| Greg's garden: flowers in mid-summer 2020 |
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These are the flowers we had in the garden in mid-summer 2020, mainly taken on 21 December 2020, on the December solstice. They're not all overly pretty, but the purpose of the photos is to record what was in the garden at the time.
As I've been saying for some time now, the garden is not doing well. I think that I'm going to have to accept that much of the work isn't worth the time or money. In particular, trees just don't thrive here. My carefully coddled Paulownia kawakamii (that's the parent tree on the Wikipedia page) has now died:
Should I be sad? It was barely a metre high after over 5 years; it should have been 5 m high years ago. Even if it had survived, it would be nothing like it should have been.
Other trees are not doing well. The Buddleja × weyeriana that I planted two months ago that I salvaged and then planted a couple of months ago has died. The Corymbia ficifolia that I bought earlier in the year, and which flowered happily until the first frost, doesn't seem to have recovered from the winter:
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Another five-year-old tree is the Ginkgo biloba that we planted 5½ years ago. It hasn't died, but also hasn't grown:
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And the Grevillea robusta that should survive anywhere is not dead, but clearly worse off than when we bought it:
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On the other hand, a couple of trees are bucking the trend. The Schinus molle that I was so concerned about two months ago now seems to be returning. Here then and now:
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The Quercus rubra (“red” American oak) that we planted in the same area is also marginally larger than when we planted it, and has plenty of leaves:
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Once we get rid of the weeds round its base, it might still grow. A related plant (I think) is the Acer negundo (“Box elder”) that we planted nearly 3 years ago, and which never did well. We had thought it dead, but there's hope yet:
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The Hibiscus rosa-sinensis “Uncle Max” that I planted two years ago isn't dead, and it's developing buds, but it's barely any bigger than it was when I planted it (first photo):
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I think it's just too cold for it where it is. Now that it's looking vaguely OK it's probably time to take a couple of cuttings for planting inside.
My suspicion is still that trees grow to a certain point, after which they hit the clay substrate at about 80 cm depth, and then they just die. But there are a couple
In a more positive light, the bulbs and tubers and things are flowering well:
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I'm planning to plant many more for next year.
And the Clematis “Edo Murasaki” is flowering better than it has since it was cut to the ground by the accidents with the wind break in May:
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Some of the grasses are doing well too, from the small to the large:
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The flower stems are over a metre long, and they remain (there's still last year's stem in the middle).
Part of the issues is almost certainly watering, and in particular I've wondered whether that was the issue with the Paulownia and the Corymbia ficifolia. One indication is these hanging baskets, where I was a little lax with the daily watering. Only one plant survived, but now seems to be doing well:
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After repairing the sprinkler system last week I wasn't really reckoning with this:
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Where did all that water come from? It can't have been from rain; it hasn't rained in days. It looks like the fixes allowed new leaks to spring up. How I hate this technology!
Here are the rest:
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