Sunday, 20 November 2011

I need a bath

This gardening malarkey is a lot harder if you don’t do it regularly as by ‘eckers I need a sit down and a bath after a day digging and moving stuff around....

Salvias are back for more! Tetrapanax also flowering for thr first time, usually the frosts get the buds...
Its been very autumnal/wintery here today with a heavy mist which has been very atmospheric as I have been completing the final prep for winter. Things are looking very run down, and I have been enjoying pulling stuff out and thinking through different vistas and plans for next year. I even found myself humming a few Christmas songs as I put up the last bits of bubble wrap in the greenhouse and the patio furniture under a tarp.

Its fun planning for next year, and my list of must haves is growing. Top of the list is Dahlia excelsa which Mark and Gaz have done a piece on. I bought a Dahlia imperialis this year and have been rather taken by its majesty and the speed at which it grows. It is a very architectural and solid plant, and from a July planting it is now 10ft tall and about to flower. D.excelsa is supposed to be hardier and more clumping which I think would be great

Dahlia is in the middle of the picture looking very un dahlia like!
Doing NGS has meant I’m wanting to take less risks over the winter and have dug all of my Musa sikkimensis up, and have found seeing the size of the roots and the corms interesting. I was also surprised how the one which took forever to break the ground was buried fairly deep and wonder if having a raised bed would speed up their re-emergence.  I find them completely root hardy, but they tend to lose their stems without protection so they are all destined to be fleeced and spend the winter in a covered side passage.
Musa sikkimensis root and corm

The line up waiting for potting up, all bananas destined for dry cover, chopped down canns for the meter cupboard
Anyway, I need a bath!
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3 comments:

  1. Janet21 November 2011 at 09:03

    All this TLC is a lot of work but worth it in the end. Can we have a close-up of the Tetrapanax in flower? I would have thought that was unusual even with this mild weather.

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  2. Mark and Gaz22 November 2011 at 04:46

    You'll definitely love D. excelsa, it'll look great in your garden! As you've said, by doing the NGS it gives you an extra onus to preserve the pseudostems, so you get to keep it's present height and gain even more next year. You might find in the future than some of your Musas will send out some runners that even if you dig out the main plant, one or two will sprout back from the ground the following year near in the immediate area of the original plant. Never a nuisance though, and you gain extra plants! :)

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  3. Wife, Mother, Gardener29 November 2011 at 17:41

    I bet that was a dirty job! So interesting to see how you are going about giving them cover. I assumed they would need to stay in soil, but glad to see they do not... more like my cannas. Perhaps I will try a few someday.

    Glad I stopped by from Victoria's. Exciting stuff!

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