Bananamans Hideout

Wish I had 800 quid to spare BM. :D

 

Talking of colour, Pete, my Albizia Summer Chocolate are turning a darker shade from the green seedlings that emerged and after resoaking, two more have come up.
Here's hoping my chamaerops grows as well as yours.
Now I have a few pots of summer bedding the back garden is full, no room for bananas or tree ferns :(

 

Wow Banana man.Fantastic pictures and Garden.So neat and tidy.

You should be on the TV along with PLOTTY, he who has the most perfect veggie plots I have ever seen.

You could both be the new Alan Titcmarsh and Chris Beardshaw

Kandy

 

Lol Kandyfloss, Plotty and Bananaman already sounds like a show! glad you like my garden.

Pete this is my Chamaerops humilis

I keep it closer to a trachy shape by keeping the trunk clear. It flowered in 2003 and had strange grape like seeds after, really weird.

 

Looks good in the decking BM, Oh go on let it have a couple of suckers :D
Were the seeds viable?
Strongy, my albiza kalkora look exactly like any other albiza at the moment.I only had 2 germinate.

 

Yes I planted three holes in the deck during construction. I never intended to have any pots on the deck as it was supposed to be a bit of oasis, but i got invaded!

 

I've just looked through all this, and gob-smacked is the word!
What a fantastic garden you've created, BM! You must be proud of it all! :D

 

cheers dendrobium, yes i am pleased with the end result and pleased I can put the construction behind me and concentrate on increasing my foliage to square foot ratio. :D

 

You have a fantastic garden Banana Man, I've enjoyed looking at your pictures

 

The garden is awesome!i showed it to my husband and he wanted to know where your weeds were?? as he is used to being sent out here with a bucket to remove unwanted growth..under supervision of course !!..what does your garden look like in the winter??

 

Winter is spent waiting for summer. I have so many plants to protect the garden looks like a modern art exhibition, lots of tall constructions! As for weeds I get a few in March/April but they pretty much don't get a chance to grow. I have lots of ground cover and then things like the hostas just overtake any weeds which just perish. Needless to say I find winter very boring. I don't have a 'garden finished' winter picture. This winter the growth from the summer is far greater, but I have a bleak picture of before (Feb) and when I laid my turf in beginning of April this year. It should be better looking this winter rather than looking 'in progress'.

Front March



Back Feb



Back April




The biggest winter problem is seeing the ar5ehole development behind which I have tried so hard to remove during the summer. But this winter the evergreens will do a much better job and the trees have done really well and bushed up to give me more privacy. It look worse than it is taken from the upstairs bedroom window when you are in the garden there are strategic obstructions to shade you from 'executive developments'. I long for the days when all we had at the back of us were orchards, unfortunately not ours and they were bought up and reuined :( :(

BM

 

couldnt you put some tall quality bamboo screening up to hide the development? then no one can see you either..i only asked about the winter garden because mine is a bit dismal in the winter with everything dissapearing underground..and i have a few leylandi which fortunately dont shed..i am also working on some winter things to look at..

 

Hello BM
Need to pick your brains a bit.....

any suggestions for trees we can put in - as we have a blank canvass. We are looking pretty much the same as you - not too big, not too small, interesting and hopefully tall enough to begin with to block out "stretegic" windows behind us.... Mr HB likes the red leaved tree you have on the right.

We were discussing the over-wintering of our plants at the weekend, and as they are all still in pots, we have decided to keep them so (even the DA) so they can be put in the greenhouse, then maybe plant out next year. I think Mr HB was pretty horrified at the thought of building an Banana House!!!

ps my gardener was impressed with my bargain Gunnera!!!

 

Hi wildflower, yes I have more bamboo in the way now and laurels, plus the passion flower stays evergreen down the end and it is increasing in mass daily. I think this winter it will be better but has only been recovering from the evil developers for a couple of years so it will take time. I had 30ft trees at the end until the sickening sound of chainsaws and now all I have is about 9foot. I do still feel sick every time I hear a chain saw I was that stressed about it.

I also had more evergreen climbers which gave me a nice flowering winter backdrop but the neighbours took exception to it and I got tired of seeing brown swathes where they had cut through the fence and killed off all the lateral growth.

Winter is quite boring but I have lots to do to tend to the Tree Ferns and banana etc.

 

Hi HoneyBee tree trees trees, where to start.

First of all you need to decide where it is going because of roots and your sloping plot. Being on lots of clay you may need to seek advice about how a tree might affect your hard landscaping. Clay areas are absolute boogers for subsidence in the summer as it shrinks. If nothing comes up as an issue I have compiled a list of trees that I grow in my garden which I would recommend for the tropical look and are my personal favourites.

I list them as 6/6 or 8/4 etc depending on how long they keep their leaves. I have taken some pictures as they are today but obviously their interest may be at different at different times of the year, so I will try and find examples of that. Also another tip is to try and layer the canopies so that they ascend away in different shades and shapes.

Layering (Pic1)



Layering (pic2)



Layering (pic3)




My first tree is the one you spotted which is Prunus cerasifera 'Pissardii'. It is a 9/3 which means you have leaves from April to November and a month of blossom with only 3 months of bare tree. Only consideration, as with all cherries, are that it roots close to the surface.

(Pic4) Small back Garden



(pic5) Large Front Garden



(pic6) Large Front Garden



(pic7) Large Front Garden