Kay wrote:

I don't think Dave has room for a compost heap (1) ;-)
'Small' in an English garden means small. The first house I lived in as
an adult had a garden 20ft wide and 15ft deep.
(1) certainly not a banana sized one!

In total it is 6.5m wide and 10m. deep - a typical size for an
Edwardian town house this close to the sea. There's a 'green lane' -
a service track behind, which enables me to carefully disguise a
compost heap of sorts under a massive Fuchsia (currently about 3m. high
and 4m across). It may seem daft to grow massive plants in such a
cramped space, but they do make tiny garden appear much larger. I also
have big clumps of 'flowering gingers' (Hedychiums) that grow between 2
and 3m high and palms with 1.5m wide fans. It all adds up to the kind
of exuberance I enjoy, even though there's not a lot of room to to move
about by mid July.

I'm aware of the various methods for speeding up decomposition, but
past experience has shown that they don't work with the stems ... at
least not here. I think the only option is to cut them into 1m.
sections and cart them off to the local tip. Anyway, that's a job for
the winter and a very messy one at that. I've been thinking more
positively and for a year or so at least, their demise will allow more
light into the border, which will be welcome.

I've got a nice young Mastic tree (Schinus molle) coming on and
although barely a year old, it has already proved very cool tolerant,
retaining all of its leaves during last winter. I'm tempted to remove
the basjoo altogether at some stage and replace it with this. It will
cast only light shade by comparison and its elegant willowy growth plus
skeins of pink peppercorns in late summer an autumn will be make a nice
change. Another evergreen tree will enable me to grow more 'air
plants' (Tillandsias) outside as well. Several species grow well here
and I'm eager to try more.

Jenny, I'm keeping a photo-record where I can get decent shots. I'll
get them up onto a site at some stage. This gives you some idea of
what I'm up to nowadays:

http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...rent=lasio.jpg

The centre plant is another banana relative: Musella lasiocarpa that
thrives here growing to about 2m+. high. It nestles against the trunks
of Musa sikkimensis and is partnered by Cordyline manners-suttonae - a
close 'cousin' of C. fruticosa (terminalis). Beneath it you can make
out the fronds of one of the 'parlour palms - Chamaedorea radicalis,
which is very hardy, albeit rather slow. The red-budded passion flower
is P. x coeruleo-racemosa, which opens soft purplish red and forms a
tangle with Plumbago auriculata, Jasminum polyanthum and Clematis
florida 'Pistachio'.

http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...martianus2.jpg

The main plant here is a young Trachycarpus martianus. Nowhere near as
hardy as the common 'Chusan' (T. fortunei), the leaflets are far more
numerous, narrower and the fans eventually become almost circular as
the palm matures. The white down on the leaf edges and covering the
new leaves adds to the appeal. The stray frond creeping in to the rear
is that of a young 'Majesty palm' - Ravenea rivularis from Madagascar.
It's not very hardy here and needs winter protection as well as copious
watering and feeding in summer, but I like the elegant leaves.