First attempt at a garden room

For the past 3 years my conservatory has been a junk room. A couple of months ago I had a clear out in there and thought I'd try to create a garden room. I've managed to keep the plants alive for a month now, but getting nervous with the drop in temperatures looming. I've been reading other posts about over wintering and wonder if I have to do anything other than keep an eye on the temp (which will be slighly cooler than the rest of the house) and to reduce watering / feeding?

When the plants were delivered they all had identification tags and care instructions other than a palm. Could someone tell me what it is please and how I should look after it? All I know is it is about 35 years old and a slow grower... the leaves are soft spikes.



Many thanks

Kaz

 

Great palm - not sure but it looks very much like a Phoenix palm.

 

Thank you for the suggestion Anne. My knowledge of plants is generally quite poor... I thought I had a Phoenix Palm at my last house and its spikes were lethal. In contrast, this one is very soft and flexable.

 

It one of the most beautiful Butia capitata/odorata (jelly palm) I`ve ever seen , they cost a fortune because they are slow grower , it hardy to -10/12 outdoor ......a waist for inside palm

 

Thank you Sal... before I initially posted, I googled palm types and couldn't find it. Now I have searched Butia Capitata and you are spot on . It took some courage to purchase it and now I'm terrified that I'll kill it! The guys from the nursery said it is very resilient... I hope they're right. I got them to saw off a couple of lower leaves.

There are 2 other plants I'm a little nervous about; Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii' - they said it would grow fast and to be quite ruthless and remove leaves when they lose their healthy look. I was worried sick a few days ago when I saw water dropping off the leaves... I thought I had a leak in the roof! Am I watering it too much causing this to happen?

The other plant is Dicksonia antarctica - they said water and feed through the crown, about a pint of water a day whilst the room's temp is in the 20s (and feed 4 weekly). I put it into a pot that can be lowered (plinth and feet removed). lol, I hope it lasts long enough for that to be needed to be done!

 

They do do that, the things are almost all water! Mine Ensetes' don't tend to lose their bottom leaves (I mean: go yellow and manky and need cutting off), but my Musas' do regularly.

 

Hi Kazzie ,
I keep my ensete outdoor and the same with the Dicksonia antartica .
the ensete or red banana , will grow to 4/5 meters and they are really easy
the dicksonia need shadow and moist just like a normal fern , with the difference that all the plant need to wet daily.
look at mine they are just 2 years old

 

Kristen... I googled Musas and all I got was pictures of a load of women in bikinis ! So none the wiser.

Sal, your garden is a dream... the plants look so healthy... it is stunning. Seeing the size of your ensete makes me wonder how long I'll be able to keep mine indoors. I think I must have misinterpreted what the garden centre told me... I thought I'd be able to control the height by removing older, taller leaves (duh!).

 

Sorry, two types of Banana commonly grown here:

Ensete ventricosum - often Maurelii or Montbeliardii
and
Musa - the hardy Basjoo variety, or various varieties of Musa sikkimensis

My adding an "s" to "Musa" clearly didn't help! and my school Latin teacher would be horrified anyway!

You can, to an extent, so that. If the plant is outside for the Summer,a nd you bring it in during late Autumn, then you can cut off all its leaves (and all its roots and store it dry - in a loft, for example).

However, in the Spring the leaves will grow again so within a couple of weeks it will be back to its original height ... although in Spring time you may be able to get away with moving it out during the day, and back in at night (dark will do of course ... so perhaps you have a garage tall enough for then)

 

Consider that my red banana have grown outdoor and we had a really bad summer and they are now a good 6/7 feet high your one should reach the roof by next spring .
type Musa basjoo , but as you growing indoor , I would suggest those plant.
banana ae ae

ensete super bum

strelizia

heliconias rostata

tacca cantieri

 

Sal I LOVE that variegated banana!!!

 

Stop it Sal.... lol... what beautiful plants! I would love to have some (all) of those, but feel my inexperience could lead to disaster! I told the garden centre that I was a novice so needed some hardy plants to get me started. Maybe when I have gained some confidence (mostly thinking in terms of seasonal temps in the garden room and understanding feed and watering more), I could then aspire to having somehing more interesting and challenging.

So... if I am thinking in terms of keeping the plants indoors only (including the banana), do you think they'll all be ok inside?

Don't laugh at the set-up so far... it is early days and some don't even have pots (can you see any problems?):

 

Hi Armandii... I got a min and max thermometer. There is a radiator in there and room has double doors leading to the living room that I'll keep open during cold weather (lol... heating bills... trying not to think about them!).