Few more pictures

Haven’t done lots in the yarden today. Thought I’d share pictures of the plants I have recently blogged about.

This is the Lathyrus latifolius ‘White Pearl’.

This is a very bad picture of these fairly tall Cyperus longus.

And here we have the Impatiens auricoma x bicaudata.

These are the beautiful Rhodohypoxis now potted up in terracotta.

Other than that I went for a trip to Ikea to get more plant pots and sadly after the hour queue to get in they had sold out of the ones I went in for.

I’ve hung the plants regardless but as you can see I need better plant pots!

This gives you the idea.

Speak tomorrow.

Collection growing!

Dare I say, more and more plants have joined my growing collection today.

When I was heading out I found my expected parcel, earlier than expected which was a nice surprise.

I’ve been looking for this plant for quite some time – Pandanus amaryllifolius. This is a plant that James Wong writes about in one of his books. They are used in Asian cooking to add a vanilla flavour.

I went to collect a Facebook find in a nearby area, to buy a white everlasting pea – Lathyrus latifolius ‘White Pearl’.

The lady was lovely and we chatted about plants and gardening for some time.

We were accompanied by her lovely dog, who seemed to enjoy the attention. I do miss having a dog.

She showed me round her lovely garden and also gave me some seeds for the everlasting peas to see if I could grow them myself.

Or only that she gave me some of these stunning little alpines. These are Rhodohypoxis. I’ve grown these before back when I lived at my parents. Sadly they don’t like being wet in the winter. This tends to kill them. They do form lovely clumps.

After leaving, I collected my friend Stella and we headed to Parker’s to look for some pots. Sadly they were a little expensive and not what we were looking for. I did manage to get a shelf that sits on top of my potting tray.

We headed to one of our favourites – Aqualife. The staff are really friendly.

I came away with an extra Cyperus longus aka Native Sweet Galangale (James Wong book) and a Zantedeschia aethiopica ‘Kiwi Blush’

A Houttuynia cordata ‘Chameleon’ which is another edible in James Wongs book!

I was also given this creeping plant – I believe it to be a Gunnera magellanica.

I was also given a cutting of a rarer form of Gunnera. This has a velvety touch to the leaf. I’m not sure of the variety on this one.

I got home late, ate dinner and started potting up the plants.

Looking forward to more gardening tomorrow.

Plant day.

Had a busy day shopping but also had time to visit this amazing place!! Aqualife in Poynton.

Bought Cyperus longus which was listed in James Wong’s book – native Sweet Galangal.

I also couldn’t resist a dark flowered Hemerocaulis aka Day lily.

A friend told me about this flower stand being sold on facebook. At first someone else had got their dibs but it wasn’t meant to be … so yay! Here it is. After a drive to Salford I bought this plant stand to display hostas in my parents garden.

I got it home and then potted on a few plants.

The weather wasn’t as bad as it has been of late.

Wordless Wednesday

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.

Plant frenzy yarden jungle

We haven’t had any rain for some time and it has been so warm that all the plants having been growing faster than I ever imagined!

Space in our yarden is getting more and more sparse! Though I can always fit in just one more plant.

Lately I have had lots of deliveries and at one point I thought that I got a delivery every day of the week!

Here are some plants that’s have arrived recently:

In a clock wise direction. Setaria palmifolia, Impatiens tinctora, Canna x ehemanii, two Eucomis pole evansii and Hedychium yunnanense. This was literally when I had just unpacked them. They are all doing great now.

I bought the impatiens as this is a white variety and is meant to have an incredible scent. The canna is meant to grow huge! These Eucomis are meant to grow really big too and the Hedychium has luscious leaves and hopefully will have beautiful white flowers. Fingers crossed!

I am really lucky that one of my friends was recently holidaying in Cornwall and she was generous enough to get some plants from my wish list whilst there. Here is another Setaria palmifolia, an exotic grass that has palm like leaves, giving that truly tropical feel and Zantedeschia ‘White Giant’, a much larger version of my already much loved Zantadeschia aeotopica, I’m hoping that this will grow to to about 4.5 feet in the next couple of years.

Also I am so pleased at how the plants have been flowering; if you have read some of my previous posts you may realise that I tend to grow more leafy plants; yet I have had great pleasure in some of the recent colour, variety and most of all scent that they have brought to our tiny yarden.

I thought I would share some of these flowers.

I fell in love with this tiny flowered shrub when we visited Kefalonia last summer. This is Cestrum nocturnum, which although has greenish insignificant flowers, more than makes up with an intoxicating scent that gives the air a Mediterranean summers evening; even here in Stockport!

The lovely white flowers of these cosmos are brightening up a darkened area of the yard and bees love them!

Here are the Zantedeschia Aeotpica I mentioned earlier, these are a real statement plant and already stand about 3 feet tall, I can’t imagine what the ‘White Giant’ is going to look like in the hopefully near future.

This tiny annual is called Alysum, and though I never set out on using this in my yarden, a recent visit to a plant nursery changed my mind! Another scented plant and invaluable to accomplish my goal. Basically the lesson here is don’t be a plant snob!

Another of my favourite species of plants has to be geraniums. They are tough, hard working and give you lots for your money! In this case, this stunningly tiny white flowered geranium was given to me by a friend. As much as I think I have planted it in the wrong area, this is definitely an accidental keeper! I’m expecting it to self seed all over. It reminds me of gypsophila and bouquets of flowers.

You all know I love hostas and I love everything about them, here is Hosta ‘Queen of the Seas’ with lovely white tubular bells, again another regular stop for the bees.

You may have noticed, I generally grow blue and white flowers and perhaps some black, but these are harder to come by. This is Allium carulem, it is only a very dainty flower but added colour nonetheless.

I may have mentioned these beauties before, but I cannot get over how blue and stunning they are. They keep growing, flowering and though they do not provide scent like many other sweet peas I guarantee they will make you smile.

Another amazing scent in my yarden is this small alpine plant that I bought from a plant fair. I had never come cross a Zaluzianskya ovata before; I had to give it a go and the evening perfume is heavy and unmissable.

Apologies for the delay in publishing this, I am currently on holiday in Skiathos, Greece. I am currently taking lots of pictures of the amazing plants out here and will have another blog soon.

Enjoy your green space!!