We just spend 5 days there and of course, visited the wonderful gardens.
No, we didn't see an Embothrium in flower but plenty of other things were
rampant! Echiums were flowering well, though some were still biding their
time. The aeoniums were in flower and had come through the winter gales
amazingly well and I was intrigued by those which had seeded themselves into
the trunk of some tree ferns. We were very envious of Tresco's ability to
grow Geranium maderense as if it were some form of weed! It's all over the
island and its lovely zinging colour dazzles and delights at every turn. We
had been warned that the excessive winter storms had caused a lot of damage
to the shelter belt and that was certainly true but at the same time, the
belt had done its job and the more tender and delicate things seem to have
come through okay. We saw a lovely low-growing little argyranthemum (we
think) which we will have to identify later and of which Ray took cuttings
which we hope will take and a Bomarea was delightfully entangled with a
Clematis montana rubra at one end of a long stone wall.
We also managed to identify as Coleonema pulchrum a plant which Ray was
given some time ago. It's a very pretty little thing and there's lots of it
in flower now in Tresco, including a bright gold/green foliage one.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

On 18 Apr, 08:22, Sacha wrote:
We just spend 5 days there and of course, visited the wonderful gardens.
No, we didn't see an Embothrium in flower but plenty of other things were
rampant! Echiums were flowering well, though some were still biding their
time. The aeoniums were in flower and had come through the winter gales
amazingly well and I was intrigued by those which had seeded themselves into
the trunk of some tree ferns. We were very envious of Tresco's ability to
grow Geranium maderense as if it were some form of weed! It's all over the
island and its lovely zinging colour dazzles and delights at every turn. We
had been warned that the excessive winter storms had caused a lot of damage
to the shelter belt and that was certainly true but at the same time, the
belt had done its job and the more tender and delicate things seem to have
come through okay. We saw a lovely low-growing little argyranthemum (we
think) which we will have to identify later and of which Ray took cuttings
which we hope will take and a Bomarea was delightfully entangled with a
Clematis montana rubra at one end of a long stone wall.
We also managed to identify as Coleonema pulchrum a plant which Ray was
given some time ago. It's a very pretty little thing and there's lots of it
in flower now in Tresco, including a bright gold/green foliage one.
--
Sachahttp://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devonhttp://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)


How I envy you both, Hope you had a good rest.
David Hill
Abacus Nurseries.

Sacha wrote:
We just spend 5 days there and of course, visited the wonderful
gardens. No, we didn't see an Embothrium in flower but plenty of
other things were rampant! Echiums were flowering well, though some
were still biding their time.

Echiums still in bud here in S. Kent... I grew these in Brixham before,
first time up here. Was told to expect to lose them over the winter but they
did fine even through a few days of snow and ice. They really are not as
delicate as some make out in my experience.

These look like they're on the way to 15ft at least. Looking forward to
those blue columns with squadrons of bees in the summer. Plus, once they've
seeded, Kent will have a new and somewhat dramatic weed... They spring up
everywhere once introduced.

Les

--
Remove Frontal Lobes to reply direct.

"This is totally not a shark!"

http://www.conservapedia.com/index.p...ur&oldid=16029

Les Hemmings a.a #2251 SA

On 18/4/07 21:51, in article
, "Dave Hill"
wrote:

On 18 Apr, 08:22, Sacha wrote:
We just spend 5 days there and of course, visited the wonderful gardens.
snip

How I envy you both, Hope you had a good rest.
David Hill
Abacus Nurseries.

It was wonderful, David. But with all that walking I'm not sure that 'rest'
comes into it. ;-) An afternoon on a boat looking at seals and sea birds
was chicken soup for the soul, I must admit!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

On 18/4/07 22:17, in article , "Les
Hemmings" wrote:

Sacha wrote:
We just spend 5 days there and of course, visited the wonderful
gardens. No, we didn't see an Embothrium in flower but plenty of
other things were rampant! Echiums were flowering well, though some
were still biding their time.

Echiums still in bud here in S. Kent... I grew these in Brixham before,
first time up here. Was told to expect to lose them over the winter but they
did fine even through a few days of snow and ice. They really are not as
delicate as some make out in my experience.

It is absolutely maddening to us that they don't do well here. We think
it's more to do with wet than cold, though. If you saw them in Tresco,
you'd salivate! E. piniana and E. fastuosum are everywhere but so are
others which we think must be the result of some very promiscuous crosses.
I have a photo taken a couple of days ago of some deep violet blue Echiums
beside a yellow Cytisus and it's a knock out. All colours of Echiums can be
seen from pinky mauve to indigo - the island vibrates with their colours.

These look like they're on the way to 15ft at least. Looking forward to
those blue columns with squadrons of bees in the summer. Plus, once they've
seeded, Kent will have a new and somewhat dramatic weed... They spring up
everywhere once introduced.

Les
When I had them in a Jersey garden I thought of them as a sort of high rise
restaurant for bees. They were absolutely covered with them. One year, I
grew three in the corner of my walled garden and we had a hard winter for
Jersey, minus 5, IIRC. I thought that was the end of my Echiums but the
next spring the ground was absolutely covered in seedlings. If there were
less than 300 I would be very surprised!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

On Wed, 18 Apr 2007 22:38:05 +0100, Sacha
wrote:



It is absolutely maddening to us that they don't do well here. We think
it's more to do with wet than cold, though. If you saw them in Tresco,
you'd salivate! E. piniana and E. fastuosum are everywhere but so are
others which we think must be the result of some very promiscuous crosses.
I have a photo taken a couple of days ago of some deep violet blue Echiums
beside a yellow Cytisus and it's a knock out. All colours of Echiums can be
seen from pinky mauve to indigo - the island vibrates with their colours.


There are lots of E. pininana around here in west Cornwall, although
none in flower yet. For several years I've struggled to grow E.
fastuosum, but usually a frost takes the flower buds while they're
developing. The plants themselves survive, and do produce a second
flush of flower, but they're not as impressive as the original
'candles' would have been. I have one this year that hasn't been
frosted and is in flower now. See http://i12.tinypic.com/30ndlq1.jpg

Eventually they get too large and too leggy to be attractive, and they
don't like being hard pruned, so I usually take cuttings and start
again. The one pictured above is one such, although for some reason
the 'candles' are not as fulsome as those of the parent.

We had one fastuosum by the front gate, which I took out some eighteen
months ago. A seedling appeared in its place, which I thought was also
a fastuosum, but it soon became apparent that it wasn't. It was much
faster growing and had longer and less glaucous leaves, so I assumed
it was a seed of E. pininana that had come from somewhere. But then it
started branching, which pininana seldom does IME, and I've concluded
it's a hybrid between the two. As you say, Sacha, they do hybridise
very easily, and there are always some pininanas in a garden not far
away. It's just coming into flower ATM. An impressive plant, although
I would have liked a darker blue. It'll be pruned back when it's
finished flowering, and there are plenty of new shoots for cuttings
coming on the central stem in case it doesn't like being pruned. I'm
hoping it'll be just that bit hardier than E. fastuosum. Picture at
http://i18.tinypic.com/495vbet.jpg .


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

On 20/4/07 20:23, in article ,
"Chris Hogg" wrote:

On Wed, 18 Apr 2007 22:38:05 +0100, Sacha
wrote:



It is absolutely maddening to us that they don't do well here. We think
it's more to do with wet than cold, though. If you saw them in Tresco,
you'd salivate! E. piniana and E. fastuosum are everywhere but so are
others which we think must be the result of some very promiscuous crosses.
I have a photo taken a couple of days ago of some deep violet blue Echiums
beside a yellow Cytisus and it's a knock out. All colours of Echiums can be
seen from pinky mauve to indigo - the island vibrates with their colours.


There are lots of E. pininana around here in west Cornwall, although
none in flower yet. For several years I've struggled to grow E.
fastuosum, but usually a frost takes the flower buds while they're
developing. The plants themselves survive, and do produce a second
flush of flower, but they're not as impressive as the original
'candles' would have been. I have one this year that hasn't been
frosted and is in flower now. See http://i12.tinypic.com/30ndlq1.jpg

You lucky person and what a good colour that is.

Eventually they get too large and too leggy to be attractive, and they
don't like being hard pruned, so I usually take cuttings and start
again. The one pictured above is one such, although for some reason
the 'candles' are not as fulsome as those of the parent.

We had one fastuosum by the front gate, which I took out some eighteen
months ago. A seedling appeared in its place, which I thought was also
a fastuosum, but it soon became apparent that it wasn't. It was much
faster growing and had longer and less glaucous leaves, so I assumed
it was a seed of E. pininana that had come from somewhere. But then it
started branching, which pininana seldom does IME, and I've concluded
it's a hybrid between the two. As you say, Sacha, they do hybridise
very easily, and there are always some pininanas in a garden not far
away. It's just coming into flower ATM. An impressive plant, although
I would have liked a darker blue. It'll be pruned back when it's
finished flowering, and there are plenty of new shoots for cuttings
coming on the central stem in case it doesn't like being pruned. I'm
hoping it'll be just that bit hardier than E. fastuosum. Picture at
http://i18.tinypic.com/495vbet.jpg .

Another interesting shrubby growth and I agree with you about the colour. I
wonder if it would be informative to treat them with whatever one puts onto
hydrangeas, for example.
We had one outside our bedroom at Tresco which was different to most we've
seen, though there were other examples here and there. This one wasn't in
bloom but it branched from the base, had apparently single flowers up long
stems, quite widely spaced and ended in a plume of flowers at the top - we
think! Ray took a couple of cuttings from that one (he does have
permission to do that!) so we'll see what transpires.
On the hill from the hotel towards New Grimsby, if you know the area, there
was a tall one on a trunk which then branched into the candelabra shape
after two or three feet. The variations are enormous but never dull, IMO.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)