Propagation pay off ?

A busy day gardening.

Started off when I went shopping in Aldi and they had these amazing bargains. Bought a few baskets for friends.

I took these dahlia cuttings yesterday. They are called ‘Sandra’, same name as my mum so eager to have many to share.

So happy that the setaria palmifolia are growing so well.

When the sun is out I love sharing my gardening time with my parents. Here is my dad pricking out and potting on some dahlia seedlings. I pricked out the mesembryanthemums seedlings.

I also potted on some more hostas and split a few too. Along with the Zantedeschia Odessa (black flowered arum).

I attempted to take some cuttings from the impatiens tinctoria.

The dreaded lily beetle is in a neighbourhood near you!! Watch out! Thankfully this isn’t in my yarden!

Hope to get some stuff down in our Tiny Tropical Yarden tomorrow.

Started the morning my labelling all the dahlias I’d split, using the recycled bottles I mentioned in a previous post. As you can see there are a lot of them!

I’ve been potting on cannas and hedychiums that I grew from seed in 2018.

Do you ever remember piggy back plants growing up? Everyone had them as houseplants and I was mesmerised by how they grew from a leaf. Well I grow these as a hardy garden plants at my parents, decided to make some more plants from cuttings.

Sorry for the bad picture, I am so pleased that my setaria palmifolia has finally got some growth!! It took me three years to find this plant and thought I’d lost it.

Some people think these are weeds, I love these plants and have been trying to sow the orange ones for a while! To no success. Look how beautiful they are!

During lockdown I have been gardening lots, both in my Tiny Tropical Yarden and my parents. Today I got my dad helping me sow some seeds.

I am not really a bedding plant type of guy but I am growing lots so that my parents can have a colourful garden that they like. Dad is sowing some tagetes.

People think that ferns are all the same, they’re all just green and meh. Well I can tell you they are not. This is a harts tongue fern uncurling.

Back in our yarden, this is our hanging shelf. Added Mediterranean themes plants. Pelargoniums and some cacti and succulents.

This plant has also been on my wish list for some time. This is Begonia Luxurians, with its palm like leaves and great upright growth along with scented flowers it is a must for our yarden!!

Thanks to Dibleys for finally allowing it to be at home in our Tiny Tropical Yarden.

To believe when we moved in, it was just concrete and lifeless. Now there are all sorts of life …

These are hardy aloe, they have been outside for two and a half years and still looking good.

This is going to be my aloe shelf. A mix of aloes – aristata, variegata and vera. Only the first being hardy but I may give them all a go once may is out.

Bit of a long one today. Hope you got some fresh air and your plants are all keeping you happy. Until 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!!