Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')

[Tim Ingram]

Tony - that's the trouble being a nurseryman, you end up selling all the plants and never planting any out (although it didn't help that the one I did was nibbled by rabbits!). I'm encouraged that our plant might start flowering before long - it is such a beautiful and ethereal blue.

[angie]

Tim I to think the Sophora davidii is lovely, something worth sourcing out I think. Might not grow up here in the cold north though.

Angie 

[Tim Ingram]

Angie - cold is not a problem, it comes from Central China, but it might not get enough summer heat in the north. I wonder if it is grown at The Botanics?

[Maggi Young]

I have contacted the Curator of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden in Aberdeen to ask if it is grown there. (In case Roma's pc is still playing up!)

[Brian Ellis]

Very pretty Dianthus arenarius Tony, and I think the Sophora is a lot nicer than the normal yellow ones!

[angie]

Angie - cold is not a problem, it comes from Central China, but it might not get enough summer heat in the north. I wonder if it is grown at The Botanics?

Would be interested to find out if I could try it up here. Maggi it will be great to hear what the Curator of the Cruickshank gardens say.

Angie 

[tonyg]

Would be interested to find out if I could try it up here. Maggi it will be great to hear what the Curator of the Cruickshank gardens say.

Angie 

It seems to have flowered better after winters with real cold here but that maybe just a coincidence.  We were not blessed with a hot summer last year!

[Maggi Young]

Would be interested to find out if I could try it up here. Maggi it will be great to hear what the Curator of the Cruickshank gardens say.

Angie 

I've heard from the Cruickshank: they don't grow that lovely Sophora davidii but they do have a yellow Sophora tetraptera.

[angie]

I've heard from the Cruickshank: they don't grow that lovely Sophora davidii but they do have a yellow Sophora tetraptera.

Might be still worth giving it a go, thats if I find a someone that stocks it.

Angie 

[Roma]

As far as I know the Sophora tetraptera is in a pot in the greenhouse.  I did root a cutting but did not get round to planting it outside.  I haven't seen it in the garden but there is still one in a pot in the greenhouse.  It's been cut back a few times so does not look very attractive now.

[Maggi Young]

As far as I know the Sophora tetraptera is in a pot in the greenhouse.  I did root a cutting but did not get round to planting it outside.  I haven't seen it in the garden but there is still one in a pot in the greenhouse.  It's been cut back a few times so does not look very attractive now.

Thanks Roma, I did wonder if it was the case that it was inside.

[Tim Ingram]

Sophora tetraptera is the New Zealand Kowhai. We grow it well down here and it flowers very freely - eventually quite a good size; 15 to 20 feet - we have two grown from seed about half that height. It has tolerated temperatures down to -14°C just for a short time last winter, so I imagine should grow in the more coastal parts of Scotland at least. Another NZ species (or hybrid) that I had as a little seedling years ago from Jack Elliott, however, was killed by last winter's cold, so this temperature must be close to the limit.

This is a fascinating genus - there are quite a few North American species from the hot and dry south and west with purple and blue flowers. Will be a challenge to grow! Maybe good for the 'desert garden' at East Ruston in Norfolk.

[tonyg]

A belated and brief update.

In the wet and recently warm summer the weeds grow apace.  I'll spare you the pictures! 

We are enjoying our outdoor dining area and I sit and dream after meals of how the area around it might be planted ..... when time allows!

The last of the spring bulbs to flower has delivered its seed.  Tulipa sprengeri, harvested recently.

[tonyg]

Progress!  Big Progress!  Thanks to a Time Team project to recover some of the lost garden of Hellesdon in three days after the Norfolk AGS Conference.  Thanks to Celai & Ian, visiting from the West, whose generosity (and muscle) enabled it to happen.

Mind you, there's plenty left to keep us busy but we have really turned a big corner this week.  More pictures as it develops.

[tonyg]

Very interesting, Cyclamen graecum in the old greenhouse raised bed is sending up lots of flower buds.  The glass was removed in the early Spring and after a cool wet summer I had not expected any flowers.  Indeed I have only once had a flower on Cyclamen graecum in the open garden in ten years.  So how come they are going to flower this year?  Perhaps the few days of extreme heat at the end of July was enough to initiate flower bud development?  Anyone got a better idea?