Saturday 17 August 2019

From Last Week, Comes This.





It's Six On Saturday time - a weekly opportunity sponsored by The Propagator for gardeners to share our stuff & stick our noses into stuff from other gardens all over the world.

A few of my Sixes this week relate to last week.  Some relate to many weeks before.  That's a garden for you.

So let's do this thang.






1.  Wind damage.

Last week, I posted shots of the garden before the Big Wind.  There were no losses here from the storm, just battered petals & leaves.  However, after the storm, any light brush against the pale yellow sunflowers broke the side flowers off at the main stem.  Which meant they came inside.


Here's a close up of those beautiful faces.


I've never had sunflowers so intolerant of being touched.  As this is their first year w/me, I'm not sure if that fragility is a feature of the type or comes from the wind.  What says the SoS gang?


2.  Anemone & plum.

The anemones were one of the few flowers growing in the back garden when we moved here.  A few weeks ago, they started to open, one here, one there, but now they're a brilliantly white flash mob. 


The plum sustained some wind battering to its leaves, but the anemones were unscathed.


3.  The SoS Curse.

SoS-ers've introduced me to a lot of the plants now growing in my garden.  Last week, Jim Stephens featured a New Zealand fuchsia that I absolutely fell in love with.  In the process of researching & price comparing & trying to talk myself out of buying yet another plant, I found this.


On eBay, of all places.  Oregano Amethyst Falls.  Its flowers are similar to what hops produce, with pink blooms in chartreuse bracts.  Although ornamental, the leaves can be used in cooking.  The cooks in my house aren't going to be told that.

Now, about that fuchsia, eBay Guy has one of those, too.


4.  Speaking of hops (& brambles).

You might remember this past spring, I decided to embrace a bramble invasion from next door rather than tackle it in the moment.  Not only did said bramble grow uglier'n sin, but it produced no flowers.  Meanwhile, its parent plant waves over the top of the fence at us, flaunting scads of fruit, which the birds are pretty happy about.


Assuming the berries might grow on last year's growth (& not bothering to look it up), our bramble got a reprieve until next year, but very early on, I planted a hops next to it to cover the ugly.  I actually like the contrast between the 2 greens, so haven't a clue what'll happen if the bramble gives no fruit next year.


5.  Creeping Jenny.

Another weird idea plan from spring was to beautify the Doodle Pool.  I'd seen a photo of Creeping Jenny in a floating planter, Jenny creeping across the water.  I put a bit in the bamboo Bug & Crittur Life Raft & started hoping.


It's begun to head in the right direction.  If it gets there before first frost, I'll post a photo.

When I first saw this photo, I thought the little brown dot in the bulrushes was a flower bud, but it's a seed pod from some nearby tree.  Bummer.


6.  Baby Groot.

This little guy germinated in my hot press 6 years ago.  It lost arms to the Beast from the East, so subsequent new growth made me wildly happy.  I was still concerned that, for a 6 year old Monkey Puzzle, it was on the small side.


It wasn't due for a repot, but for whatever reason - probably because he looked sad & nothing to do w/recently watching Guardians of the Galaxy 2 - I decided to repot Groot this week.

Lo & behold, poor Groot's roots were in a 9cm biodegradable pot which hadn't degraded (like those below).  A selling point of the pots was that, in a few years, it'd be gone.  It didn't click in my brain that living in a 9cm pot for a 'few years' (6, in this case) was never going to work for a growing tree.


The pot walls'd thinned, so I was able to pry them off without damaging Groot.  Now his little toes're free.

This is the 2nd plant this year whose suffering originated below the surface, the first being the Crooked Cherry choked by a rogue valerian (both doing nicely since their separation).  I'm quite hesitant to go underground in my search for plant health, but I see that hesitation now as a mistake.  I also will never again sink a biodegradable pot.




And that's all she wrote - this fat lady has sung, so the show's over.

I really appreciate you stopping by & love when you leave a comment behind.

See you next time!

15 comments:

  1. I have an oregano plant in my greenhouse for 4 years. It blooms generously and as you say the leaves are very tasty with grilled meats or salads. I even added them to my pickles in vinegar with coriander . The pot in half buried in the ground and has rooted. I leave it there for winter without damage

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    1. This is a hybrid which is supposed to full hardy. I certainly hope so!

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  2. Groot will be so happy now! Looking forward to seeing a growth spurt. I don't have much time for those "supposed to biodegrade" things, I always pull them off. Just googled the Oregano, wow what a beauty!

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    1. I hope Groot is very happy. He connects me to another time in my life. Glad you agree about the oregano & buying it had nothing to do w/a serious plant obsession.

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  3. A flash mob. I love that description. Your bramble looks like the plant we call blackberry. Is it? A huge pest here, it grows into massive tangly bushes.

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    1. As far as I know, bramble = blackberry, which is what we called them where I'm from. It's only an assumption on my part that bramble is UK name for blackberry. I've seen them take over entire gardens here, so yes, it'll need watching if I leave it.

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  4. I have had a similar issue with those coir pots which you ARE supposed to leave on when repotting as the roots SUPPOSEDLY grow through. Hah! Not always. I lost a pelargonium doing that. Now I always tear the pots to allow the roots to grow before planting. As for your Oregano, I wonder how different it is to my common stuff, which incidentally self-seeds all over the place! But the bees love the flowers! As for that bramble I'd be cutting it down. Unless it is a cultivated one the berries will probably be small and tasteless anyway.

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    1. Ooh, just been to Google that Oregano. What lovely flowers! I can see why you were tempted.

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    2. I like wild blackberries, find them quite sweet, but then, I also like cucumelon, so there you go. I've kept it in check, but if it gets too much effort, I'll cut it off at the ground, dig it up if I have energy. The oregano buds've already begun to grow since yesterday.

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  5. Go Baby Groot! I'm glad you discovered the root of the problem (sorry). I gave away my golden hops as the fence wasn't big enough to satisfy its climbing needs. It is a nice colour though. Beautiful sunflowers. Strange they're so fragile.

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    1. Hops are wild growers, but the scent is what swayed me. However, I agree that the foliage is really lovely, especially in this slightly dark corner. I wish I knew why the sunflowers broke so easily. (I love a pun!)

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  6. Poor Groot! My granny had a monkey puzzle tree in her garden it was 60ft high.

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  7. Love the ornamental oregamo...will add that one to my list for when I visit shows. I agree with you on the smell of hops...love them...my yellow hop just decided it didn't like this garden!

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    1. O no! That'd be a major loss. Can it be relocated (that'd be fun) or is it gone?

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