Thanks for that Peters! Yeah we do try to grow new things every year, its just hard to find the time sometimes thats all! Thanks!
I have tried brugmansias but didn't really get on with them - I think they're better seen in a more tropical habitat, like Thailand f'rinstance. I've tried echium pinanana (the very tall one) too. I had two going great guns until last winter when they were killed by the cold weather, even though they were wrapped up. I'm currently thinking about chrysanthemums having bought a huge bunch of burnt orange & yellow ones from a bucket outside someone's house for £1.75 - bargain! I might need to dig a new border for cuttings flowers.........hmmmmm............
We have obviously been going down a similar route Tiarella, with Brugmansias and Echiums. I admit the winter protection is going to be a major problem, especially with the Echium. I understand what you mean about the setting. A single Brugmansia in the middle of a flower bed could look quite silly. But I have been pleased with mine. Quite by chance I happened to have several tall plants growing in pots, which I put temporarly on my patio. But then left them there because I liked the effect, in the picture above, which had a bit of a tropical feel about it. I will have to try and develop it a bit further. Seedstotal, I do understand about the time thing. I never did anything until I retired, so you are already way ahead of me, relatively speaking. I mentioned above about taking cuttings. Well the first pot was ready yesterday, showing good root growth after 14 days. I was lucky and got 100% strike rate - 12 happy young plants. There is about another 20 pots of cuttings in the light box. I also mentioned digging up tubers and corms to be stored in the warm over winter. I did some yesterday. The picture above shows a Chasmanthe corm - a tender relation of Crocosmia from South Africa. The corms are huge - nearly 4 inches across. On the right there is a Crocosmia corm for comparison. Sadly my Chasmanthe, which I bought in the spring, didn't flower. But the old corm, which is now shrivelled and dead, gave birth to triplets - one shown above. This picture shows some of the other tubers I lifted at the same time. On the left is an old (5 year) Incarvillia, with a young one beside it (1 year). These are quite hardy, but I lifted them as I wanted to repot them. Next is a Liatris tuber, which tends to rot in a wet winter, and a Mirabilis jalapa tuber, which is borderline hardy.
Amazing staff! Unfortunately i do not have the time to do anything in the allotment these days. Lucky i managed to plant the broad beans (cant live without them). November phew, i will try to do some digging, and the boss of the allotments managed to get a lot of manure!!!! Huray! the best ever you can have!!! Gotta get at least 10 barrowfull of it!!!!!!
I'm still waiting for frost to blacken my dahlias, and I won't plant my tulips until we have some either. They are patiently waiting in the shed, together with some extra alliums I bought. It's just leaf-clearing for the time being.
I suspect that we are very close to being able to lift things like Dahlias. Just this morning I looked at my neighbours beautiful Acer tree and noticed that over the last two days it has lost most of its leaves. That tells me that plants are packing up for the season and ready to go dormant. What is needed for Dahlias (I think) is for them also to go dormant. If their leaves start falling off (even without a frost) it is saying their dormancy has started.
