Insects – friends & foes

I have never had many house plants, I’ve certainly had them scattered about our home, yet with the extra time on my hands this year I’ve turned inside into a jungle as well as outside.

Always trying to work with nature rather than against her, I attract birds and beneficial insects into the yarden. Whenever things get too much I seek help using biological control.

Other than the pesky sciarid flies and aphids I have been fairly lucky and had little issues inside the home.

I hadn’t realised how quickly pests can spread, especially once the heating is in and plants are feeling the strain.

I’m not sure how they came to be in our home, however we are now hosts to spider mites and they seem to have happily taken every plant as hosts too.

I found these biological insects to control the mites on two fronts.

They arrived today and I have followed the instructions so fingers crossed that they will tackle the spider mites quickly and allow the plants to return to their former beauty.

Whatever you do, don’t be perturbed abs carry on looking after your plants and in return will look after you.

Precious plants

I have spent a bit of time in the yarden today.

If you’ve been following my posts of late, you’ll know I grow the more unusual and where possible rarer type of plants and flowers.

I was really happy that these petunias survived the winter and have started to re flower.

I don’t normally grow petunias, but when I saw these silky black flowers I couldn’t resist and bought a couple of plants.

These pictures do not do these flowers justice.

I have grown black violas before but sadly they were no longer. I found these at weekend, I must try and propagate these to ensure I don’t lose them again. They maybe small but aren’t they stunning?

Viola ‘Molly Sanderson’.

Another plant I’ve grown before but sadly not been able to keep alive are these dark leaved ipomoea. sadly they have never flowered for me but still. How delicate are the leaves?

Another amazing plant that is a must in my yarden is Aeonium Swartzkopf

This year I also have these stunning but highly poisonous Ricinus New Zealand Purple. I’m hoping that those leaves will grow huge!

Another amazing plant that is showing itself is this Arisaema ciliatum var liubaense. I can’t wait until it’s flower comes out more.

Since we moved here I have tried to encourage wildlife by adding plants, water, food and different habitats. I am pleased to say we have regular visitors, bees and birds mainly however today I saw this stunning black and red moth – The Cinnabar moth (Tyria jacobaeae).

Whilst pottering about I tidied up some areas and also decided it is about time I made a ‘feature’ out of my lovely piece of art that I bought off eBay some years ago.

Let me know what you think of it.

It reminds me of my travels around Asia and how they have such ornate pieces of art. Also how water is often placed at the front door – I believe that this is meant to ward of evil spirits but I may be wrong.

What do you grow? I’d love the hear back from you.

I have to give special thanks to my friend David who has given me many unusual plants and who is teaching me more about the rarities out there. He actually gifted the aeonium, Arisaema, Hedychium and ricinus in these pictures.

Eco …

I have bought a solar powered water pump, it is working but to the extent I need for my project.

I’ve read and hear that when the sun is strong these do well, it’s been pretty over cast so hoping that it gets stronger.

If not I’ll use it elsewhere.

I’m loving the amount of bees and birds that are visiting!! Today I saw our usual visitors of sparrows along with some tits and a black bird.

Our yarden today is looking green and lush! Still a very small space but so happy what we have done with it. The recent downpours have really helped. I’d just like it to warm up again.

I met a lady today that helps re home injured hedgehogs and she suggested that our little jungle would be a perfect home. I am seriously considering it.

Being able to provide a home for my favourite UK wild animals, letting it munch on many of the slugs and snails as it’s likes.

I hate chemicals and always prefer a natural way to garden. I think this would be a win win for the hedgehog, the plants and the planet.

Watch this space!

Beauty in the garden

Another scorching non stop day.

I have amazing friends, my friend Jamie has loaned me this mechanical riddle to make lighter work of emptying the compost bin.

Look at the quality of this!! It’s so light yet full of life and healthy!! Can’t wait to use this with my plants!

Another friend, Helen, gave me these sweet peas, they are growing really well and I can’t wait to see the flowers and more scent in our yarden.

I had forgotten how beautiful some iris are and these are no exception. I will need to move these to a place that they are appreciated much more!

I am so happy with my caladium collection. I now need to move them to make best of their display!

I have more to do tomorrow and no doubt I’ll keep you updated.

Green, boring? NEVER!

The jasmine is not only looking amazing it smells better than you can imagine!

I pruned the fig tree, I decided to take many cuttings of varying types. We will soon see it they grow!

Look at the yucca about to flower.

This is my aloe shelf. Aloe vera, variegata and aristata.

This is a cool plant! Oxalis triangularis, they open and close. So cool!!

I have some borage in the yarden, love the colour of the flowers. However the bees love them!!!

This beauty is Aoenium zwartkop.

This is a montage of the various greens and foliage in our yarden. Hostas, ferns, grasses, bamboo, Zantedeschia, monkey puzzle, solanum.

Enjoy your green space and see you tomorrow.

Plants, more plants? YES!

Always exciting when your morning starts off with this!

So my order from AJ Plants arrived and I am pleased to see everything arrived in good condition.

https://ajplants.co.uk/

Here are two types of Zantedeschia – Flamingo and Green Goddess. Tropaelum tuberosa, globba bulbifera, lysichiton camstcharcensis and Aechmea cylindrata (the latter two are for my friend, David – he is so knowledgable!).

Also appearing in our yarden is this sole iris.

This is one of the … solanum I have grown from seed. Sadly it has no label. But pleased to see it in bud.

Clearly they are also delicious to slugs and snails.

Happy to see that I have a mountain papaya growing nicely. Vasconcellea pubescens.

Another Solanum, this is S. betaceum orange.

I love the foliage on these ipomoea quamoclit. I can’t wait to see them flower!

I helped these two little bees out of my house. They were both trying to get out of the window. I noticed they had spiders web caught on them, I helped them rid of this. The first flew off immediately. The second was hoot on my glove for far too long.

It’s so special to see these little bees so close.

I couldn’t find any crocks?!?!!! I added some plastic (old compost bag) to the bottom of the post to stop the compost falling out. Also helps retain some moisture for certain plants.

It is possibly a bit controversial, I add plastic to the bottom of many pots. I don’t have to water as much and the majority of my plants prefer their roots to remain moist.

I am pleased to see my caladiums open more! Here is Carolyn Whorton.

And this beauty is C.White Queen.

Until tomorrow.

Full day in the sun!

Another great sunny day!

Every morning I check seedlings and water houseplants. I am pleased to see the caladiums are finally growing well!!

A wander round the Tiny Tropical Yarden and look at the flower on this Zantedeschia Hercules along with my Ensete maurelii also known as the Abysinian Banana. Both are very tropical looking, though the ensete needs winter protection.

Here is another lily, same family as Hercules, Zantedeschia aeothiopica. Another hardy tropical looking plant.

I popped to my parents to drop off a few bits. I was pleased to see the Geranium palmatum in flower.

As soon as I returned home David and I had breakfast al fresco.

Then I got to work pottering about in our yarden. The first job was to decant the nettle tea into bottles, it was starting to smell badly as I had no cover for my bucket.

The blue skies and my bamboo!!

I repotted my Tetrapanex and Aspidistra saxoca, even have it some height by mounting on top of some breeze blocks. Fingers crossed it survives the ordeal.

I have recently started watching Beechgrove Garden and they had this great idea for house leeks and similar plants.

David helped me in the garden and we put this little bird house up. We do get lots of birds visiting the yarden and we thought we’d give them to option to stay over.

We also mounted some wine boxes on the walls.

It was great to see that this lovely bee was able to rest on the leaves in my little pond and take a well needed break and drink!

I am pleased to say that today was the first day we picked salad fresh from our yarden. This was a tasty herb salad of mixed salad leaves, dill, mint, oca and oregano.

More tomorrow I am sure …

What in the ‘hail’ is this?!

So a mixed day regarding the weather. Still fairly cool hitting about 6/7 in the night.

Felt chilly when I went in the the yarden, I even had a choob around my neck.

I’m not sure if you watch Gardener’s World, Monty Don was talking about taking Dahlia cuttings. I have done this with Dahlia Honka Black, I don’t grow many ‘normal’ plants buy as this dahlia has black flowers and is single, it fits my unusual theme and hopefully the bees with enjoy it too!

I have painted these wooden wine boxes with a preservative for a future yarden project. The stuff smells bad but keeps enhances the natural colour of the wood.

I can’t believe that the Geranium palmatum are already in bud!!! Soon these will be adorned with huge cerise / pink flowers.

I’m sure you know I am painting the fences, having to move many of my pots, I am going lots of insects. It’s grway to see what once was a concrete jungle is now a haven for wildlife.

My little pond is aiming back to life. These miniature water lily like plants pop back up from the depths every spring. It’s great to see all the wildlife this little amount of water attracts. From birds and bees drinking from it to the snails and bugs that live in there, not forgetting the plants!

I always prepare to garden with a cup of tea, love this mug with a lid!!

This Japanese reed grass gives continuity in the yarden and gives a flow almost like water.

I am pleased to have sown many edibles this year, here is a mix of salads that are ready for the picking.

I try and encourage wildlife in to the yarden, especially the birds. Their song and visits give me so much joy.

I bought this ‘window’ feeder about two years ago and the birds didn’t really bother with it. I decided to make it into a bird bath come drinking station. I know I need to hide the ‘soft cheese’ but I’m hoping it will get more use.

Other than that it’s been a wet day and even had hail!!! Let’s see if I can paint another fence panel tomorrow.

Thanks for reading. Please do let me know what you are doing in your green space.