Greenhouse Jungle!

First of all I had to jet wash the greenhouses this weekend as they are below 'Silver Birch' trees, this is what this one looked like before.........



and I only just remembered to take a pic of it washed after I had started to bubblewrap it!!!!



at the end of each year I label and roll up each piece and then store it in the shed until it is needed again



I then use the ladders and the fiddly little green things to attach it to the inside of the greenhouse. On the roof I use extenders, well thats what I call them, they hold the bubble wrap away from the glass by about an inch, I find this helps stop condensation, which is a killer for some of my banana/ensetes as they have to be kept more or less dry over winter!



here we are all done, with some of the plants back in. You can see the heaters are in place, I have 3 in this greenhouse two fan and one tube. In the small greenhouse I have one tube and one fan heater. All for the love of tropical plants!!



One of the Ensetes is lying down to drain out all the water, I will have to keep doing this untill the soil is dry, as any water stored in the stem is a killer, when it freezes, which hopefully it won't!



I showed you the other day the bananas I had to dig up, on the patio, first you have to cut off all the leaves....





which I think is sad as the leaves are beautiful, they didn't all go to waste as my neighbour is a primary school teacher and apparently their year 3 is studying the jungle so she took a couple of the leaves in for them to see and feel!



amazingly these plants only have very small root balls considering the size the plants get!



I have them sitting upside down



draining out some of the water, fortunately they are not too heavy!



this is one of the 'Xanthosoma' that also had to be dug up, great colour!



Greenhouse beginning to fill up now!



In the pots on the left are my Egg Yams, lopped off as I wouldn't have room for everything and there leaves!!!





Looks quite colourful in here now, I wonder where I'm going to put my brugmansias????????????

Just have to show you this.........

My very first ginger flower..........



isn't it beautiful......



would you like to see some more I've taken a million pics in case it doesn;t happen again!!!!!



Say goodbye to this



as its time to dig up and pop in the green house. I have to still move this



and this



and this



and this to fit in



In the greenhouse I have already chopped some back



I need to chop these back



then as you can see they are full of water I have to drain this out, otherwise it freezes and kills the tender bananas.



I have never over wintered so many before, I wonder how many will be dead before next year???



This banana at the bottom has gone balistic this year, I think it is because of all the rain we have had, but he seems quite happy at the mo. no need to cut him back just yet.

I do love the markings and colours of this Ensete Leaf



and to finish with, my favourite coloured flower

Dare to be Different!

The front of my house is north facing! Not the best aspect for the plants I like to grow but you would be amazed at what can grow there! The picture gives you an idea of what it looks like.!

The two palms which you can see at the bottom of the pic I will move to the patio.



I bought and planted my Caster Oil Plant this year it was small and only cost £5 and look at the size of it now!!!



Good investment I think.
The tree ferns also a bargain buy from Wilkinsons at £3.99 each, have come on in leaps and bounds.



To over winter these I just need to stuff a handful of fleece into the crown.

I am exceptionally disappointed with my double white brugmansia's



every bloom went all brown round the edges, I think more because of the poor weather, but not one I will keep.

In the top pic you can see in front of the window some dead plants, well they were Busy Lizzies, not very exotic I know but they love this position and add a bit of 'pink' my favourite colour! I am trying to find something abit different to replace them with. That would add a bit of colour at this sometimes dull time of year.
Current favourites are Choisya ternata 'Sundance



yellow is such a cheerful colour, about three of these, with two Phormium platts black



quite effective, but, and there is always a but, the whole lot would cost me a whopping £25.54 which is rather alot of money on plants that might not make it through the winter. Mind you the garden centre said they would survive and if I bought them from them, I could take them back if they died as I would have a 5yr moneyback guarentee. But that would add about another £50 to the bill!!!

So plenty to keep me thinking!

My lovely cat Tango,



refused to come in last night and suffered because of it. I was woken at 0400 with a big cat fight going on, so shot down the stairs (yes I sleep that lightly) went to the back door and it was occuring in my neighbours garden. So charged down the garden in my (pink) nightie armed with a torch. I couldn't find them or get through the shrubs to try and scare the feral off, it carried on and on I was running up and down the garden trying to make enough noise to scare of the feral but not wake the neighbours. It still carried on, I just couldn't see them then I obviously shined the torch in the right area as the feral ran of and Tango eventually limped in with blood coming from his back leg!
So another visit to the vet, another £33 bill, but he recommend a Cat rescue who would loan me a trap. So I get the trap tomorrow and they expect me to get him neutered and release him again.
What would you do? I know what we plan to do?

Pottering

The other day after hanging the washing out I decided to take a few pics. The rain has certainly helped my garden this year and had we had a bit more sunshine I think I may have needed a machete to get through the jungle plot!

The Red Tiger, banana at the back has grwn immensly, so much so I think I may have to move it as I think its a bit close to the fence!



Can you see why I love the Maurelli so much, isn't this leaf lovely!



The sedums are all a beautiful colour at the moment.



My Queen Elizabeth rose still flowering madly.



Further down the garden I have a few bananas still in




the problem being is I can't find the labels so don't know which is what?? Do you lose labels, I seem to be brilliant at it and that is not good!

In the greenhouse is one of my Alocasia's



I have always loved this one because of the markings and the shiny leaves. I moved it in as we have had quite a few cool nights!

In my other greenhouse is my very special Manihot Grahamii



I will over winter this in the greenhouse as it is so small but I need it to lose its leaves so it will have to be placed in a cooler part of the heated greenhouse!

Behind my small greenhouse my neighbour grows this



it is now invading behind the small greenhouse but my side of the fence



and I expect it to arrive in the greenhouse next year, as you can see I have quite a problem as the space is not big enough to fit a spade down let alone my bum!!!!!!

Do you remember the size of my Tetrapanax Rex when I planted it, no? Well look here to remind yourself! Now look at it.




Imagine how big it will get next year!

This corner will need sorting as yet again I have to much in a small space...



I'm glad I potted the bamboos into these pots they have really taken off



and I couldn't really complain to my neighbour about her invading grass if I had let the bamboo run free!!!

My cup and sauce plant (Cobaea Scandens) I have never grown it before and I highly recommend it if you have something that needs to be covered, fast! It is an annual, so if you don't like it you just dig it up at the end of the season. I like it



the flowers first bloom and they are a pale colour getting



darker as they age.



and the bees love the pollen




and finally the second meeting has occured, Jake has spent a fair bit of time in the cage whilst Tango & Sassy where around. Having had a very busy week trolling back and forth between home the college and the hospital. When Hubby came back from hospital yesterday he said how skinny Tango has got, and he's right, I hadn't noticed how much weight he has lost. So we decided that currently the biggest scent in the house was Jakes, as basically Tango only comes in to sleep then goes out in the morning till the following day. So we decided to push things along and T very kindly came in at about 5pm yesterday, so I locked the cat flap, Jake was in the cage and we shut the kitchen door. So Tango had to deal with it. Everything went so well we opened the cage and.................



nothing happened??? You can see Tango in the distance by the cat flap. They walked around, skirting one another, I expected Tango to take at least one swipe at Jake and nothing happened, no growling, spitting or swiping??? So we opened the kitchen door and they both wandered around, very wary of one another but it was so fine we left them to it, but kept our ears peeled. Jake stalked Tango where ever he was about 10 inches behind was Jake! He is so desperate to have a mate to play with and my two don't want to play at all! Maybe I will have to get a kitten lol! Shhhh don't tell hubby!!!!!!!!!!!!!
More to follow...............