Time to Plant out Musa Ensete maurelii ,

                  O.K. It's now safe to plant out my Banoonaahs  .  

                Shuffle and bump technique to get it out of the pot .

Last end of August I had a serious spine injury and I am very grateful to my lovely son-in-law who not only got the Banana plants out and under cover for the winter , but dug out nice big hole and put a large pot in it to keep it open . This has really helped me for the replanting of the beast today .  Well one of them.  I've actually got two of these . I'm just planting out one of them today .

 All I had to do was a little bit of weeding , enlarge the hole a little bit , shuffle and bump it out of the pot and roll it , until it just dropped down into the hole !

                             "Little bit of weeding "

                     Rolling and dropping !         Boomph !   

                        Straightening it up a little . Firm it in .

                                   Perfect !    

                  🌧️  And now we have rain to settle him in !  🌧️⛈️

               I am off up to the shed to pot up some cuttings .

                                        🌿💛🌿

 

Epiphyllum Frosty Rose - Flower 🩷🌿

 

        Epiphyllum Frosty Rose 

Very dainty , medium size flower . Beautiful . I put my hand in to show size .  Certainly smaller than the other ones I've shown you recently . 

                                         🌿🩷🌿 

Meanwhile out in the herb garden ....

Captain Cook's Tea Tree has been putting on a lovely display . 

I hope our local bees are enjoying it . This is where the Manuka Honey comes from , the bees that feed on these flowers .

The medicinal  oil is extracted from it's leaves .

I didn't think it would survive Storm Gorretti . It was really beaten up !

I think it has been very stressed by those cruel winds . I couldn't see any leaves until I climbed up to look closer . Yes , closer up , I can see some leaves .

I wonder how easy it would be to take a few cuttings .  I might try .

                 Her flowers are so pretty !

 The seed pods are interesting too , you can just see a couple on this branch .

You need to get up closer to see how lovely they are . There's the labyrinth and vegetable garden beyond .

  I must climb back down now and go and water everything .

It's actually more overcast this morning and we may get some gentle rain on Monday . 

    

             Have a beautiful Sunday ; go and make it a great day !

                                       Peace and Love 

                                                 Debbie 💐x

   

                                            🌿🩷🌿

Epiphyllum Frosty Rose - bud 🌿

 

               In my greenhouse today .........

                                      Epiphyllum Frosty Rose 

            She did have two buds , but I can see one has withered away .

  This whole plant needs to be divided up and repotted with nice fresh compost .

         There might be a snail or two ......   🐌🐌🐌...... !!!  

                                             🌿 🌤️🌿

Epiphyllum Curt Backeberg - Flower

 Named after the greatest horticulturalist who collected , studied and classified cacti . 

 This is one of my oldest plants . Most of my plants came from dear Mr John Pilbeam of Connoisseur  Cacti , he often would send me extra cuttings for free ...I also bought plants , cuttings and seeds from Terry Hewitt of Hollygate  Nursery .

Sadly both now passed . I hope they are looking down and can see that I still have plants that I bought from them .

 Terry was crossing Epiphyllum just before he passed away and I bought some of his seeds . I am still waiting to see them flower .They are very precious to me .

                               That's all fer today folks ! 

                                                 🌿⛅🌿

Epiphyllum Curt Backeberg - midday update 🌿

 

          Oooo ...... my goodness ! .......I think it's going to happen very soon !

Epiphyllum Curt Backeberg - update 🌿

 

Apologies everyone , Epiphyllum Curt Backeberg is keeping us waiting !

It's a bit overcast this morning , he's waiting for the sun to come out !

There are actually two buds on him this year . 

So while we're waiting I'll show you around the shed .

Celery , kale, coriander and lettuce . Yellow sticky labels to catch compost gnats ....not sure they're working to be honest , but the plants are doing o.k. 

Moving up the bench - Only four of my first batch of sweetcorn germinated , so yesterday I sowed another lot in that propagator with the clear lid . 

 Another tray of Lettuce seedlings struggling in the heat . 

Epie cuttings . My new Echinocereus and Iguanodon 🦖 . Crambe maritima seedlings . Cardoon seedling (only one germinated !)

Lemon verbena and Helianthemum plug plants ...Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri rooted cutting ready to send up to my mother as I think she lost hers during their house move . It is a cutting that originally came from mum's which was possibly a cutting that was originally taken from the one my grandmother had on her windowsill .

 I'll show you my bigger one that I have on my kitchen windowsill later on .

 So then , more Epie cuttings ..King Midas and Marilyn Monroe .

Epiphyllum Marilyn Monroe - not showing any signs of flowering this year .  

  She needs tidying up , she's climbed out of her plant support and wants to go rambling about !

             🌿🩷   Here are some pics of last year's amazing flower 🩷🌿

                              🌿   Epiphyllum Marilyn Monroe 🌿

                                               Click twice 😊

                            🌿 Epiphyllum Marilyn Monroe  🌿

 

 Nice view over lovely new gate into the meadow , which I think , will soon be cut and baled  .

              I took the leek , beetroot and other seedlings  out of the shed now .

I'll bring them on outside for a while before planting them out .

 Giving everything a nice long drink during this hot weather .

 Three Furcraea longaevas waiting to be planted out in the new tropical bed . It's just been way too hot to start on that .

    I need to get these planted out very soon and sow some more Beetroot .

  The water barrel's are almost empty . Hoping we'll get some rain soon to refill them and refresh everything .

  It has been uncomfortably hot , too hot for me ....too hot in the greenhouse for some of my plants !

 I almost lost my tomato plants , but managed to revive them .

I fixed up some windbreak mesh to give a bit of shade in the greenhouse . 

 This morning it is a little bit misty and overcast , but that hot sun is now trying to burn through .

                                      🌿    Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri 🌿

         🌿 Pretty scarlet star flowers of Rhpsalidopsis gaertneri 🌿

   

       Hopefully E. Curt Backeberg will bloom for us later on .

              Take care of your plants in this hot weather ☀️🐝🦋

Epiphyllum Curt Backeberg - bud 🌿

                 🌿    Waiting for Epiphyllum Curt Backeberg   🌿

🌿Meanwhile Epiphyllum King Midas , one of my oldest Epies , is suddenly putting out lots of lovely new shoots . Lots of them !

 It hasn't flowered for a very long time . Maybe it will flower next year . It has a very pale orange flower .

I managed to knock a branch off , so that is now stuck into a small pot of compost and going to a friend . 🌿

I am about to label , repot and tidy up my plants .  Things got into a terrible muddle while the new leaky greenhouse was being built . 

Some of my plants were left outside through the winter and are really tatty . Sigh .....we'll see what we can do . 

Need -  black felt tip pen - plant labels - compost - perlite -grit - large square pots - scissors .

☀️    It has been fiercely hot here , almost lost my tomato plants 😱 , but managed to turn the situation around .  

Hot again , but there has been a bit more of a breeze and we have heard the odd rumble of thunder .

                                              🌿☀️🌤️🌩️🌿

 

🌿 Epiphyllum Clown 🌿

           Flower opening at around 6am

                                    🤍  Be still my beating heart !  

                                                      🌿🤍🌿

Evening update -  notice how the stigma was closed up on this mornings photos .

8.40 pm -   look at how the stigma has opened up !

             🌿  I think this is now officially one of my favourite Epies 🌿

                                                     🌿🩷🌿

Sunday - ☀️ 🐝🦋

It has been fiercely hot today . I did a quick check around the garden early this morning .

Runner-beans still looking o.k.😊 I noticed a couple of shallots coming up at last !

Courgettes , Butternuts and Courgette plants are still there .

 Thirsty plants ...I will water them tomorrow morning ...trying to encourage them to put their roots down deeper .

 I'm so glad I rescued my chives ( they had been nibbled almost to the ground by bunnykins 🐰) .

 

I planted them in with my Lavender and the bees and butterflies are loving them !

My Snap-Dragons are looking their best in their second year . Also much loved by the bees .

 I sat watching them ...listening to their busy humming as they climb into each flower .

The climbing and short beans are looking o.k too .

        This beautiful butterfly closed it's wings just as I went to take a photo .....

                 .......... then opened up again ......

              

                                     Painted Lady  !

Too hot to do anything today . Made a mental note of things I have to do .

      Mostly weeding . ..... maybe tomorrow morning early .

 I want to transplant a couple of Echiums into the front garden .

    Yep , maybe tomorrow .

Self sown Echium seedlings . 🌿

Impatiens tinctoria ...lots of buds ..this Impatiens stays in a well behaved clump

unlike Impatiens glandulifera also known as Himalayan balsam which is a real thug .

  Native to tropical Africa and I assume that parts of the plant can be used for dye ... I might try it when I get some free time !

 The flower of this is beautiful white and fragrant . Watch this space for an update !

                        Weeds !                                        Weeds !

  Need to earth over these exposed Dahlia roots !

 Left over hazel poles...might make another teepee somewhere else in the garden .

I have a couple of climbing roses that would look nice on it and maybe some more Sweetpeas .

Meanwhile in the greenhouse ......

                 Epiphyllum Curt Backeberg 

                      Epiphyllum Clown 

Everytime I look her bud is swelling !

              May be tomorrow ......maybe during the night .

I will have one more check on these later on . Watch this space !

                                          🌿🌿🌿

Anyway .....

I sat in the summerhouse for a while sorting out a vintage kit I bought on ebay .

 

 The colours were a nightmare to sort out , the instructions called one batch of greens " olive greens " and the other "forest greens" ..I'm still not sure which is which ! And pale brown and very pale brown very difficult to decide which was which lol ! but I got them all into their colour shades and into neat bundles and I think I'm almost ready to start  . 

Yes , the observant amongst you will see that the picture on the front of the kit has blue flowers  🩵🙄

   It's o.k. because after  going through the instructions several times I found this ...

                              

                                 🩷     Phew ! That's o.k then ! 🩷  

           Me separating the pale brown from the very pale brown and white wool .

I like stitching with silk but my hands are a bit sore with all the weeding so I thought I'd switch over to crewel wool for a little while .

                             So hot today !  The sea so calm .

It is going to be very hot again tomorrow . So I'll be up early to do the watering .

 I hope you are all enjoying a nice long bank holiday weekend and maybe also half term school break .

         Take care in the hot sunshine and enjoy !  ☀️

               Love and Peace  💐🕊️🐝 Debbie x