cyclamen
Whew! What a week!
The weather in Victoria seems to be declining steadily, shorts have been replaced with pants and a sweater seems almost essential to leave the house in the morning. The temperature has dropped down to 10 C and I fear a frost is right around the corner. Everyday after work is a mad dash to catch some sunlight and sort my plants into various groups of tenders, tropicals and succulents. With the sun now almost completely set at 7:00pm, the few hours I have after work are precious. It’s like cleaning up after a big party, the garden is slowly but surely dismantled and cleaned up. For the moment it’s a complete mess, no time to worry about day to day tidying, I have to find warm homes for my plants before it’s too late. My house is absolutely stuffed, and everyday I bring another load to the greenhouse.
“Oh hey (insert boss’s name here) mind if I overwinter some plants at the greenhouse?”
“Sure thing Nat, just put them in the corner”
(Evil laughter as a cube van pulls up with 1 million plants)
Passiflora caerulea loves the cool autumn weather.
Luckily I have excellent boss’s that encourage such plant madness or life would be much more depressing right now. While the first bay of the main house slowly fills with strange tropical specimens, a couple friend’s and I embark on building a greenhouse of our own at the back of the property. We got the A-OK from our fearless leaders and hope to get started pretty quick here. If everything works out it should be roughly 40ft long and 16ft wide, not bad for a couple of plant geeks.
I must admit at this time of plant dismantling I’m a bit overwelmed by it all. It’s only now that I get to see the sheer volume of my collection, and quite frankly it’s a bit out of control. A quick walk around the house counts a staggering 90+ potted plants, not including any cuttings or would be seed projects. Outside is a fully stocked garden 360 around the house, and now the greenhouse at work slowly fills up. I suppose my mission this year was to learn about plants, and what better way of doing it then to grow them. You’ve got to grow them to learn about them. I would say books barely scratch the surface with the idiosyncrasies of plants, watching them you seem to learn something new everyday.
With the cold chill in the air today I decided to take the matter of saving my tree echium into my own hands. I can”t wait for a truck any longer, I folded down my seats in my VW Golf and managed to get it in. The guy who car pools with me often makes a jokes when there isn’t any plants in my car, as if something’s amiss. You know when you’ve gone down the deep end when.
Quickie Fall Tour October 2011:
Autumn spiders are out in full force.
A valentines day Gerbera that I bought for my girlfriend, allowed to rest, is now in the midst of another impressive display of flowers. Excellent.
Some fall asters I bought from a gardener near Shawnigan Lake really brighten up the place.
A sumac bonsai has great autumn colors.
Autumn colchicum spring out of nowhere.
Flowering from May until frost works just fine for me, Abutilon megapotamicum is a must have. While some treat this as an annual, this one is definitely getting stored in the greenhouse this year.
Last but not least, the cyclamen. If there is any reason to love fall, it’s these amazing little showstoppers.
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Thanks for stopping by!
As I look out my window into my garden everything seems pretty dead. Where only a few months ago a sub tropical wonderland existed, a barren “dead” zone has taken it’s place. Or has it? A closer inspection reveals a variety of plants coming to life, things are still happening, surprisingly. Now that December has come and gone, spring is on it’s way. Regardless of the freezing temperates, the plants in the back are getting ready for their next years display. I got inspired the other day and went camera crazy, here’s what’s happening in my garden January 2011.
Despite sub freezing temperates the hellebores (winter rose) are blooming happily.
(Below) I’ve had this hellebore for over a year now and it’s still quite tiny, regardless it developed this small flower. So far it the only black bloom in my garden. It doesn’t exactly pop out at first glace, but with a closer investigation it’s a pretty neat addition to the garden.
Another winter flowering specimen, “Glacier Blue” euphorbia is also in bloom at this unlikely time of year.
“Wulfenii” euphorbia
“Tasmanian Tiger” euphorbia in bloom
My first attempt at growing Fox Tailed Lilies (Eremurus). Not exactly an exciting picture but I was happy to see these pop up as I’ve read they’re prone to rot if they aren’t planted in well draining soil. The dormant plant cost my something like 10-13 bucks so it would be a shame to have lost it to the elements.
It seems as the winter days continue on the patterns on these cyclamen leaves only get more intense. This plant is a real winner, beautiful flowers, amazing leaves, winter interest!
You know spring is on it’s way when the daffodils decide to poke their head up. I love this photograph!
Last but not least I thought it fitting to include a photograph of this lewisia “cotyledon” which seems completely unscathed by winter. Awesome!
