On 16/11/05 9:43, in article ,
"Dave Poole" wrote:

Sacha wrote:

David - for heaven's sake - we have some potted up right now! We could
only get 5 off the baby that we were given but.......and by next year, there
will be more!

Oh, thanks, well it does save me having trays and pots all over the
place. There's not a lot of room now the seedling palms and bromeliad
offsets have been brought in to join the dozen or so hybrid Clivias,
which have bulked up over the past year. I'm determined not to have
plants on every windowsill as in the past - not exactly fitting with
Edwardian style Cobaea roots pretty easily and grows thuggishly,
so you should have masses in no time. It easily equates with Ipomoea
indica in 'rootability', but is rather more willing to grow earlier in
the year.

On the subject of the Ipomoea, my neighbours bought one from you last
year and it has raced through their garden, smothering it with blue
for most of the summer and was still looking pretty good when I looked
over the other day. It didn't re-appear where it was originally
planted, but that's what it does in this part of the world - runs
about, finds a more comfortable spot and then settles in.

I love it. Ray used some in pots over the front hoops of that new Laburnum
path we've made on the big lawn. It looked absolutely wonderful and
flowered very well.

I'm suggesting to Ray that we plant the white and purple
together to take the place of a Wisteria that the house shingle tiles don't
much appreciate! I'd like to see what happens.

In that Dev'n redsoil they'll go berserk and look impressive. Cobaea
gets quite untidy part way through the season, which is a small minus
point. It also rejuvenates quickly and easily if chopped back hard at
almost any time, which is a much bigger plus point. As with almost
any fast growing climber, it will try to find its way under tiles and
shingles, but is easily removed and constrained without any fear of
losing flowering growth. The tendrils are so fine, numerous and
effective that they can hold onto brickwork without the need for
support. The trouble is that if there's a bit of windy weather when
the plant is at its bulkiest, the whole lot comes down - usually the
day before visitors arrive!

I'm afraid ours will always be in danger from the wind when it gets up.
That's why those sides of the house were covered in shingle tiles in the
first place - the rain comes in horizontally from that direction! The
Fremontodendron on that wall gets tied up at least two or three times every
year, too. I'm much happier about having Cobea there than the Wisteria,
yes.

I will have a tangle (I do love me tangles) of white Cobaea and
Ipomoea indica for next year. I rather fancy the soft greenish-white
of the Cobaea with the intense blue, ageing to purplish of the
Ipomoea. Lord knows how I'll keep it under control, maybe I won't and
have to force my way through a curtain of leaves, stems and flowers
whenever I go outside.

I don't think you would *like* it under control, knowing you! The jungle
effect works brilliantly with your planting and your garden.

One condition and not a very strict one - a few photos of your garden for
the urg web ring. ;-)

No problems. I'm working on a pretty lavish web-site (well very
lavish compared to what I've done in the past) and will be including
several hundred pics of plants, views etc. plus a few of the patch
here. I'm a bit miffed that I missed photographing a large group of
Furcraeas in flower earlier this year. They were down on the sea
front and produced about 5, 15 - 20ft. flower spikes. Still, I've got
a pic of them carrying masses of offsets and plenty more of stuff in
the bay.

That's another plant I'm not madly keen on, though I know it's a curiosity.
Ours had babies all over the small double floor at one time!

When the site is eventually finished (probably a couple of hundred
pages!) I'll link it in to the urg web ring. However, although I've
got a fair number of pages completed from a previous, unfinished site,
they all need updating to match the new format. Its a massively
daunting task and I need to motivate myself more, but it will keep me
occupied during the long dark nights of winter. Its a bit of a new
direction for me since I've always avoided using Javascript and Flash
in the past. But, now so many have broadband, the coding doesn't need
to be quite so parsimonious.

And that climbing Dicentra you gave us is going great guns up the front of
the house, BTW. Charlie, do you have that?

I didn't give you a climbing Dicentra, haven't grown that for many
years. Could it have been something else? Though I can't think of
any climbers I've brought over recently, but the memory ain't quite
what it was either.

I'll have to check with Ray but I thought it was you - about three or four
years ago?

Oops, rambling yet again!

But to great purpose and interest.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)