Cautleyas – a must for any tropical garden.

If you like jungle looking plants, luscious green foliage topped with contrasting colours like red and yellow, these plants should definitely be in your green space.

I bought a Cautleya from an NGS some years ago and it’s not until the last couple of years that’s I have realised how much I am in love with the ginger family (Zingiberaceae).

My very first, Cautleya spicata robusta is an easy to grow exotic looking plant that requires very little care.

Cautleya spicata robusta

Cautleya spicata robusta

They come up from no where and spear year on year. The black plastic pot was my first ever plant. I thought I’d lost it and then boom!

Like I say the last couple of years I have taken to time to find other ginger plants that I simply had to add to my collection and needless to say more Cautleya.

Cautleya cathcartii ‘Tenzing’s Gold’

This is a delicate yellow flower with no where near as much red in the bracts or on the foliage.

This is also much smaller than C. spicata robusta. This is Cautleya cathcartii ‘Tenzing’s Gold’.

Cautleya spicata ‘Crûg’s Compact’

I really love this miniature plant, it’s form is more upright, it still has red bracts and lovely bright yellow flowers.

This is Cautleya spicata ‘Crûg’s Compact’. You can see it’s shape below.

Cautleya spicata ‘Crûg’s Compact’

Another recent addition to my yarden and collection this year is a decent sized plant, a very upright form. Much more of an orange flower. T

This is Cautleya spicata ‘Bleddyn’s Beacon’.

Cautleya spicata ‘Bleddyn’s Beacon’

The following plant isn’t performing as well as the other species, sadly it has been knocked but I will persevere. It has a lovely purple tinge to the underside of the foliage.

I am happy to see that there are new shoots appearing next to the main stem. Watch this space. I don’t think I’ll have any flowers to share this year.

I also grew Cautleya lutea in my parents garden last year. It grew and flowered but didn’t make a reappearance. Needless to say it will be added back to this list.

I leave them in the pots all year and when frosts hit them the stalks just collapse. I chop them up and add them to my compost bin.

I give them a weed and too dress, then await their return the following year.

They are fairly easy to propagate too, I simply divide either in autumn or in spring and pot them up.

I believe you can also propagate from seed, I have never noticed any but will keep an eye out for these in the following month.

What are your thoughts on Cautleya? I find them really east to grow and give me that amazing jungle feel that I am trying to achieve.

Unusual Plant Delivery

I was excited to have this order from Edulis yesterday, so already more plants to add to my plant list.

The plants were well packaged, sadly a few were a little squashed, though I am pleased to report that they are already bouncing back and leaves unfolding.

I was happy to receive this order, many of the plants were on my wish list and I have been trying to get a hold of them for a little while. Some of the selection are also edibles.

This plant is a Chilean Guava (Ugni molinae), an unusual easy to grow fruit, also reputed the favourite fruit of Queen Victoria. They are small shrubs that have scented white flowers and are followed by dark red berries. Also they are bee friendly, every garden should have one!

I have become increasingly interested in the Zingiberacae family of plants and the main reason that I bought from this company was that they had Zingiber mioga ‘Dancing Crane’ and Zingiber mioga ‘White Feather’. Both of which are variegated versions of the mioga ginger (or Hardy Japanese Ginger). There are no pictures of these as they die down to their roots in the winter.

Another ginger I bought was a Alpinia japonica, also known to be a hardy variety, I was surprised that it was in leaf. I have found little information on this ginger so I am excited to see how it fares in comparison to the others in my collection.

I have been trying to add more edibles, so when I saw some of the following I thought they would be a great to add to the edible selection.

This small alpine strawberry (Fragaria vesca ‘Muricata’ aka Plymouth Strawberry) is a rather unusual one, it’t fruits are ‘hairy’ cone shaped. Intrigued how it is going to taste. (I know that this looks like this is a little worse for wear – it has already perked up since being outside).

Another interesting edible that I added to the order was Rubus arcticus aka Artic Raspberry, again no picture as this clearly dies down in winter. There are many buds protruding from the soil. This is a low clumping plant that has deep pink flowers followed by pineapple flavoured berries.

I already have a very well coloured clover so I couldn’t resist this pink leaved one. This is Trifolium repens ‘Isabella’. I was a little disappointed when it arrived, however I put it down to the cold weather and again it has already perked up and looking much happier.

Who else doesn’t like propagating plants to share with friends or increase your collection? Last year I had an idea to hang bottles in the yarden, added water and cuttings and watch them root! Silly me left them up during the winter and they literally exploded – reminder – take down for winter.

I also thought I would share a picture of this Cinnamon Vine (Dioscorea batatas) that I am growing from a small bulbil. I love how detailed it is. This is another edible I am going to grow this year.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the update on my delivery.

Do you also grow edibles or unusual plants? I’m always interested in hearing from any readers out there.

Happy gardening!

Seed arrival!

You may have read my blog about all the seeds I am looking forward to growing this year and I am happy that I had some of this collection arrive in the post day.

You may be wandering why I have decided to write another post so soon, well truthfully I am so impressed with this website that I felt that they needed a post to themselves.

The site has a good variety of seeds and they are very reasonably priced, truthfully I had some reservations.

The seeds arrived in less than a week, which is good especially with the delays that the mail services are still having.

I was really impressed when I opened the envelope, to find that there were individual detailed growing instructions for all the packets of seeds.

I know that I will definitely be keeping an eye on this site and see what exciting seeds they will have in future. The site also lists bulbs and plants so I am hoping that they may have some on offer soon also.

I know you are thinking why haven’t you the name of the site, so here it is:

World Wonder Gardens

I hope you have enjoyed reading this post, please do let me know what you think of this site and the comments I have made. I’d be really interested to hear if you decide to place an order and even more so how your seeds grow and thrive.

Winter’s here!

I hope this finds you well and gardening!!

I have finally cut some leaves off the Ensete murelii and have brought her inside.

I am always so saddened when I cut these stunning leaves from the plant (Ensete murelii), however I’ve learnt that this is a necessary evil to allow the plant to survive for the winter months. Along with not watering it whatsoever. This is a mistake that I have ignored in the past and sadly lost this beauty.

Many of my plants have had to come to their winter home, loving the green jungle which is our stairs!

This is one of my seed sown plants, Aeonium tabuliform, look at the prefect form of the leaves!

As the weather cools, hidden and forgotten friends return. This is Arum italicum pictum, soon we will have an insignificant flower to be followed by bright red berries.

Another stunner at this time of year is the beautiful Cyclamen hederofolium, look at their leaves! They even have beautiful flower … watch this space.

Many of the exotics are now inside, I am lucky enough to have a micro climate due to the high walls and the heat from a neighbouring launderette.

This Colocasia esculenta is still growing and looking quite at home in our tiny tropical yarden.

In other news, a friend on twitter sent me these huge cuttings. They look like bamboo, however they are Dahlia imperialis aka The Tree Dahlia.

It’s been an interesting year in the garden, I’ve grown many plants which I have never grown before. This is an interesting plant, it is a climber with delicate leaves and can flower if looked after properly. It has the added use that it is edible, it is known as Mashua, Latin name is Tropaeolum tuberosum.

It’s also been an interesting year in my parents garden, the bananas have grown well, I’ve also grown Mirabilis species, jalapa and longiflora. Both have also set seed and hopefully will see more of them round the garden next year.

Another plant that has really shown how well it performs is Impatiens tinctoria, a tall growing perennial with large scented white flower. A must have in any jungle garden.

Also pleased to have some seeds mature from my Hedychium, I believe it to be densiflorum ‘Stephen’.

I hope you’re all keeping well, keep gardening!

Wordless Wednesday

Exotic curiosities

Impressed with the size of the Taro or Colocasia esculenta.

I’m waiting for the Mirabilis Jalapa to flower.

Another Mirabilis, this time it is M. longiflora, again waiting for its buds to open.

I nearly cut the withering blooms but look how come flowers of this Geranium palmatum are clinging on and the bees are loving them.

These Hedychium are in bud already, standing tall in front of the Musa basjoo.

I hope you are enjoying the weather and green space.

Hot & exotic

It was a very hot and humid day today. I’m sure many of the tropical plants are loving it.

I still am not quite sure what this plant is, it’s growing well. Hopefully it will flower soon and will shed more light on the species.

I’m happy to see that the Cautleya spicata flower buds are starting to open.

Enjoy your green space.

All seasons in one day*

So I’ve managed to do a few bits outside today in the sun, rain and wind*.

I’ve finally put the stand together and placed some hostas on it. There needs to be some rearrangement but it’s a good start.

A lovely Dahlia flower. I had to buy these for my parents when I saw them! These are Dahlia Sandra. My mum’s name.

These are Amaranthus.

I love how big these ornamental gingers are growing! I am not sure of the variety of these Hedychium, I believe it could be ‘Stephen’.

These are the planters I prepared for my parents earlier this year.

I’ve spotted a few things of interest, hoping to catch you up on these soon.

Another boring post

Today I had planned to do so much.

Sadly my intended trip to Ikea halted my plans. It was so busy I decided to turn round.

I was wondering why my little ‘pond’ was leaking – perhaps the holes of drilled in the pot some time ago were the reason. Hahah.

I have mainly been trying to find plant pots for all my new plants. Why is it so difficult to find decent pots?!

I thought I’d leave you with this picture of my Japanese Ginger – Zingiber myoga.

I hope to have more of an update tomorrow.