Plant of the Day

  • 489 Replies
  • 155658 Views

David Dickinson

  • Hero Member
    • Email
Re: Plant of the Day bucket size
« Reply #360 on: December 17, 2017, 06:04:16 PM »
Hi Alisdair,

I think I forgot to reply to your posting re the size of the buckets I am using.

They are as you thought, the thick black plastic ones with handles. I am using various sizes from 75l down through 50l and then 40l. So far so good. No splits with neither the summer nor winter extremes of temperature. And the handles help with moving them when necessary. Holes are easily drilled into the bottom for drainage. I put a layer of horticultural fleece across the bottom to stop soil being washed out.

I have put them in  tiers from the back to the front and on the front line I have put some trailing plants to cover the front of the bins e.g. Helianthemum "Ben Fhada" (just getting big enough now to cover the front but worth the wait, I hope, If it flowers next year) and Emilia coccinea    (truly an annual? Still going strong for me though flowering marginally less now than in the summer and autumn). Some clay pots at the very front but I have bought some flat plastic builder's trays 20cm deep where I intend to plant a mix of high growing and trailing sedums to form the front line next year. It may be too hot but I have a lot of cuttings on the go. The parent plants will be kept more in the shade, as they were this year, so I shouldn't lose any type of plant altogether.

At the back there are tall bushes e.g. Buddleja madagascariensis or tall growing climbers e.g. Plumbago capensis  I also train annual climbers up through the more robust perennials e.g. Ipomea quamoclit (summer flowering) growing up the stems of a yellow rambling rose (spring flowering) and Clematis armandii (early spring flowering). Maurandya barclayana is the fourth in the combination and still flowering even after the freezing temperature of one night last week.- thanks for the seeds Chantal  :)

Here are some pics to give you an idea of how things are coming on but just to say that bins seem to work, are a quarter of the price of pots and, if covered in plants, are not too bad on the eye. There is one of the "garden" before I started and a couple of views  taken this summer. The "Ben Fhada" can be seen a couple of weeks after it was planted last spring and as it is now.
I have a small garden in Rome, Italy. Some open soil, some concrete, some paved. Temperatures in winter occasionally down to 0°C. Summer temperatures up to 40°C in the shade. There are never watering restrictions but, of course, there is little natural water for much of June, July and August.

*

Alisdair

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
Re: Plant of the Day
« Reply #361 on: December 18, 2017, 08:47:46 AM »
Thanks very much, David; they're certainly working wonderfully well for you.
Alisdair Aird
Gardens in SE England (Sussex); also coastal Southern Greece, and (in a very small way) South West France; MGS member (and former president); vice chairman RHS Lily Group, past chairman Cyclamen Society

*

John J

  • Hero Member
Re: Plant of the Day - Eremophila maculata 'Aurea'
« Reply #362 on: January 01, 2018, 01:43:55 PM »
It's name may roughly translate as 'Desert lover' and it may come from the hot, arid regions of Australia but our plants seem to have adapted well to the, possibly, less harsh climate of Cyprus. Photo taken this morning.
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)

*

Alisdair

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
Re: Plant of the Day
« Reply #363 on: January 02, 2018, 10:34:41 AM »
You do grow an amazing variety of unusual plants, John, your photos showing how worthwhile they are. Maybe one day you'll find the time to collect all that helpful information into a book?
Alisdair Aird
Gardens in SE England (Sussex); also coastal Southern Greece, and (in a very small way) South West France; MGS member (and former president); vice chairman RHS Lily Group, past chairman Cyclamen Society

Umbrian

  • Hero Member
    • Email
Re: Plant of the Day
« Reply #364 on: January 08, 2018, 10:27:56 AM »
In full glory now my Chimonanthus praecox - on sunny days the scent permeates the whole garden.
MGS member living and gardening in Umbria, Italy for past 19 years. Recently moved from my original house and now planning and planting a new small garden.

*

John J

  • Hero Member
Re: Plant of the Day - Coleus?
« Reply #365 on: January 10, 2018, 03:39:14 PM »
Today's photo on the MGS Facebook page is of what I have for years been calling coleus, only to be informed by Alisdair that I now have to learn to refer to them as Plectranthus. Do taxonomists get a sort of perverse pleasure out of causing headaches for old fogies like me? The photos are of some of the Plectranthus that my wife has growing in pots.
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)

Umbrian

  • Hero Member
    • Email
Re: Plant of the Day
« Reply #366 on: January 11, 2018, 08:55:29 AM »
Another winter flowering shrub with a wonderful scent, much sharper and less cloying than the Chimonanthus- Lonicera fragrantissima.
MGS member living and gardening in Umbria, Italy for past 19 years. Recently moved from my original house and now planning and planting a new small garden.

Daisy

  • Sr. Member
Re: Plant of the Day
« Reply #367 on: January 11, 2018, 10:43:18 AM »
Lovely scent. There used to be one near where I worked in England. I used to stop and sniff it for ages when I could.
 I got a few funny looks from passers by.
Daisy
Amateur gardener, who has gardened in Surrey and Cornwall, England, but now has a tiny garden facing north west, near the coast in north east Crete. It is 300 meters above sea level. On a steep learning curve!!! Member of both MGS and RHS

Umbrian

  • Hero Member
    • Email
Re: Plant of the Day
« Reply #368 on: January 12, 2018, 08:16:33 AM »
My first introduction to this plant was very similar Daisy many years ago in the U.K. Walking through a small park in our local town I was intrigued by the lovely scent all around me and could not ascertain where it was coming from, everything looked quite dead and lifeless. Then I spotted the small white flowers along the bare branches of several untidy looking shrubs- they had been 'pruned' at some time rather haphazardly as often happens in municipal planting. It became  a ' must have' immediately and has featured in my gardens ever since. Luckily it survives the summer heat and drought well here in Italy and never ceases to please. I find that due to its exuberant and often untidy growth it is best placed in an inconspicuous place as the scent carries well although it will stand severe pruning if necessary.
MGS member living and gardening in Umbria, Italy for past 19 years. Recently moved from my original house and now planning and planting a new small garden.

*

John J

  • Hero Member
Re: Plant of the Day - Correa backhouseana
« Reply #369 on: January 16, 2018, 03:59:18 PM »
Our Correa is coming into flower. Even the tiny cutting we stuck into the ground, more out of hope than expectation, has decided to get in on the act.
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)

*

Fermi

  • Hero Member
    • Email
Re: Plant of the Day - Lycoris incarnata
« Reply #370 on: February 11, 2018, 02:53:31 PM »
Lycoris incarnata is usually the first of the genus to flower in our garden.
Although they do not come from "Mediterranean" type areas they survive here in raised beds which get minimal water during summer. They have multiplied over the years and there are many spikes just coming through the gravel. They do not last as long in flower as nerines but share the same common name of "Spider-lilies", though another name they are given is "Surprise Lilies"! They usually surprise me when they first appear and I often miss the first flowers :-[ The first 2 pics are of the first flower-head to bloom so the flowers are just passing their best. The last pic is of a separate plant freshly open
cheers
fermi
Mr F de Sousa, Central Victoria, Australia
member of AGS, SRGC, NARGS
working as a physio to support my gardening habit!

*

Alisdair

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
Re: Plant of the Day
« Reply #371 on: February 12, 2018, 09:05:19 AM »
Fantastic, Fermi! Lycorises are as you say surprisingly successful in mediterranean gardens. Both L. aurea and L. radiata have multiplied very well indeed in our hot Greek garden, but you're right about having to catch them at the right moment - as we go there only a few times a year, we've only ever caught L. radiata in flower once in the 15 years since I first planted them!
Alisdair Aird
Gardens in SE England (Sussex); also coastal Southern Greece, and (in a very small way) South West France; MGS member (and former president); vice chairman RHS Lily Group, past chairman Cyclamen Society

*

Fermi

  • Hero Member
    • Email
Re: Plant of the Day - Rhodophiala bifida
« Reply #372 on: March 11, 2018, 06:38:22 AM »
Rhodophiala bifida is a South American amaryllid, related to hippeastrum.
We have a few different forms, an orange-red, a blood-red and a pink.
1, 2) We raised some seedlings by crossing the two red forms in 2013 and the first of those came into flower this week!
3, 4) A pink form also raised from seed (from a SRGC Forumist in Argentina) was also in flower so I've crossed the two to see what results ;D
cheers
fermi
Mr F de Sousa, Central Victoria, Australia
member of AGS, SRGC, NARGS
working as a physio to support my gardening habit!

David Dickinson

  • Hero Member
    • Email
Re: Plant of the Day Salvia lyrata "Purple Knockout"
« Reply #373 on: April 26, 2018, 12:12:42 AM »
This is this plant's second year and the flower spikes are much taller than last year.  Not spectacular but it looks nice against other plants around with its  purple/brown foliage.
I have a small garden in Rome, Italy. Some open soil, some concrete, some paved. Temperatures in winter occasionally down to 0°C. Summer temperatures up to 40°C in the shade. There are never watering restrictions but, of course, there is little natural water for much of June, July and August.

David Dickinson

  • Hero Member
    • Email
Re: Plant of the Day Maurandya barclayana
« Reply #374 on: May 24, 2018, 02:28:07 AM »
Since I got seeds of this from Chantal (thanks as always) I have had to grow it afresh from seed as it has been killed each winter. Until this year, that is. This year, with the lowest temperatures I have ever seen in Rome, the plant survived intact! For the first time I have flowers now and don't have to wait until autumn to see them.
I have a small garden in Rome, Italy. Some open soil, some concrete, some paved. Temperatures in winter occasionally down to 0°C. Summer temperatures up to 40°C in the shade. There are never watering restrictions but, of course, there is little natural water for much of June, July and August.