Tuesday 11 December 2012

A Norfolk exotic adventure PART ONE....

 
 

A Norfolk exotic adventure PART ONE EAST RUSHTON OLD VICARAGE

 
 
I seems like for ever-ago but it was only four months ago that I was sunning myself in Norfolk surrounded by a whole host of exotic plants.  I visited many places:  Amulree and Urban Jungle exotic nurseries, Will Giles Exotic Garden, NGS open garden owned by Kevin Scales and East Rushton Old Vicarage.  The latter of which I will talk about in this blog.  The previous will be blogged about soon....
 
 
 
I had been told that East Rushton was a bit of a hidden gem and a must-see place if one is interested in "unusual" and "exotic" plants.  As I am always interested in seeing any gardens, especially those that are exotic I couldn't resist. I wasn't alone on my journey through Norfolk, having my pregnant wife and two little girls with me.  Every time we visit a garden I say to them, "Our garden will be like this one day" they smile and say will it have a trampoline too?  There were no trampolines at the Old Vicarage but plenty of space to play in and lots of exotics for me to get excited about.
 
At the start of the garden is a very interesting plant sales area with many choice plants at fair prices.  I resisted having spent up at the tropical nurseries...  Tropical and exotic plants were everywhere including these wonderful Brugmansias which had a lovely perfume and sun-yellow colour on the flowers.
 
 

There are many brick walls at the Old Vicarage which retain a lot of heat and provide some protection from the elements.  In one of the first areas that one comes across is this mixture of arid and prairie planting.  Chamaerops humilis palms, Aeoniums amd Eucomis were the highlights of this section for me.  All interplanted with various silver-leaved plants ideally suited to the hot dry conditions.

Towering Miscanthus finished the ensemble.

 
Next onto a shadier, more intimate spot with towering Trachcarpus fortunei underplanted with shade-loving plants
 
 
A sunny spot next before heading on past the Dicksonia antartica tree ferns. 


In the same spot as above but facing the opposite way was a large Tetrapanax papyrifer which was easily 10ft tall.  The Inula daisies were also large, standing at around 6ft.

 
As well as the brick walls there were dozens and dozens of Eucalyptus trees planted around the garden, almost certainly to add a degree of protection to the plants below and to act as a wind break.
 
 
 Now on to what I think is the best part of the garden and probably one of favourite areas of planting I've ever visited; the "Desert Wash"  A huge amount of labour must have been employed to move tonnes of rock, flints and boulders to create a wonderful arid garden that I could only dream about creating "Up North"  Notice the clear blue skies (yes this was 2012!)
 
 
 
 
The hardy structural elements of this area consist of Yuccas, Nolinias, Agaves and Dasylirions.  These are softened with grasses, Euphorbias and vivid orange Californian poppies.
 
 
 

Nolinas

 
 
 
 
 
 

Agaves

 
 
 

Dasylirion

 
 
 

Various Yuccas

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Even some hardy cacti!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Colletia cruciata a spiky shrub that I had never seen before.
 
 
 
Even the none exotic areas of the Old Vicarage like the kitchen garden had some tropicals interplanted.  Can you see them? 
 
How about now?!
 
 
 
Finally an avenue of Trachcarpus fortunei leading onto a wonderful view of a lighthouse.
 
 
 
 I have not shown all of what East Rushton Old Vicarage has to offer.  There are many more areas to explore including some fantastic large-flowered Hydrangeas along with more conventional plantings.  I would urge anyone in the area to visit, but before you do check out the website.  Opening times and details of the gardens including a plan can be found here: http://www.e-ruston-oldvicaragegardens.co.uk/pages/view/587/opening-times.htm
 
 
Next up the next stage of my Norfolk exotic adventure.

Saturday 8 December 2012

The effect of cold on evergreen exotic plants.

The following video demonstrates the effect of subzero temps on evergreen exotic plants including Echiums.  (The same effect can be seen on Fatsias.)

This short (by my standards :) ) video demonstrates the effect of sub zero temps on evergreen exotic plants such as echiums and Fatsias.   The basic method is that the plant removes water from the cells in its leaves and transports the water to the main stem where it can expand and doesn't cause any damage.  There is a limit of course which in the case of echiums is around minus 5 and Fatsia around minus 15ish.The effect on the plant during the time when the water is removed from the leaves is the same as when the plant is dehydrated from the lack of water/wilting.

Tuesday 4 December 2012

Digging up a Yucca and other exotics.

As revealed in my last blog (via a you tube video) I am moving!  This means I want to take all my exotic plants with me to create a much bigger garden in the future.  The good news is that I've sold my house, the not so good news is that I don't have a new house to go to.....  The timing of the move is not ideal for exotic and tropical plants as it will be the middle of winter (January) and therefore snow/frost and rain could be a major headache.   Digging plants up in winter may be fine for standard trees and shrubs but not exotics! 
 
The good thing is that 80-90% of my plants are already growing in containers so I only have around 30-40 plants to actually dig up.
 
Here is a large Yucca that is bone hardy and had been growing really well in my front arid bed.
 
 
 
The first stage was to cut away the lower leaves so I could get in there and dig it up.  I also chopped the tips off to stop me getting stabbed.
 
 
The next stage was to dig around the plant with a spade then sever all the roots in order to lift it out of the ground.
 
The roots were very easy to chop through as they were not woody but very fleshy, like cutting through Dahlia tubers.
 
 
Finally the plant was lifted out and loosly potted into a suitable container and left outside without watering as the ground was moist and rain was expected.
 
 
 
I also cleared my main exotic bed (as show in the last few seconds of this video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkxFPP1yErc&feature=autoplay&list=UUFa7yNZ1pfVM1IZrt0ERSIA&playnext=1 )
 
 
 
Other arids in the front bed included a Dasyliron, Aloe polyphylla, opuntia and echeveria.
 
 
 
The Musa basjoo were simply dug up and rather awkwardly plonked into a large tub and dragged into the garage for protection.
 
 
For the large T rex I had to chop off all its large leaves and sever the extensive root system.  Which will cause it to pup profusely next year....
 
 
Finally an almost unrecognisable selection of plants, cut back and dug up.  Below we have Thalia dealbata, Arundo donax, Melianthus amongst other things.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sunday 25 November 2012

My gardening year in a 10 minute timelapse

Well I hope you enjoy watching this as much as I have making it. 

Ok lets introduce my latest and most demanding video to date. This is a full seasons growth of my main tropical bed from April to the November. Over 20,000 photos were taken to make this 10 minute film. It shows palms, colocasia, dahlias, grasses, gingers etc.

There are points in the film were the wind movement makes it hard to see the growth but at other times it's still and every thing can be seen pushing upwards.

There is a LOT to keep your eyes on in this film as plants grow at varying rates so you might have to watch bits many times over.

Flowers come and go and there is a surprise ending........

Anyway let me know what you think, please watch in HD for the full effect!



Saturday 3 November 2012

Some alpine oddities but still very exotic

Life is getting very hectic at the moment but I've still found time to revist RHS Harlow Carr, Harrogate.  It's not really the place to see a wide range of exotic and certainly not tropical plants, but there are a few hidden gems. 
 
There is a nice area showing garden styles through the ages, including a vivid, purple-walled modern garden with ferns and a chunky Trachycarpus fortunei.  (Unfortunately is was chucking it down and therefore too wet to get the camera out) 
 
There are some good sized Gunneras and bamboo at Harlow Carr as well as some nice Dawn Redwoods
 
 
Sasa bamboo by the waterside on a very wet day
 
 
 
 
 
But the the real gems can be found in the relatively new Alpine house which is totally unheated and well ventilated.  Below are a few of the treasures that I found.
 
 
 
 
A very small specimen
 
 
Here's a nice yellow edged variety
 
 
Maybe I can tempt you with this beauty?    These Aciphyllas are evergreen, frost-hardy plants from New Zealand.  They are also very spikey so not good for bordering paths or near children.
 
Now for a very beautiful plant, Saxifraga longifolia which produces rossettes up to 20 cm across.
 
 
 
And finally a plant I no nothing about but it looks rather bizzare and interesting so I thought I would take it's picture
 
 
 
SO it's worth visiting your local gardens, even if you think it's full of "run of the mill" plantsvas there's always a few hidden gems.  The  Saxifraga longifolia is one that I will grow in the future.
 
 

Monday 29 October 2012

Last of the summer wine.

Ok, it's time to admit that summer is long gone and Autumn is slowly turning into winter.  I still have one large colourful border of tropicals but the rest of the garden has been put to bed for winter.  The ensetes have been dug up as have the alocasias.  Palms have also been brought into the garage as shown here...





The summer bedding is past it's best but the dahlias are still putting on a fine show.  The next jobs will be to mulch the remaining colocasias and wrap up the musa basjoo.  I just need a few days to recover!

Next time, a far more sunnier blog post I promise!

Thursday 20 September 2012

Kew in a blur. Time to see what all the fuss was about.


Ok to begin with an apology.  Three quarters of the photos in this blog post are out of focus or soft focus.  This is because, unbeknown to me, my daughters had been playing with the settings on the camera and smeared mucky fingers on the lens!  (Lesson always check your equipment before going out)  Luckily I noticed by the time I got to the big Jubaea palm so there are at least a few good photos.

This was my first trip to Kew Gardens and the journey there was very straight forward, taking less than 3 hours from Wakefield, West Yorkshire to the Kew Gardens ticket office using public transport.


View of the Temperate house, one of three large glasshouses at Kew




The main reason I wanted to visit Kew gardens was to see "the largest plant in captivity" this is the famous Jubaea palm  Raised from seed in 1846, it is widely believed to be the tallest glasshouse plant and is certainly the largest palm under glass.  More on that later.....


First here are some images from the plants growing outdoors at Kew including some  Trachycarpus palms and many bamboos.


T fortunei
 

P congesta

 
P parvifolia
 
 
 
They have built a very high platform to see the gardens from above.  The structures themselves are very impressive.  Unfortunately for me the lift was out of order so had to use the stairs.
 
 

The views from the top were very impressive although not good if you suffer from vertigo!

 
 
 
Kew is full of fantastic structures, some old and some new.  Here is a great example, the Pagoda.  One thing that did spoil Kew was the constant sight of loud planes which at times spoiled the relaxing feel of the gardens.

Not all palms are inside at Kew, there are some fortunei, chammys and a couple of Jubaeas including this specimen.




Most of the really impressive plants are found in the three main glasses houses.  Feast your eyes on these.

 
 
Tree ferns
 
 
 
Giant water lilies


Colocasia

Yucca queretaroensis
 
Chamaerops humilis
 
 


Now the above is only a small snippet of what Kew has to offer.  I did take many photos of the famous cycads but these were too blurry to post. :-(


The main reason I went to Kew was to see the Jubaea as its world famous and wanted to know what my small Jubaea will look like in a 100 years time!

It's found in the temperate house and has grown to such a height that the crown of the plant is squashing against the top of the glass house.  There is some debate as to how long it will remain before it has to be cut down and removed.   These are the photos I took of this magnificent palm.







 
 
 
 
As you can see a magnificant palm what looks fantastic up close.  Make sure you see it soon before it's too late.