Torrential Rain and Gales

 

I had promised to take you with us on our walk  up the lane to see the Snowdrops again . They were only just beginning to push up on  our  last visit .

Well , It seems that the cruel and bitterly cold Easterly winds has held them back , they are still not fully out .

The weather has changed , it is slightly milder and the wind is now coming from the west . Over night and this morning we are having torrential rain . The tiles on the roof were clattering , no damage though .

So we'll have to come back another day to see the Snowdrops fully open .

Meanwhile up in the greenhouse , everything is under sheets of newspaper, fleece and blankets .The floor is very wet , since there are a few slightly slipped panes of glass . I think everything will be alright though. I had forgotten about the two most precious plants Veltheimia bracteata and the Marlothistella ,which I had meant to bring indoors last time I came up here to cover everything up and light the candles in the lantern .

I waited  for the wind to ease up , then quickly scooped them up and dashed back to the cottage .I have put them on the table in the porch .They can stay in there for a couple of days , to slowly acclimatise .

Then I will bring the Veltheimia in , so that I can enjoy watching her come into flower on my  kitchen windowsill . I grew this from seed . It gives me such a thrill to see it in flower !

I have some more seeds saved from last year's flower . I really must try and remember to sow them up soon .

Marlothistella uniondalensis , her flowers just beginning to go over , was not very happy under sheets of newspapers in the greenhouse . She will now will be much happier in the porch .

My lovely Cyclamen by the back doorstep , had been looking so gorgeous a few days ago , was now been completely flattened by the wind . I am so cross with myself for not moving it to a safer place .

I brought it into the porch . It is picking up already and I can see some more buds coming . 

So the Winter freeze appears to be over and we are back to normal ....rain , drifting sea mizzle and fog again ! 

Marlothistella Full Bloom Happiness !

 It has  been very mild here on the Lizard in the far South West of Cornwall .
                                                Mild and foggy .

                       I,ve been waiting for weeks to see these buds open .
  They just will not open until the sun shines and even then it has to be around mid-day .

 This morning at last , the sun appeared with the promise of a lovely sunny day !

                                                  Today's the day !

 Marlothistella uniondaensis , a little sweetie , all the way from the Little Karoo in South Africa .

           A little bit of a challenge to grow here in the U.K , but worth it !

 Grown from a little cutting my brother Martin gave me . It's doing really well and filling this pot . I don't think I need to re-pot it just yet though , but have to consider it's long tap root .
 It is branching out nicely with it's lovely stumpy caudex , but I,m not trying to show that off particularly...maybe I will when it gets much older and bigger .

                    It is the darling of my greenhouse , my favourite of all !

Marlothistella uniondalensis - is flowering !

 I had a wonderful surprise this morning when I uncovered the cactus collection of their sheets of newspapers . Little specks of purpley-pink caught my eye .

 My Marlothistella uniondalensis is smothered in buds !  I swear they weren't there yesterday !
 My brother gave me a tiny piece of this years ago and it really is my most  favourite plant in my collection . It has slowly spread and is now a nice sized clump in this shallow terracotta pot .

 It never fails to delight me with its dainty daisy-like flowers with a faint sweet perfume .

 That is a quite rare species Pelagonium next to it...I cant remember it's name ..but it has a flower that smells like nail varnish remover ..so I was told at the Penzance Cactus Show , where I bought it from..it has since flowered ( green ! ) and do you know ...it really does ! Extraordinary !

 Other things growing through the Winter months right now are this Tylecodon wallichii ..... Those green leaves will drop off and it will go dormant through the Summer  just leaving that peculiar stump of a stem . It is leaning towards the light .I daren't put it any closer to the window , where it would be too cold for it .

 ......and this Dioscoria elephantipes ( so called on account of it's caudex looking like an elephant's foot ) .
 I think this is now about to die back and become dormant  ... I have  just noticed that the leaves are a little bit spotted and ..aah..I think it has been dripped on from the leaking roof . I have moved it over and put that old washing up bowl there to catch the water . I'll take a closer look at it tomorrow , if it has become too wet I might bring him indoors and put him on a warm windowsill to dry out .
 Whatd'ya think ?

 Outside , I took the cover off this very young Agave this morning ,otherwise it would get too hot under it's cloche .
 Actually I have just covered it  up again for the night .

 This Agave is not doing very well because I have not been covering it ....tomorrow I will be looking for another cloche for it  , or I will dig him up and bring him under cover for the winter .
  Agaves can take quite a bit of cold , but do not like getting wet . There are slabs of rock around these to drain away the rain and older plants cope much better ..no , I think this one is going to be dug up and given a bit of pampering .

 Look at this pot of Snap-Dragons ! This is very much a typically  English Summer time plant ! 
 Tomorrow I will take a look to see if there are any signs of the Snowdrops coming up  .
 I don't think it will be so cold tonight .
So tomorrow , check the Snowdrops , dig up Agave and hopefully show you the Marlothistella uniondalensis with  fully opened daisy flowers !

Meanwhile in the Greenhouse - Martlothistella uniondalensis

I promised my brother ( the one who loves cacti ) that I.d post a picture of my Marlothistella uniondalensis  , to see how it has grown , over what must be about six years since he gave me the little rooted cutting from his .
 It has become one of my most treasured succulents , I look forward to seeing it's pink daisy flowers which appear between November and February .

It is a Winter growing mesembryanthemum  from the Little Karoo  in South Africa.                 Although said to be cold hardy , I keep mine in the greenhouse .
 I,m going to take a closer look at it tomorrow , with a view to getting a rooted piece off it to give back to my brother who has lost his .
   I also read somewhere that the caudex / fat root of this plant can be raised up , to make it look even more cool ...so I will take a look at that and see what I can do  .
 Anyway , I love having this one in my collection  ,  its a little charmer .
 Have a great week all ! :)