Hello all,
I’m contemplating about an extended use of the Auricula Theatre. How can we extend the time using the Theatre for showing plants, other than Auriculas? My Theatre is located on a west facing wall, in bright shade with only a few hours of late afternoon direct sun. My wish is to extend the show into the summer and possibly also into the fall. The candidates (showy potted plants) I have come up with so far are:
Time prior the the Auricula show: Hepatica japonica, early Primula species.
Time after: Rhodoxis/Rhodohypoxis, low growing Dianthus, low growing Saxifraga cortusifolia.
Other plants I fancy are Hepatica nobilis, Soldanella, alpine Oxalis, Viola, Lewisia and Iris. But I believe their flowering time more or less coincides with the Auricula.
Maybe I need to abandon the idea of single genera shows, and go for a mixed plant theatre instead.
One other idea I have is to force a delay on the flowering time on part of the Auricula collection (duplicates). I could e.g. store plants in the dark and cool root cellar for a week or two or three. Has anyone tried that?
I very much appreciate any comments and pictures you can share.
A brief background:
I’m a long time passionate gardener located in Sweden. After 30 years in Gothenburg, my wife and I relocated to the east coast of the province of Skåne. We have downsized our living quarters, but upsized the area for gardening.
Recently retired, I’m now landscaping a new garden, mainly from scratch: A rock garden (Peter Korn style in pure sand) with mainly alpine plants, a woodland under the canopy of mature oak trees, wetland on a small island in a small stream, a large area is allocated for agroforestry (fruit, nuts, berries, and perennial vegetables). Also, I'm erecting a greenhouse, my first ever.
I recently rejoined the SRGC. Attending Shows and local meetings will obviously not be very frequent, but in the Forum we can all be close neighbours, sharing knowledge and experience.
