The Seven Palms Bed

In May we planted a small area of woodland, which we have called The Seven Palms Bed. It is a large oval shaped border, approximately 7m x 5m in which we planted seven Trachycarpus fortunei palms in the centre. These were taken from our hospital area – not good enough for sale but recovering well enough to be planted out.

The Seven Palms Bed

Around the outside of the border are six Ailanthus altissima (Tree of Heaven). This is a bit of an experiment. The plan is to pollard these in spring. Hopefully they will react to pollarding like many trees and produce enormous palm-like leaves. If they don’t we may need a re-think. Hydrangeas aspera, sargentiana and ‘Nepal Beauty’ will add large leaves and flower power and Aralia variegata and Aralia aureomarginata create a refined elegance. Evergreen colour and ground cover are supplied by Heucheras ‘Obsidian’ and ‘Crème Brulee’, Epimediums and Pachysandra variegata. Large leaved perennials include Angelica gigas, Astilboides tabularis, Ligularia dentata ‘Desdemona’ and Rogersia ‘Herkules’.
Two Canna ‘Stuttgart’ were removed today and consigned to the compost heap. After showing such initial promise a few years ago, when they first appeared on the scene, they fail to live up to their promise each season. They start well enough in spring with their elegant, tapering apple green leaves with thick clotted cream stripes, but come high summer they turn to toast. These really are the most awkward of plants and can only be safely grown in a cupboard - with the door kept shut. A single ray of sunshine can ruin the plant.

Canna ‘Stuttgart’

Back to the making of the garden. The soil was quite dry and impoverished, being under mature Birch trees so after thorough soil preparation, including removing a mat of fibrous tree roots, we incorporated considerable quantities of farmyard manure. Then we planted, watered and added another thick mulch of farmyard manure. And then we had an incredibly long dry period. Considering we planted in such a dry area and perversely, many of the plants we chose are moisture-lovers, all came through the drought unscathed (we’ve turned the sprinkler on the bed only twice). After the recent rains, the plants are starting to establish well and considering it is only three months old, the bed is already beginning to look bold and exciting. What’s more, the soil preparation and mulch have really paid off. I removed less than half a bucket of weeds this afternoon (the first weeding session) and the ground felt warm and surprisingly moist.

Last weeks delivery of Acers are all potted although fitting them on to rows with irrigation was the usual game of Tetris. We have a lovely new variety – Acer palmatum ‘Japanese Sunrise’. Of course they have no leaves yet (they’ve only been here one week) but the bark is most beautifully red and yellow toned. This colouration will further increase during cold weather.

Acer palmatum ‘Japanese Sunrise’

TIME ON MY HANDS

I have spent the last two hours browsing a couple of blogs. Will Giles of ‘The Exotic Garden’ fame (my first visit to his blog and very good it is too), and one of my current favourites, Hyperlipid.

Hyperlipid isn’t for lightweight scientists so most of it goes over my head but I can just about get the gist, and the gist is this. Saturated animal fat is good not bad. Grains and a high carbohydrate diet are very bad and, get this, fruit and veg may be bad - (say what?). After all that hard work in the ornamental veg garden. For crying out loud!
Thought provoking to say the least.

Anyway – this led me to two conclusions.
One– I probably do have a bit more time on my hands now than I’ve led myself to believe and
Two - This blog has to be updated at least once a week from now on or it’s going.

So – I’ll simply start by talking about the day.

A relatively quiet day, after a really busy spring and early summer. Business usually starts to tail off at this time of year. I wish it wouldn’t. Just as we start getting into our stride it tends to go quiet – I guess most people are thinking about holidays right now (or swine flu).

This did allow me to do a spot of gardening between serving and I managed to pull a terrifying amount of weeds from the Tree Fern Dell (it was thoroughly weeded less than a month ago), shoehorn a few more cannas into the Exotic Border and add a few more items to the online shop such as Exotic Hydrangeas, some Mediterranean Shrubs and Ensetes ‘Maurellii’ and ‘Tandara Red’.

Tree Fern Dell

Exotic Border

Also spent a good deal of time repeatedly picking up plants that had blown over in the wind (yet another wet and windy day!) all the while pretending I couldn’t see the potting shed spilling its guts out into the sales area. Of course I could see it, as can our customers (whatever must they think) and I shall clear it up soon. It’s just that I’ve been sooo busy…. Anyway it’s got to be cleared up before tomorrow, as the next big potting job arrives. Acers from New Zealand.

Of course it’s the middle of winter in New Zealand so they are sent in dormancy. They arrive bare-root and foliage free. We get them potted straight away into 7.5 or 10 litre pots in a mix of peat based and John Innes composts with some added bark and slow release fertiliser. They are then tied in to lines to stop them blowing over and each are given their own irrigation dripper, and away they go. They will be in full leaf by autumn, just as it starts getting cold and the nights start drawing in, and then their leaves will change colour and drop again. They don’t seem to mind this stop-start-stop quick turnaround of seasons although the autumn colour won’t be as striking this autumn as next – something to do with not having the time to build enough sugars in the leaf. (Lightweight science).

Acer palmatum ‘Red Emperor’

It is a miracle to witness these unpromising looking stems metamorphosis into these beautiful trees in just a few weeks and one of the many reasons I love this work.