... out in the garden.

3rd June 2012

Polygonatum x hybridum 'Golden Gift'
Time flies, and summertime flies bite! The warm weather reduced me to a T-shirt for a while and I have been kneeling down weeding this week. To cut a long story short, I have been bitten on the top of my bottom where the T-shirt lost contact with the shorts. It is quite distracting!
I have been weeding among the Polygonatum. They were all planted out last spring, and most of them have appreciated the extra space though one or two are struggling. I was pleased to see that 'Betberg' has established and is larger than it was in a pot. It looks much better suited in the border than it did in a pot and the purple tinged foliage stands out.
'Golden Gift' makes a good companion. It has golden tinged foliage that is clearly not green, but not really yellow either. Under the trees in the shade border it makes a bright splash. I got it from Robin White at Blackthorn Nursery but I don't know anything about it's origin.

3rd June 2012

Abromeitiella brevifolia
I have spent the last year tipping plants out of the greenhouse and into the garden but it doesn't seem to get any emptier. I thought all the Roscoea had gone out, but I have just found dozens starting into growth under the bench. I remember putting them there and thinking 'I will do that in a minute...'
As a consequence of spending more time in the garden, the greenhouse has been neglected. Some things are in need of some serious weeding - the Rhodohypoxis are flowering through a covering on the pots that looks suspiciously like turf - but some things are thriving on the neglect.
This Abromeitiella comes from NW Argentina where it grows in dry stony soil in full sun. It doesn't really mind if you forget to water it for a week or two (or three or four). If it has been a bit stressed it produces a few of these deep green flowers in spring. Typical three petalled bromeliad flowers, they remain coiled into a thin tube and never open out widely.
The genus Abromeitiella was split off from Deuterocohnia because it has solitary sessile flowers springing directly from the leaf axils. Except that it doesn't. Further investigation has shown that plants produce a short scape, sometimes with several flowers and so both species, A.brevifolia and A.lorentziana, have been whisked back into Deuterocohnia.
I should really have headed this paragraph Deuterocohnia brevifolia, but old habits die hard.

3rd June 2012

Pinellia pedatisecta
Tuberous aroids come and go, and if you are lucky they come again the next year. Many are rather fussy about storage conditions through the winter. Some of the Amorphophallus have gigantic starchy tubers that rot at any opportunity, and some of the most spectacular Arisaema are happy to follow their example.
A few years ago I was advised to try Pinellia instead, and I have been pleasantly surprised. When I first got this one I was warned that it was invasively weedy in the eastern USA, but I haven't had any problems so far (and I think I have had it long enough to know if it was going to be trouble).
The species is fairly widespread in south-east China. It has grown strongly in a pot under cover, but rather more slowly outside. The greenish-white flowers are on the small side but they stand up well above the early foliage and make a decent show.

3rd June 2012

Disa sagittalis
Nothing in the greenhouse got attention during the winter except for the Disa. I built a new bench and moved them all so they would have more space. Fortunately we also had a mild winter and the plants have appreciated it. The bright red species and hybrids are mostly hardy here but there are a lot of lowland species from South Africa that don't survive quite so well.
I bought a flask of seedlings of D.sagittalis at an orchid show a couple of years ago and I am delighted to have a flower spike. It hasn't been an easy journey. The species flowers in May and then becomes dormant in July and August. The new growth appears in September and a hard frost in winter will kill the leaves and probably the plant.
I should probably bring it in to spend winter on a windowsill but it enjoys the light and air in the greenhouse and I think it might get a bit sulky indoors.

To find particular groups of plants I grow, click on the genus name in the table above. Click on the "Index" box at the top of the page for the full list.
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