Growing Jurassic Park

Hi all - been lurking for a couple of months but thought I'd introduce myself. I took up gardening six months after getting married (suffering post-nuptial depression and struggling to remember what hobbies I had before I was planning a wedding), and I've been gardening now for a year.

My mother suggested containers as, while we have a garden we only rent the property, so I want to be able to move everything reasonably easily. And because I'm a nerd, I'm aiming to grow plants that would have been around when the dinosaurs roamed. I have a lot of exotic plants, and I'm growing them as specimens, and not combining plants in containers.

My Picasa album is here, and I hope to be adding to it later today when I've potted up the Hamamelis I bought yesterday. Looking forward to picking up tips and advice, and hopefully one day being able to offer them back!

 

Hi Juliasaurus and welcome

 

Helloo and welocme to the forum...I am sure you are going to get lots of good advice.

 

Nice collection,
I tend to like specimen plants myself, you can appeciate them much better that way, I think.
I'm sure in a few years, some of those will NOT move easily. :D

 

Hello Juliasaurus and welcome to GC.

You certainly have a nice collection of shrubs and nice to see your pictures.

I've always fancied a Witch Hazel but haven't found one since I've been living here. It's a wonderful cleanser and toner for the skin ... and I'm big into skin and hair products from natural sources.

Enjoy your stay with us.

 

Thank you for the warm welcome everyone. I've potted up my witch hazel now, and will take some photos when the sun is on my side. I'm not sure how one gets from the plant to the skin product though!

The Nordmann pine is starting to be a bit unwieldy - I got it to see if I can grow it and then bring it inside for Christmas next year. My husband and I can move it together at the moment, but I think we'll need a trolley by next year.

Some friends of mine with an "interesting" sense of humour have suggested I get a Metasequoia - fast-growing, up to 45m tall!

 

Dawn redwood, just cut one down.
It was up to the eves and too close to the house, only about ten yrs old.

 

Eek - definitely not touching one of them with a bargepole then! Ah, my Californian friends do like to mock me for essentially having about 20 square metres of garden (at least that I can put containers on)...

 

Would probably grow much slower in a container.

 

Evening Juliasaurus, and welcome. When growing plants in containers you are automatically Bonsaiing them. I have just bought some Sequoia sempervirens seed especially to do that.

 

Is there a "rule of thumb" for how big a tree is likely to grow in a certain sized pot, or is that dependent on the species as well? And should I be asking that on the Trees board?

 

I think that although a plant will grow slower in a container, unless your prepared to go fully down the bonsai route, you will at some stage have to either plant it out or get rid of it.
As you know growth rates vary and usually its the slower ones that do best in pots, if not fully bonsaied, watering and feeding becomes a problem along with the pot becoming unstable.

 

Basically, the smaller the pot, the smaller the root system, the smaller the plant. Obviously it`s a bit more complicated than that, but, if you don`t try then you don`t know. Get onto the site proper Julia, and ask away. :D

 

Thanks for the clarification Pete. I have slow-growing Wollemia nobilis and Magnolia x soulangiana, and I think I'm good for 10 years or so with them (hoping to be able to afford to buy a house at some point before I'm 40!), but I think I will hold off on any Metasequoia for a bit.

 

Hi Juliasaurus what a great name! :D

Welcome to our friendly forum your pretty lucky as there are quite a few people on here who know a thing or two about the plants you're growing and they are such a nice bunch of people you don't have to scream too long before someone helps you out! :D

I really liked looking through your pictures and I can see just like me you like a bargain but as yet I haven't got a plant for 10p although I have managed to get a few freebies!

I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy your stay.
Helen.xxx.