, but never exotic plants, although I do like the enchanting atmosphere of bamboo mini mazes (Nymans). Yours is a revelation.

My own passion is plants for pollinators, natives eg hedgerows, perennials, all things for fauna.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Amazing.

I love gardening, but never exotic plants, although I do like the enchanting atmosphere of bamboo mini mazes (Nymans). Yours is a revelation.

My own passion is plants for pollinators, natives eg hedgerows, perennials, all things for fauna.

A worthy passion too. I have few natives but as my garden is very natural in style with everything recycled, there is a large amount of material covering the floor like a forest. I don't have a lawn or man-made paths, just old fern and palm leaves and small bits and pieces from bamboo branches. It is amazing how much wildlife lives in it! I do regret not having more flowers as, like you, love the pollinators and recognise their importance in our environment.


I have about 20 or so species of bamboo. When I moved back to Sussex I had amassed 54 species and I was going to try to establish a small bamboo nursery. That did not work out and I ended up giving them away or growing what I could in my modest garden.

They do create a unique tropical atmosphere and as you say are enchanting. People who visit always make a bee-line for the larger canes (culms) and have a good feel, they are very therapeutic plants both in form and audible, gentle leafy susurrations in a breeze conjure far off places all too easily.

This is my largest bamboo, the largest canes are a modest (by international standards) 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 inches width and they are about 20-25 feet tall.

 

[Weststander]

A worthy passion too. I have few natives but as my garden is very natural in style with everything recycled, there is a large amount of material covering the floor like a forest. I don't have a lawn or man-made paths, just old fern and palm leaves and small bits and pieces from bamboo branches. It is amazing how much wildlife lives in it! I do regret not having more flowers as, like you, love the pollinators and recognise their importance in our environment.


I have about 20 or so species of bamboo. When I moved back to Sussex I had amassed 54 species and I was going to try to establish a small bamboo nursery. That did not work out and I ended up giving them away or growing what I could in my modest garden.

They do create a unique tropical atmosphere and as you say are enchanting. People who visit always make a bee-line for the larger canes (culms) and have a good feel, they are very therapeutic plants both in form and audible, gentle leafy susurrations in a breeze conjure far off places all too easily.

This is my largest bamboo, the largest canes are a modest (by international standards) 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 inches width and they are about 20-25 feet tall.

Amazing stuff. I would imagine that kids visiting would find it exciting to explore.