Passion Flower Seedlings Planted !

 

Up at 5am ish ...to dash up to the shed to see if  Epiphyllum Marilyn Monroe has bloomed yet ...It's a very foggy morning .

Also to check for snails on my beans and butternuts 🐌and my newly planted out Passion Flower plants .

Hopefully the sun will come out later on .

I had some spare bean seedlings which I thought might as well go in with the Passion Flowers .

I grew these from seed , so I feel very protective over them !

Passiflora mollissima (pink) and Passiflora manicata (red)

A couple of Scarlet Pelargoniums for a splash of colour .

Posts with a trellis would have been the ideal thing for these Passion Flowers ....but fixing up posts and trellising , hammer, nails , concrete...just not my thing ....sigh ....so some sort of a teepee made from left over bean poles and hazel branches will have to do !

It'll be fine ! It will ! Wait and see !

What do you think ? 

Anyway  

If they do grow away really well , they can always climb over and scrabble through the climbing rose bushes on the garage wall .   

I used to buy Passiflora mollissina ( the pink one ) every year from the boot fair in Truro ....I never kept them going over winter . I have not grown Passiflora manicata (the red one)  and I have never grown these from seed before .

I'm hoping that these will survive the winter, with some protection .

I got them all planted yesterday evening . This morning I picked off six snails ! 

I have sprinkled sparingly some slug pellets . Also gave the young shoots some support with these clip things that I found on Amazon .

It all looks a bit untidy at the moment. There are a couple of Pelargoniums and I think there might be a Dahlia coming up that I had put in there last year .  The bulbs that I threw in last Autumn were beautiful through the Spring , their leaves have all withered away and will come back next spring . 

I put a nice fresh layer of compost over the top of them .

The only remaining bulbs still in flower are these . I am not sure what they are ? Some type of oniony thing ?

The bees are loving them what ever they are ! 

UPDATE - Thankyou Jane 💐  These are Allium siculum  /   The Sicilian honey lily 🐝🐝

Other news -

Up in the shed -  

A fresh pot of lettuce seedlings are waiting to be pricked out and potted on . This makes me so happy !

Yes , sorry , it was still quite dark when I went up to the shed ! 

A third and very late attempt to get some Courgettes to germinate  ....

                                ...........and ...here we go !   🌱 .... almost ! 

                         ....and 🤩  we have the first little tomato !   ❤️

                           Snack size Party Time Cucumbers on the way !  💚

       The one remaining lettuce from the last batch 💚.....oh no I can see a hole ! 🐌

              And a first Strawberry ....

Safe from slugs and snails ....but Mr Blackbird is probably watching and waiting....he knows when they are at the most perfect juicy stage !

This pretty thing ,with no name , is still in full bloom this morning . 

              Epiphyllum Marylin Monroe however , is keeping us all waiting .

                                   I will update as soon as she blooms !

                                                  🌿    🌥️🌤️⛅ 🌿

Marilyn Monroe - another Epie update !

  Lettuce Romaine Cos type red and green and Pak Choi - ready to prick out and pot on .

I grow these on the bench in the shed . It works for me . They get early morning sun then the sun goes behind the trees behind the shed , so it doesn't get too hot in there .  There is a window , but I have to be very ,very careful as I open it , that the glass doesn't fall out .

It's still a bit of a mess in there . I am still trying to get some order back with my plants after the new workshop/woodshed and greenhouse were being built . Everything had to go in there , chaos ! 

I have more Epiphyllums in here . 😃🌿When they have all finished flowering , I will be tidying , pruning , re-potting and re labelling them . So many things had their labels muddled or lost !

For the time being  I have got to shove them all up to the other end of the bench ....to make room for the lettuce plantation . Which I may start tomorrow morning while it is still cool . ( We're having a mini heat wave right now )

I am unable to move one of my more precious Epies as she has two buds coming . 

Yep ...I've had Marilyn Monroe locked away in my shed all Winter ! 

                           Epiphyllum var "Marilyn Monroe " 

For the time being , she has to stay here and not be moved ....not even an inch .

                                    Or she will lose those buds .

                    I can't wait to see those gorgeous soft pink flowers again  🩷

Then I will cut her down to encourage a better shape and more stems to form . 

                I should get a few nice cuttings too .

                        Watch this space for more Epie updates !

                                      

  It's too hot for me , I'm going to have a flop beside a nice cooling fan and do my embroidery .

                          Cheerio fer now !

                                                               ☀️

                             

Epiphyllum var "Marilyn Monroe" update 6am

 

                                                                         6am

Up early and dash up to the greenhouse to see if she has opened yet . Worried she might be a midnight bloomer .

But nope ... she is just pretty much just as she was last evening . Maybe swollen out just a tiny bit .

Well at least we haven't missed it .

We'll check up on her again after brekkers  !

                                                          🌸🌿💮

Second Musa Ensete maurelii - The Red Banana planted out 🌿

 

It's been quite a nice day today weather wise .  I got a load of washing dry on the line before the hit and miss  showers came along .

We have more heavy and thundery showers coming tomorrow , so I thought I'd take the opportunity to get the other banana plant in the ground . 

This qualifies as "no dig " since after pulling it out of the ground  at the end of last Autumn ,I put a large empty tub in the hole to keep it open and ready for me to easily re-plant the banana in the Spring .

O.k. I did widen it a little bit with the shovel as some of the earth had fallen in around the edges .

But I didn't have to do too much and the banana plant slipped out of the tub quite easily and dropped in place with out any damage . 

Very relieved , because this year my two plants are not in such good condition as they usually are after being in a shed with a leaking roof . They would normally have three or four good leaves . 

I won't cut off the dead leaves until it has settled in .

Hopefully now with the rain that is coming tomorrow , it will soon perk up  . 

My daughter gave me a beautiful Canna , which I may plant slightly to one side of it , but that's all I'm doing today. I really have to pace myself .

Epiphyllum var. "Marilyn Monroe" - today's last update before bed time --- will it be pink ? will it be white ?

                           One petal has begun to open .....oh no..... grr.....slug nibble !

                                       See you tomorrow morning  😊🌿 x