Pete's place

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BM

 

Are you sure, I'm not pushing you into this I hope :D

If you PM me your adress I'll see what I can find, you'll have to provide the roots though.

 

Do me a quick dummies guide and I will give it a bash.

BM

 

Pete, what can I say? It's more Med than the Med and so lush! Impressed is not a good enough word. I love your Noline; mine's much smaller, just got it in December. There's one at the house next to the palm centre where I got it which is fully grown with half a dozen tops and flowering! Guess you already know that if you cut it, it will send up multiple tops.

 

Hi Pete - just thought I'd echo a few of the sentiments of other members! Some superb specimens and unusual plants! Your garden is a good inspiration of the sort of thing that I'm trying to achieve with mine, although I've obviously got a long way to go!

 

Thanks everyone, I've not finished yet, as you can see I'm not really a gardener as such, to me the plants are more important, I wish I had a bit more design about me but I dont, I just let it evolve, and sometimes it evolves into a right mess :D :D But that dont bother me.


BM, I sent off a piece of the Aloe striata to you today, when I root succulents with stems like this, I mix up some gritty compost and fill a 3.5in pot, then I push a finger into the centre of the pot and insert the stem of the cutting, I then at the same time trickle some dry sharp sand around the stem, and water.
This way the stem is surrounded by sand but once it roots, it can get to the compost and there's no real need to pot up once rooted.

 

Agave fillifera, this is a replacement for a twenty yearold one that flowered and died on me last year.


Agave americana, this one grows outside under the caesalpinia, I like the way the leaves leave an impression on one another.


Melianthus major, big blueish leaves good for a jungly effect.

 

Thanks pete, I am looking forward to it.

That is how I potted up my baby agarve.

 

Hey Pete - the Melianthus major is very nice. It's hardy I assume? What size does it get to?

 

Pete I recieved my fine specimen this morning. Opening it bleary eyed I thought you had sent me a spring onion.

Very very very very very pleased thankyou.

Look here he is all installed, bring on the roots.



BM

 

Dave, the melianthus reaches about 4-5ft in a season, I find its root hardy and the top will take some frost, in a mild winter it can go on and flower the following spring, but thats not normal for me.
Usually it looks a bit battered by spring and I tend to cut it down as the new growth is much better.

Hope it does well BM.

 

Cheers pete.

Dave there is a minor version too which i grow which takes up far less space and is treated the same way pete describes. All of the growth is in a season. then pruned hard past frosts the following year.

BM

 

Hi Pete

Going back to the Pineapple, I picked one up at Sainsburys for the little darlings, and, well, to show my complete ignorance, what do I do with it now???? (The top, of course!! :rolleyes: )

The Melianthus major look rather nice too, we are going for the big jungly effect too, so will have to look out for it at the GC's - or is it a more specialist plant??

The Agave fillifera looks as if is another one for the shopping list too!!!

Thanks

HB

 

HB, what I do is cut the top off just above the fruit, then strip some of the leaves off to leave some bare stem. Leave it in a warm but out of the sun place for the cut and the stem to dry off for a couple of days and then pot it up into some multipurpose with some sharp sand added,
Keep it warm and moist out of direct sun and it should root, good luck.

As for the melianthus, I've not seen it in any garden centres, but some nurseries do sell it. I grew mine from seed.

The agave unfortunately, isn't hardy so winter protection is needed. A cold greenhouse is enough.