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Abbey Gardens, Tresco
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) |
#2
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Abbey Gardens, Tresco
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. |
#3
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Abbey Gardens, Tresco
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) |
#4
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Abbey Gardens, Tresco
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 |
#6
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Abbey Gardens, Tresco
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 |
#7
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Abbey Gardens, Tresco
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) |
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