Troughs

[Lesley Cox]

Looks like that fantastic Berberis I saw in another thread earlier today or yesterday. Would like it very much.

My entire crop (3 berries) of ripe Vaccinium praestans disappeared overnight. Not a slug or anything so small, no nibbling, but total robbery. I suspect a possum or a rabbit.

[ranunculus]

Hi Anne and Lesley,
The lovely little Berberis is 'Corallina Compacta', makes quite a show for such a diminutive plant.  Only two inches high at present, but just a young plant.

[JohnnyD]

Great troughs Cliff.
Do I detect some plants from Gerd Stopp?
I have found that many of his plants prefer to be planted together in troughs - even the Tesco mushroom box variety! - rather than coddled in individual pots in the alpine house.
The pictures show plants destined for use in mini-garden conditions so are better not too big.
Now I am (finally) retired I may be able to keep up to them a little better!
J.

[ranunculus]

The troughs are looking good, John ... retirement is a WONDERFUL thing ... ENJOY!!!

John and Clare enjoying retirement at the Alhambra.

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks for the correct name Cliff. I know this was in NZ at one time, maybe back in the 60s when there was a great alpine nursery in Christchuch. It Still exists but the range of plants is smaller and quite different. I haven't seen this Berberis here for many a long year.

I still can't get whole enlarged pictures. Johnny is sitting in solitary state while Clare is separate when I scroll along. The picture itself doesn't seem too big, judging from the info at the bottom so I don't know what the problem is. I did what Maggi said, clicked outside the pic then rolled the centre button towards me but that made the whole page smaller, not just the picture, so the problem remained. This never happened before the change so maybe something in my settings has gone wrong. I have to scroll across with a lot of pics now.

[Lesley Cox]

Yesterday I planted 8 species in what started its life over 50 years ago as a concrete calf drinking trough. They have holes in the bottom which were plugged when used as drinking troughs but could be opened for cleaning. I have 17 of these and all are in use as holders for seed pots. They take either 24 90mm pots or 15 100 mm pots, outside in all weathers but I throw a frost cloth over them in very heavy rain or, in winter if there's something tender among the seedlings.

This one had had all its occupants potted up except the plant on the top left which is Clematis gentianoides, the one only which germinated 4 or 5 years ago and has become so entrenched in the draining gravel and sand at the bottom that I can't remove it without taking all of that as well. So I decided to plant this one instead of using it for seed pots. Maybe in time I'll plant them all.

There are no rocks at present but I'll add a few crevice-type slivers soon. The soil is leafy/gritty and as well as the clematis which flowers freely, there are along the top, Salvia daghestanica and Helichrysum sibthorpii (virgineum) to give background in front of the top layer of troughs. The others are John Weagle's mini beschornaria (name unknown, 20cms in bloom) Campanula troegerae, Nepeta phylloclamys, Eriogonum douglasii, and two groups of 3 each, Saussaurea ?gnaphaloides. The mix may prove too rich for these but I have more and will try some in gravel/sand alone with just a little humus.

The mix is pretty much weed-free so as soon as it has settled, I'll cover the top with a thick layer of shale. One down, 16 to go!

[DirtGently]

The plant in photo H is stunning. What is it?

[Lesley Cox]

Dirk, see replies 375 and 377.

Sorry, I misread your profile as Dirk, but I can't call you Dirt, can I?

[ChrisB]

Does anyone know why the subject troughs is in bold when all the others aren't?

[Maggi Young]

 

Does anyone know why the subject troughs is in bold when all the others aren't?

Not entirely sure what you mean 
 The subject of every topic is bold. Troughs is one ofthe topics set to be "sticky" ( remain at the top of the listing) and so is one of those in a slightly different colour scheme.....

[DirtGently]

Dirk, see replies 375 and 377.

Sorry, I misread your profile as Dirk, but I can't call you Dirt, can I?

Thank you!

And of course you may; I am not a character from a Douglas Adams novel. Or DG will do.

[kindredspiritkevin]

Planted another 12 troughs on Saturday.

Here's pics of 6 of them.

I'm only a beginner so go gently.

[David Nicholson]

Firstly congrats to Mr Dower for finally joining the ranks of the retired. Money's not as good John but the hours are great!

Secondly some first class trough pictures over the last couple of weeks. I have this image in my mind of a certain Mr Buttercup roaming the hills above Whitworth scavenging drinking troughs from every available field and being chased by a posse of Rochdalian cowboys

Good start Kevin. I do think some top dressing helps to set off a trough though and the last one could do with a bit more stone. I still haven't started mine.

[hadacekf]

[

author=ranunculus link=topic=3537.msg245790#msg245790 date=1336322934]
Some of my stone troughs have been in desperate need of a revamp for far too long and this weekend has been sunny (though cold) enough to allow me to get four or five of them replanted and top dressed. Some images taken this afternoon in between the live football matches on the television.

Cliff, nice trough, I like it.

[annew]

kindredspiritkevin - the troughs look great and will be a great pleasure to you. Top dressing, if you can get it, will help to reduce drying out, and protect the compost from being washed away in your Irish rain (it wasn't 'soft' rain when I was in Killarney!).