Re: Plant people and plants in Lady Walton's Garden
- Subject: Re: Plant people and plants in Lady Walton's Garden
- From: d* f*
- Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 13:34:29 -0700 (PDT)
--- Mark Brent <mark@lamorran.fsworld.co.uk> wrote:
> Tim,
> Finally brought some law and order back to Lamorran,
> when I opened the gates
> on Monday morn' I kinda had an idea of how the staff
> at the British Treasury
> must've felt in the 1970's when they caught sight of
> the inflation figures
> at that time of the week, i.e. how? what happened?,
> where do we start? etc.
> I can't remember seeing so much growth in just over
> a week.
Hard to imagine that so much growth and change would
result in one week's absence! I remember the similar
feeling returning to my Berkeley, California garden
after almost 10 months away, and literally did need a
machete to get through parts of the garden. It is
gratifying to get away and better perceive the
changes, but it can be a bit overwhelming.
> The plants, well my notebook is still being
> translated from a mass of
> illegible and excitable scribbles but several things
> leap to mind.
> Probably the greatest shock
> came when admiring a bank of Russelia equisetiformis
> (v. good looking white
> form too) from which emerged a rather healthy Iguana
> - clearly considerable
> competition to the local lizards. Was it a Delonix
> regia I saw?
Yes I do think they can get Delonix regia to grow and
bloom there, as it is also just possible here in
warmer inland parts of southern California and the
desert areas around Palm Springs. They can take brief
periods of cold, and seem to much prefer desert heat
to our cooler coastal fog. They were much used in the
high desert around Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and would
bounce back from the brief occasional freezes they
would get there.
> - I was much
> too respectful to impose upon Lady Walton's garden
> to creep a little closer
> to read the label.
>
> I also took time to drop in on the Botanic gardens
> in Naples, again a highly
> commendable institute and a welcome escape from the
> manic streets of the
> city. Wonderfully maintained and with an abundance
> of Mediterranean zone
> flora from all around the world. A few Chilean
> plants stood out,
> Arbromietielia breviolia (sic) a super looking
> Bromeliad, a dense hummock of
> grey rosettes, habit rather reminescent of Aloe
> brevifolia but tighter,
Abromeitiella has now been transferred into the genus
Deuterocohnia, and is very easily grown as a container
or rock garden plant in mediterannean climates. In
fact, it is intolerant of heat and humidity, and will
tend to rot out. (They can't grow this one in south
Florida, it will rot). There are also superb examples
of this at the Huntington Botanic Garden. It should
be very adaptable to being grown in most of Britain,
as it prefers cool summers, and as long as it is kept
out of the rain in winter. It also has rather unusual
green flowers, which you have to look for as they
aren't very showy. In inland southern California,
such as at the Huntington, it will burn if grown in
full sun, but thrives in Berkeley with very little
attention. There are several different species of
this, varying in size and amount of silver in the
foliage. I have two forms of A. brevifolia; one very
dwarf, the other with larger sized rosettes, (both
from Gary Hammer's Desert to Jungle Nursery in L.A.),
and a beautiful more silvery foliage form of A.
lorentziana, purchased at the Huntington. They all
look superb grown in a wide shallow bowl to show off
their perfect symmetrical mounding form, and combine
well with succulents and cacti.
>
> In all a highly educational trip but due to the
> additional qualities of the
> gardens visited a very relaxing one too.
>
> kind regards,
> Mark Brent, Lamorran Gardens, St. Mawes, Cornwall.
>
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