In a UK garden

  • 14 Replies
  • 10146 Views
*

Alisdair

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
In a UK garden
« on: August 20, 2012, 09:58:56 AM »
Rather off-topic, I'm afraid, as the main plant I'm showing here would be very unhappy in typical mediterranean conditions - but I hope I'll be forgiven, as at least it is pictorial, and is in our garden now!
The plant in the first two pictures is Desfontainea spinosa, in a sheltered corner by our house in south-east England, growing to a height of nearly 3 metres. What's unique is that this has already flowered, in June, and now is flowering for a second time - it's never done that before, and this year's weird weather with such a wet dark summer must be responsible. I've loved this evergreen, from humid parts of southern Chile, ever since I first saw it in my aunt's garden in Scotland, and discovered that if you pulled off a flower you could suck a delicious nectar from the back of the tube. And it's always fun to see a "holly" (actually the leaves are opposed in pairs, unlike any true holly) that has such pretty flowers. Sadly, it needs far too equable a climate to cope with mediterranean heat, sun and summer drought.
The third picture shows some salvias here, rather more "mediterranean-happy" plants, coping well with our non-summer, and like the Desfontainea photographed this morning.
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

*

MikeHardman

  • Hero Member
    • www.mikehardman.com
Re: In a UK garden
« Reply #1 on: August 20, 2012, 11:29:24 AM »
Interesting, Alisdair.

I have never seen Desfontainea spinosa in the flesh, but your photos provide a good 'taste' of it. Holly like, indeed. I presume it is hummingbird/lepidoptera pollinated, going on the shape of the flowers (which also remind me of Hamelia patens and some Fuchsias).

I think your collection of Salvias is curiously pleasant, colour-wise. I would never have thought of such a colour combination, but it seems to work in its own way. Nice one, Nature!
Mike
Geologist by Uni training, IT consultant, Referee for Viola for Botanical Society of the British Isles, commissioned author and photographer on Viola for RHS (Enc. of Perennials, The Garden, The Plantsman).
I garden near Polis, Cyprus, 100m alt., on marl, but have gardened mainly in S.England

pamela

  • Sr. Member
Re: In a UK garden
« Reply #2 on: August 20, 2012, 03:07:46 PM »
Lovely salvias, Alisdair.  Do I see S.patens 'Cambridge blue'?  A really intense sky blue.
Jávea, Costa Blanca, Spain
Min temp 5c max temp 38c  Rainfall 550 mm 

"Who passes by sees the leaves;
 Who asks, sees the roots."
     - Charcoal Seller, Madagascar

pamela

  • Sr. Member
Re: In a UK garden
« Reply #3 on: August 20, 2012, 06:55:02 PM »
The flowers of the Desfontainia spinosa look so much like Cuphea micropetala.
A pretty plant and obviously very vigorous where you are.  
« Last Edit: August 20, 2012, 07:09:58 PM by pamela »
Jávea, Costa Blanca, Spain
Min temp 5c max temp 38c  Rainfall 550 mm 

"Who passes by sees the leaves;
 Who asks, sees the roots."
     - Charcoal Seller, Madagascar

*

Alisdair

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
Re: In a UK garden
« Reply #4 on: August 20, 2012, 06:55:32 PM »
Absolutely right, Pamela! It is a good blue, pretty fade-proof. We've been very lucky with the exact siting of the desfontainea as it doesn't usually much like the south-east of England.
« Last Edit: August 20, 2012, 06:57:30 PM by Alisdair »
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

pamela

  • Sr. Member
Re: In a UK garden
« Reply #5 on: August 20, 2012, 07:05:53 PM »
Desfontainia spinosa doesn't like alkaline soil....so no good for the Med basin.
Jávea, Costa Blanca, Spain
Min temp 5c max temp 38c  Rainfall 550 mm 

"Who passes by sees the leaves;
 Who asks, sees the roots."
     - Charcoal Seller, Madagascar

Joanna Savage

  • Sr. Member
Re: In a UK garden
« Reply #6 on: August 20, 2012, 07:18:10 PM »
Alisdair, do you know who des Fontaines was or why the plant is so called? I have seen it growing in Chile and have tried to grow it from seed both in Australia and here in Toscana. No luck. It reminds me of Australian Xmas bells, genus Blandfordia, I think.

*

John J

  • Hero Member
Re: In a UK garden
« Reply #7 on: August 21, 2012, 04:51:59 AM »
Sorry if I'm leaping in on your question, Alisdair, but the plant was named after Rene Louiche Desfontaines (1750-1833)  a French botanist and professor at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.
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: In a UK garden
« Reply #8 on: August 21, 2012, 07:52:19 AM »
Thanks very much, John, for jumping in there - I'd have had to burrow among my books!
Joanna, it's interesting that you say it reminds you of Christmas bells. That's pollinated by honeyeaters. In Chile the Desfontainea is pollinated by the local equivalent, a humming-bird, the green-backed firecrown - there's actually a picture of the bird drinking from the flower in A Wildlife Guide to Chile, by Sharon Chester (Princeton, 2010).
Pamela, you mentioned Cuphea micropetala; that's another hummingbird plant.
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

*

JTh

  • Hero Member
    • Email
Re: In a UK garden
« Reply #9 on: August 21, 2012, 03:43:53 PM »
I love your salvias as well, Alisdair. I am particularly fond of the blue ones, and in spite of the very wet and rather cool summer here in Oslo, the salvias (Salvia patens) I started  from  seeds bought from  Sweden are  doing well, the flowers are much bigger than I have ever seen before,  and they are intensely blue.
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.

pamela

  • Sr. Member
Re: In a UK garden
« Reply #10 on: August 21, 2012, 05:32:20 PM »
Quite lovely, Jorun!
Jávea, Costa Blanca, Spain
Min temp 5c max temp 38c  Rainfall 550 mm 

"Who passes by sees the leaves;
 Who asks, sees the roots."
     - Charcoal Seller, Madagascar

*

Alisdair

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
Re: In a UK garden
« Reply #11 on: August 21, 2012, 07:01:18 PM »
Wow, terrific colour, Jorun!
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

*

JTh

  • Hero Member
    • Email
Re: In a UK garden
« Reply #12 on: August 21, 2012, 08:49:39 PM »
Do you grow your salvias as annuals or perennials, Alisdair? I would love to have S. patens in Greece, but I suppose it's too hot and dry.
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.

*

Alisdair

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
Re: In a UK garden
« Reply #13 on: August 22, 2012, 09:39:33 AM »
Here in the UK we grow them as "intended perennials" - that's to say, we hope they'll pull through the winter, but we have to keep our fingers crossed with the borderline ones. Some winters they make it, others they don't. Helena usually takes cuttings of those and keeps them rather dry under frost-free glass over winter, as a reserve.
We grow very few in Greece; apart from one plant of 'Bee's Bliss', only the abundant local S. fruticosa (syn. S. triloba) in the unwatered part of our hot dry garden there - we have tried one or two of the herbaceous ones in that part, but they don't like it. We do have a very few other shrubby ones in parts that get some irrigation.
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

*

JTh

  • Hero Member
    • Email
Re: In a UK garden
« Reply #14 on: August 22, 2012, 11:47:46 AM »
I'll try to lift them before the frost and store them in a frost-free place.
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.