It’s been a “get off my a**e” week. Rather than sitting on it, It’s often been the highest part of my ample carcass. Yup, I’ve been planting. Not because I necessarily wanted to plant; more a case of plants keep arriving and I have to make space in the enclosures for them. Which means plants that have been nestling in there for a while need to be evicted to make way for new tenants. Another 700 are due to arrive in a few weeks. And they think they have a immigration problem in continental Europe?
At least I spared you the voluminous series of “emerging shoots” photos though next week I may bore you with some of the 300 plants I aim to plant tomorrow. I whizz along when I get going, you know.
But it’s this week now so I’d better get on with it.
1 Mystery Plant
Help! I know wot this is not but I don’t know wot it is. It’s a fairly sturdy plant – came through Hannah without staking, about 5 feet tall. Flowers are greenish with a hint of yellow which somehow becomes yellower as the midday sun hits them. It may be a wild plant that hitchhiked in the pot of the plant I bought or one which has conveniently happened to pop up in the same place, like the bramble that I noticed this morning growing up smack bang through the middle of a Hosta. Can anyone name this mystery interloper for me? (And please don’t suggest “Danny” – you know who you are! 😉 )
You may notice that the leaves (bracts?) near the flowers (if they are flowers) are broader than the leaves lower down the stems – you can see the longer, narrower shape of the lower foliage better in the couple of stems that have flopped down on the right of the top photo.
2 Heuchera
A bit of bright foliage for a sunny morning. Three Heucheras. Somewhere I have a note of their names and when I find it I’ll label them so I know next time.
3 Persicaria
To give it it’s full name Persicaria microcephala ‘Purple Fantasy’. Grown more for its foliage than flowers, some will argue that this is a rather invasive plant. Well it is a member of the knotweed family. But I find it quite co-operative in sticking within its boundaries.
4 Choisya
In full Choisya ternata ‘Brica’, one of the yellow-green foliaged ones, now flowering. Reputedly the scent of the flowers is one of the strongest you’ll get from a Choisya but, to be honest, I have to shove my nose right into them to get the slightest whiff.
5 Rhododendron Germanica
That’s it’s full name. Bright red, now several years old but remaining compact at about a foot-and-a-bit tall and wide.
6 And Finally
Mini-Ed 4 all planted up. I call it “Mini-Ed 4” as it’s the fourth “Mini-Ed” I’ve planted up. I did it on Sunday, which was May 5th. I suppose I should have done it on Saturday, which was May 4th but I was too busy shifting soil and soil improver around whilst mourning the death of Chewbacca.
The soil and stuff went in on Saturday. Maybe I should have left it to settle but I’m not leaving it for a year or so, which I would have to do were I planning to let it settle. Rather I did my impression of Gill Heavens doing one of her exotic belly dances and compressed things to the point where the result of a mathematical calculation of how many litres of stuff would be needed to fill it matched the number of litres that were actually in it. Sometimes a bit of weight helps.
Plants are too small to feature individually but, in time, there’s a couple of future sixes in there.
Before I say “Bye for now”, a reminder that you really should pop over to Mr Prop’s blog, have a butchers at his six and then follow at least some of the links bringing up the rear which will take you to all sorts of exotic gardens near and far, some even upside down in the Antipodean regions of the planet.
Until next time, enjoy your garden.
Yes I would agree a Euphophia (call him Brutus) as I have so many in my garden that self seed like mad! It looks like the most common wood spurge that you get in woodlands. If it is it’s called Euphorbia amygdaloides.
If you don’t want it to self seed, cut off the flowers soon otherwise you will have more Brutus buggers everywhere! Although Brutus is a good addition in the early Spring as he brings height and colour when it’s a bit dull.
Now happy that it is Euphorbia but suspect (hope) it isn’t the common wood spurge. It’s a bit too tall for that and the “flower” heads are the wrong shape. Though I’ll be cutting it back before it seeds whatever!
Looks like euphorbia to me, possibly cornigera? I have some, looks similar.
This looks a promising ID. It may be pure co-incidence but when I searched this variety online to see what it looked like, one of the top links was to a listing from the nursery from which I bought the plant that was supposed to be where this is.
My you have been busy John. You have a big collection of plants. I agree with the others that the mystery plant looks like a Euphorbia.
I just wish I had a bigger garden to accommodate my accumulation! Well, I’ve always been a fan of close planting. Now getting close, I think, to a positive ID as to variety of Euphorbia.
I spent sometime last week updating planting records, I was surprised at how behind I had got. I do like the first heuchera and you have reminded me that I wanted to put some London Pride amongst mine. I wonder if I can still pick some up. Love the deep red rhody.
I’ll be lifting my over-sized clump of London Pride in the next week or two. If I don’t it will become a back of border plant! If you want a bit, I can send you some. You can get my email addy from your comment dashboard and drop me an e with your snail mail addy if you do.
Who needs flowers when they have foliage like yours!
I am useless identifying plants! I’ve been know to say to myself, “Of course it’s such and such” when things are identified. It’s obvious when its pointed out!
I often retreat from the garden to look up something I’ve forgotten the name of. Trouble is I’ve forgotten again by the time I get back outside!
The heuchera the second one is likely to be Heuchera “Green Spice”. Nice Persicaria….
I think you’re right on that (though I thought it might be a Tiarella rather than Heuchera). I’ll know for certain when I dig out the planting records. A few years ago someone posted a pic of the Persicaria on their blog and no-one knew its name. When someone found out, I think it got planted in 40 or 50 gardens all of a sudden!
That rhody’s pretty fantastic, especially that it stays compact. As does One Man, I prefer the foliage scent of choisya, though the flowers are nice & sweet, too. Someone said something to me just today about unmarked plants, but I cannot for the life of me remember what it was . . .
Ha. I now label everything in the garden but them three Heuchera types predate this. I just need to look at my planting plan to get the names (which are recorded!). Then I’ll label them while I’m at it. The rhody is 5 years old (I’ve checked the records, see). So I doubt it’s ever going to get much bigger. The scent of Choisya foliage is nice, especially immediately after pruning.
I agree with Fred, it looks very like a variety of Euphorbia but couldn’t tell you which, there are so many. I’m a great fan of Heuchera, love number 2.
I’m now going with Euphorbia though I haven’t the foggiest idea where this one came from as no-one nearby grows any. I’ll be digging out the names of the Heuchera types later (if I have any energy left after lugging the watering cans around). Hope the allotment’s coming along nicely.
Not seen Persicaria before. Very interesting leaves. I only notice the scent of choisya flowers when there are a lot and the sun’s beating down on them. I like the herby scent of the leaves when pruned.
I’m adding to my Persicaria collection (currently one plant!) with a few other varieties this year – flowering types rather than foliage. The darker-leaved Choisya varieties flower more prolifically I think and have a stronger flower scent. Must admit when pruning mine I always accidentally cut a few leaves in half to get their scent in the air.
I have not see Perscaria Either. Will look it up.
I have the same persicaria and it’s true that it’s a wise plant for the moment. A few weeks ago I showed mine in a sorry stage, after a night frost, but it has totally recovered …
Very pretty heucheras (I love the 1st red ).
The Choisya will be in my next Six, I’m still waiting to have more and more flowers ….
For your mystery plant it’s is an Euphorbia: what do you think of E. hyberna? Ireland has invaded Wales, it looks like …
I’d thought it looked like Euphorbia but no-one round here grows any so it has travelled a long way to seed itself in my garden (and grown surprisingly quickly as it wasn’t there last year when it was a Russian sage!). If it is E. hyberna it’s travelled an exceptionally long way as there are only two confirmed locations in GB where it grows wild. Though from what I’ve found online hyberna seems to peak at about half a metre tall and this is way over that. Anyway, I’ll label it “Euphorbia var.unk. for now and enjoy it. Thanks.
Keep us posted about the identification when you have one