Its a Jungle Out There!!!

 I have no idea what has gone on in the garden this year? Its like the plants are on steroids! I don't think that in all the years I have grown 'exotic' looking plants I have had a year like this.

You can hardly get down the path. Its fun.

We decided that because of the phenomenal growth we should measure a few of the plants to use as comparison in future years or to just see if this is a one off. So apologies for hubbies shirt in the following pics lol!!

Amaranthus, should be about 4ft as you can see it is bigger than hubby who is 5ft 10in.

The beautiful Cleome, such a stunning flower with evil thorns on its stem, another 4 footer as you can see hitting 6ft!

Amaranthus pointy finger  apparently should be just over 3 ft, but this is closer to 5ft.

Good old Colocasia Pink China

Similar view from last year and I think you get the idea in the difference.

I was trying to think what I have done differently, I added bags of manure, the plants get chicken pellets when planted then I throw some more on about halfway through the growing season. The big change is the watering system. I am pleased-ish with this new system, I do need to make some alterations as to the placing of the spray heads, but on the whole its doing its job.

In the last few days through the heavy rain storms and high winds I have had to stake and tie up lots of  the plants.

Canna Stuttgard exceptional tall habit up to 3 metres which it has easily hit this year. This clump is now huge and will have to be split this autumn as it is currently charging off around this bed and taking over.

The Canna (above)with the orange flower is actually Canna Cleopatra, according to the RHS 'Cleopatra is a vigorous, clump-forming perennial to 5 ft tall'. As you can see it is a lot taller than that.

It is one of my favourites as both the foliage and the flower are stripy. In all honesty it is not in the best place to show it off. I was waiting for it to clump up a bit before I moved it.

Canna Pretoria, on the right, another 4-6 ft one.

The path is slowly disappearing.

Down by the pond, the Ricinus Zanzibarensis on the right is huge. Such beautiful leaves.

Such beautiful plants, all grown from seed, I love the different colours.

Just look at this Ricinus communis 'New Zealand Black' the purple hues in this are stunning.

My garden brings me great joy and peace, it has been a tough month for us/me. My Godfather a very special and important man in our family passed away the end of July. I am grateful he is at peace and out of pain, but he has left a huge hole in my heart.

This is exactly how I want to remember him, such a happy, cheerful man. He has been in my life, all of my life and will be greatly missed.

Thrilled with my Garden

I have not blogged for awhile as I have been having a couple of problems, I have tendinitis, which is so painful, I can't get a shoe on and I hobble around like an old woman!!!  Which is making life rather difficult.

The garden is blooming, some parts are fabulous and other parts need a bit more work.

This is the part of the garden I usually love the best, I am not so happy this year, its ok but needs some changes.

This is the same bed but from a different angle. What I have noticed is that plants this year that should only be 20 inches high have grown to over a metre. I have no idea why but it probably why this bed is not my favourite this year.

The banana 'Musa Basjoo' my hardy banana that came through the winter standing it usually collapses back to the root, I thought it would romp away, but it hasn't. It has been very slow even though its been fed and watered regularly. The Canna is far bigger than the banana.

This is the bed opposite, which has gone bonkers. The Cannas are doing so well and the Pink China clumps (big leaves at the front) have also gone mental they are close to 4ft tall which is huge for me, I am going to have to split them at the end of this year.

Same bed but from a different angle.

Now we come to my favourite part, I extended the jungle further down the garden and I really love how this is looking at the moment. On the way down I definitely have a few gaps but I have stuck canes in to mark where I need to move some of the taller Cannas when I split them.

The next pic, same bed but different angle.

These Cleomes are the same height as me? I know I did not buy this height as my garden is not really big enough, but they look so healthy.

These Cannas tower over me now, this one is aiming to take over this bed so some serious digging will be done in the autumn to split this and move round the garden.

On the other side another Canna going for the sky hasn't spread so far, yet.

Everyone is loving the changes I have made, so all the work I put in during 'lockdown' is paying off. It has been suggested I extend the 'jungle' look in the lower part of the garden especially since I redid the bed down by the pond.

This is how it looks down there, its a difficult part of the garden and I spend my life fighting back my neighbours Euphorbia and a huge grass that wants to grow in my garden not hers. So this autumn I will seriously consider digging most of this bed out, possibly using bamboo rhizome barrier along the fence line to stop invasions of unwanted  plants.

Then hopefully it will match this

Till next time x