PUSHING THE BORDERS

Amazing what remembering to feed these when in leaf does for the amount of flower stems

Amaryllis belladonna by charliepridham, on Flickr

This Blechnum is looking good this year - especially considering I didnt plant it there, it just appeared one year and does much better than where I had planted it about 15' away

Blechnum chiiense by charliepridham, on Flickr

(I am aware that chilense doesnt have two i's but by the time I had noticed I had uploaded the picture)

Another couple of Abutilon ID's

This came from Poppet Heaton but "Poppets Pink" isnt its proper name! Ray at Hill House claimed he had Id'd it as Louis Marignac I lost the original but managed to get a copy from Mathew before the Nursery closed down, the flowers hang down and never fully open

abutilon poppets pink by charliepridham, on Flickr

Its the leaves which are quite distinctive

DSC_0001 by charliepridham, on Flickr

This second one wasn't labeled and no one at Hill House had a name for it

Abutilon LR by charliepridham, on Flickr

My eyes register this as redder than my camera but its definately got traces of orange in the red

Tigridia vanhouttei which I didn't see last year. It was lost in a pot on a bench covered in grass. I was chuffed to see leaves in its now weeded pot. Flowers are an unexpected bonus this year.

They are not as flamboyant as the T.pavonia strains and are less than 20mm across.

But I'm still very pleased to see it.

Chad.

charlie wrote: ↑Mon Aug 18, 2025 4:04 pm Amazing what remembering to feed these when in leaf does for the amount of flower stems

Amaryllis belladonna by charliepridham, on Flickr

Mine are a couple of weeks behind yours Charlie, and not as tall. Maybe because I forgot to feed them when in leaf.

A couple of Hedychium looking good here at the moment

For my part of the gardening world a few interesting things have happened. After I pulled up a piece of Yucca aloifolia 2 years ago and stuffed it into a pot, it sulked loosing leaves refusing to cooperate. But then this spring it decided to grow and in its mini form has also decided to flower. I've never seen such a small yucca doing this.


I know a lot of you don't want to know or have anything to do with Setaria palmifolia but for me it isn't as invasive as its reputation. In fact it's looking great this year being something of a show stopper. I've also got a variegated S.palmifolia which is taking it's time, but hopefully will come out in better form next year.


And this year is the year for plums, walnuts and hazelnuts. I've got more plums than ever before and it's jam walk back there.

Likewise for plums here, been a good year for all the fruit except figs which I dont seem to ever get right regards pruning/cutting back

I also have 3 varieties of Fig trees here. All of them get a hard prune in late winter. This year there is a lot of fruit almost ready if only we get a bit more heat. The trees aren't pushing the borders much, it's getting the fruit to a ripe and sugary state, that requires luck with the weather. Nothing else works to ripen the fruit I've found.

I've also been growing a red apple from the Bodensee, don't know what this area is called in English, but a lake on the border between Germany and Switzerland/Austria. This area produces a lot of fruit. There, some apple farmer managed to cultivate a red apple, Malus domestica Baya Marisa, not just red on the outside but the pulp as well, and not via genetic modification but the good old fashioned way - or so I was told.





Bought 2 trees in 2015 and they are both producing a good bucket full. I've never seen the fruit of for sale anywhere, other than around the Bodensee and can only assume it's not all that common. Maybe I'm wrong.

The Bodensee is Lake Constance to us. Fond memories of Konstanz and the wonderful almost subtropical gardens on the Insel Mainau. Meersburg, not far away, one of my favourite places in all of Europe.

There was a lovely red fleshed apple in the cemetery near to my house. The apples were quite small but delicious. I always used to grab one walking the dogs over there. The tree was sickly so I decided I’d have a go at grafting so went over there to get the necessary bits and pieces … only to see that the council had felled the tree :(

Strangely, this year has been my best for figs. This is the first year Ice Crystal has fruited:



Panache also:


And this tree I got in the throw away sales a few years ago now dominates the garden and has lots of figs. I’m assuming it is the ubiquitous Brown Turkey:



I had a very productive tree in my last garden and the boss used to make me a delicious fig tarte tatin with star anise. That was a WOW dessert!

I was pleased to be able to get Silver Lyre this year to add to the mini collection:

MartinNicklin wrote: ↑Sun Aug 24, 2025 5:18 pm
I was pleased to be able to get Silver Lyre this year to add to the mini collection:

Martin, does your collection include 'Little Miss Figgy'?
I planted one out last year and this year it has produced a few fruits that haven't achieved any good size. I'm not sure if it is because it has been too dry or just because it is the first year of fruiting.

Hedychium corelli, delicious scent



Ricinus 'Impala', loads of fruit but not for making a tart.

My little miss figgy ( love that name) is two years old and also had tiny fruit that didn't make it, I reckon my issue was to dry also.

I had no idea that the fruit from rocinus was edible, I always thought they were not edible!