Spiky obsession

With all the new pots, it is easy to forget about the two larger alpine planters that have been created over the last couple of years.

I can't remember what the plant was that is missing. Strangely I don't have a photo of it when planted, but I am guessing it has not grown much as two of the plant are known to be slow growers.

The next one was suppose to be quicker.

The little androsace sempervivoides (top right), flowered and then died. I have another else where in the garden and that hasn't done well either.

The orostachys spinosas (centre middle, and top) both struggled last year shrinking right back. I thought they were gone, but this year they seem to be making a bit of a recovery. For both of these water is probably key and they can't cope with baking.

The two sempervivums have both thrived. I hadn't noticed them growing, but the photos show how much more space they are taking up. Red devil has got quite big, for something I thought stayed small. The green dragon, is just doing it's thing, slowly creeping out with lots of little plants.

The eagle eyed among you, may have noticed two semps were removed from beside the red devil. These turned out to be a different form and have been moved.

The other plant, armeria juniperifolia, has done well. Again water is an issue, got to keep an eye on it as it has a tendancy to suddely turn brown in sections, which totally spoils the look.

And what happened to the other sempervivum, it is now all planted up with a semp lilac time.

They look slighty dwarfed at the moment, but it is semp 'lion king' so wont stay that way for long. Hopefully the two should work well together, as 'Lion King' looks best in spring and then fades a bit, which 'lilac time' gets better as the summer progresses.

The main thing I learnt from last year is not to treat them like succulents in high summer. They need a bit of shade or more water. I am determined to get it right this time and actualy take notice of the water needs.

It has been busy here, with a trip to Ireland for a wedding, lots of decorating for a visit from the inlaws, and finally a quick visit to the Hamption Court flower show.

The flower show was interesting, I don't normally visit them and we are having a mini heat wave and recorded the hottest June temperature ever on Wednesday. Combine that with thousands of people and you can imagine it was not the nicest place in the world to be. It was far too crowded to get many good photos, but will post a few later.

Again the number of people got in the way of any proper plant shopping, it got too frustrating constanly being nudged by people trying to get to the front and grabbing for plants. In the end I gave up and settled for the few plants I picked up right at the start of the day. Luckly this happened to be the only set of plants I really wanted: a set of air plants. Top of the list was a tillandsia xerographica.

I have been after this for years, having seen it I think on Danger Gardens blog. It's really tough to get hold of in the UK, with only one or two stockists and being out of stock most of the time. Anything after this was a bonus.

To keep it company, is this Houston Cotton Candy

A little tilandsia ionantha guatemala

And finally these two tilandsia ionantha

Having got the plants, you need something to grow them on. Very conviently there was a wood stall near by, so I also picked up a few bits of wood to use as stands and also as dressing in pots. Then the fun starts, what combination to go for?

A few plants on one log?

Perhaps a couple of logs?

What about three?

This is the one I settled for, mainly as it can be displayed as one set or separated out. All the plants rest on the wood at present, if I continue to like it they may be attached more securely.

Now I just need to keep the alive. I was given strict instructions to dunk them in water and then dry them completly ensuring there is no water in the crown. I am watering everything each Sunday at the moment in the hope of getting more consistent, so these are now on the watering list.

Part of the re-potting process is removing offsets. I used to keep every single one and pot them up for swaps, but noticed they took up space and often suffered if they were not moved on. Now if the plant is nothing unusual I just take off very young pups (that way I don't feel so bad), as part of the re-potting process. Today it was the turn of some of the agaves.

First up the un-identified agave filifera hybrid. There is still no formal id on this one, other than it came from a batch of a. filifera seeds. It's a good solid plant.

The wierd thing about this plant, is that it doesn't seem to actually grow. It gets new leaves, and old ones die, but it stays the same size. No offsets on this one, it never does, but it always needs a good clean up of the dead leaves. I have tried a slightly bigger pot this year in the hope of maybe getting some growth.

From the non-offsetter, to one of the biggest, agave stricta nana. It was bought about 3 years ago at a local plant fair. There was a group of them hidden away on one of the stall, all much bigger than you usually see in the UK.

This is a pupping machine, it's natural habit is to clump. Keeping it as a solitary plant is a full time job. Thankfully it is not diffiuclt to remove offsets, a simple twist or pull on each one separates it form the mother. I did save one, which has gone in one of my "victorian" pots.

Funnily enough the little pots came for the same fair as the nana did. A seller this year has a few of them, supposedly all victorian, and I have since seen them sold like that in another nursery, so maybe it's true. Either way they are cute little pots. I have 5 of them and am playing with the idea of selecting my favourite plants for a series of miniatures.

There are two many plants to show each one, but the final one worth a spot is the manfreda maculosa x agave obscura. This was from my friend before he died and I have been growing both forms to see how they turn out. This more triangualar form is doing well.

The spots really come out in the sun.

It seems to offset freely, so took off quite a few and actually saved some of these.

These will make a few people very happy, there has been a waiting list for them so they are all off to good homes. You know who you are.

The first part of the garden to be worked on was this section of rockery. It is strange to think it was a year ago. The starting point:

It took about two days to get the rocks and plants in.

Then May this year, it was showing hardly any damage, although we did have a very mild winter. You can see the shade area starting to go in as well.

The real growth has come since then, especially in the echeveria elegans. They were planted having seen all the photos of rivers of succulents. I didn't have enough for a full river, perhaps a minor stream and even then they needed to fill out a lot.

The coloured up amazingly in Feb, and the first signs of more serious offsets were starting to be visible.

I have been watering and feeding them as it has been so dry here, and it is paying off:

They have done so well, it was possible to remove a few that were wondering and use them to complete the run:

The only change in the rockery, was that the little aloe polyphylla didn't make it, (it was far too small to be planted out unprotected). In its place is the crassula sarcocaulis.

Again it seems to love having it's feet in the ground and is starting to flower.

Sadly the flowers aren't red, and come out white or pale cream. Luckily it wasn't bought for the flowers. It needs a trim, to get back the good defined shape again. It will also give me an opportunity to take some cuttings as backup.

So one year down for this part of the garden, as with many succulent gardens slow but steady progress. Other parts of the garden are changing more quickly, I'll have to do a post on how the shade garden is going.

I am fortunate to live close to Kew Gardens and RHS Wisely so there is always something to see if I want a plant fix. Interesting nurseries however are a bit rarer. There is however one good local one, The Palm Centre which usually has a good mixture of exotics. Not having visit for a while, it seemed time to pop down and see what was new.

As the name suggests it specialises in palms, and they always have a massive amount of different size.

I do plan to get one of these trachys at some point in the future, but it is destined for further down the garden where the garage currently is. So for now time to move on.

Next up where the chaemaerops humilis. There were quite a few of these, of various shades of green/blue. One of these was going to come home with me.

Then it was on to see the yuccas, there was a big table of yucca rostratas.

It had cacti on one side and cycads the other. There were some lovely yucca rostratas, including a few double headers.

This was one of the plants on my list, so I spent a good amount of time going though every plant and selecting the best. They were on special offer as well.

You don't have to limit yourself to these small sizes.

The puyas were interesting, very blue in colour.

It is puya coerulea and there were a few of different sizes. The problem with puyas is they are just so vicious with teeth all along the edge which have a nasty habit of catching you. So far I have managed to avoid any in the garden, but these were seriously tempting.

They had some really nice yucca filiferas.

I love them when they get that big, such structural plants. They also looked great against the brahea armata.

The nursery also has large fern and bamboo sections, but by now I was too distracted with my purchases to explore today. They do mail order as well, so well worth looking them up.

So what did I come home with?

The chaemaerops humilis is staying roughly there, the two yucca rostratas are for else where.

These were some of the bluest I have seen, hopefully they will stay that way. One is set for the front garden, the other is sadly to replace one of my large trunked ones. The builders knocked it out of its pot, and just pushed it back in during one of the wettest winters on record. When I came to plant it there were no roots. I thought it would be fine and re-root, but sadly was wrong and it has gone downhill this year.

The spear is still good, so I have decided to remove it and plant it up somewhere to be nursed back to health. Obviously there is a slight difference in size between this one and the replacement, but I can't afford another one that size, and the small one should be interesting in that spot.

At the same time I picked a few pots, one for a plant a friend has given/lent me. It is a lovely yucca whipplei.

It is staying in a pot and going in the front, so I thought I would re-pot to refresh the soil.

A quick trim showed it already has a bit of a trunk. It is going to look great out on display. It may well be re-called to the original home when he sees this.

It has been a long time since I have bought any big succulents, so it was fun. They can all stay there until the weekend when I can plant and move everything around.

I had been looking for something to bonsai for years. I wanted a plant with small leaves, that would form a nice tree shape. At a plant fair in May I found my little Crassula sarcocaulis which was perfect.

It has been in the cycad rockery since then and has pretty much doubled in size already, plus it is flowering nicely.

The outside of the flowers are pink which is what you notice, then when looking closely the open flowers can be seen as white.

Showing this photo elsewhere a friend commented that they had the same plant, but it had different leaves. A few photos were exchanged and it was different. Then today in my local garden centre what should be sitting there but a pallet of crassula sarcocaulis. At first it was shock that having looked for so long they turn up everywhere this year, don't you hate that! Looking closely I noticed the leaf was different.

You can see the leaf is much wider than my original plant. So did a bit of searching and there are apparently two forms, white and pink flowering. Strangely the flower colour is the only difference mentioned in the descriptions, although there is mention of difference in hardiness.

This one is staying in a pot to be played with over the next few years. The internet search showed they are good for bonsai, being easy to train, and to take cuttings from. It is going to be fun watching them both develop and seeing which form I like best.

No doubt it wont be long until there are a whole series of them scattered around the garden.

Before starting the garden, we sat down and did a design, which we got friends to comment on. Thank you Mel and Darran. Since then it has been converting the paper plan into reality.

In a recent post (found here), I showed the cycad rockery. This and the main succulent rockery haven't changed much. The odd plant has been added and things have grown, some quicker than others. But it was quite easy to move these sections from design to reality.

This year the work has been in the other parts of the garden, moving through the rest of the plan.

In the side section we are trying to create more shade. The whole garden is in full sun pretty much all day. With the exception of a little bit of shade along on the fence, the first real shade is created by the house at around 3pm.

The tree ferns and planting along the fence will ultimately create more shade, even in their first year they have done well. It is not quite enough for the under-planting though and I think we will end up putting a shade sail over that section at least for the first few years. It would also make a nice feature for when we have friends around.

The other end of the garden is more problematic. At some point the garage will be knocked down and replaced, but we can't afford to do it at the moment. The greenhouse will also be moving at that point. As the design revolves around these larger changes, it can result in things looking at bit strange at the moment; like the path ending at the greenhouse not at the gate. No doubt the design will evolve as all gardens do, but I have to trust the main aspect will work.

The latest project is one of those times to trust everything will work out. I want to continue the planting from the end of the main succulent rockery. The first bit was easy, plant the chamaerops humilis.

Next up the hammock posts. Ultimately there will be 4 railway sleepers used as posts for our hammocks. We don't want to wait for years until the garage is moved to be able to use the hammocks. So yesterday two of the posts turned up.

The first was simple, going next to the new chamerops.

It was surprisingly quick to dig the hole and concrete it in. Now it's there I can plant around it.

The second sleeper will ultimately be in a border where the garage currently is. I know where it is suppose to go and what the area should ultimately look like. As most of the bed does not exist yet and can not be set out, it was a simple case of trusting the plans.

You see, looks a bit strange at the moment.

I find myself saying, it will work, trust in the plan. I just hope it's true.

I haven't posted about the echeverias much recently and thought it was time for this years post on the blue / white ones. The colour is created by the fine powder or bloom on the leaves. It is this powder that makes people reach out to touch them much to my horror. In last years post, found here, I focused ore on the pale green / blue ones. This year there are a few new ones for you.

First up echeveria subsessili

This is a good plant, apart from the lovely pink tinge to the edge of the leaves it offsets freely. It can get a bit leggy if your not careful, but then you just top cut and you have new plants to give to friends.

A more structural variety is e. cante.

My original plant was stunning, but suffered with the move. The great thing about echeverias is that you can usually refresh plants, by top cutting. You have a year while the plant re-roots and settles, then they get into growth and you have a whole new plant.

The white and blue plants are some of my favourites, so it is not surprise they turned up in hybrid attempts. The most successful is the echeveria lilacina x deresina.

It falls about half way between the two in leaf shape, but has the strongest white. Sadly the bloom does not stick to the leaves and it marks really easily.

One of the best echeverias in my view is e. subrigida. It is large, structural with good flowers. What is not to like. It is no surprise that is has been use in several hybrids around the world. A few years ago I got some seeds from the US of e. subrigida x e. peacockii.

There was a fair amount of varition in the resulting seedlings, both in form and colour. This one has the strongest colour, but a weaker shape. It is still a lovely plant though.

A more recent purchase is this echeveria 'Brinks Blue'.

It seems to be along the e. cante forms, the colour is even better and is bigger as well. The problem with all these white plants is watering and re-potting. There is always the dilemma of over-potting to give space to water, or using the correct pot size and risk marking the lower leaves. This plant is a prime example, having just been re-potted and having limited space to water from above.

Now onto the really white plants. The most common is e. lauii

This has to be one of the iconic echeverias. More than any other echeveria, I think it needs to be grown well. Healthy well cared for plants are simply stunning. Mine isn't too bad, the colour is good and the leaves are good and healthy, sadly it does lean slightly and isn't perfectly symmetrical.

Now for a little mystery, e. 'John Catlin'

Firstly the mystery, I can not find anything on this plant. It was bought from a British Cactus and Succulent Society show years ago. At the time I hadn't been collecting for long and didn't know it was unusual. Years later and now everyone asks about it, and no one sells it. Add to this that it doesn't seem to prop, or should that be I haven't managed. Top cutting didn't work, leaves didn't work and so far no offsets. It has turned into a strange plant, getting taller all the time.

Last but not least is E. mexican giant.

When purchased I was assured it would become my favourite echeveria. It is turning into something special, with the almost pure white colour that e. laui has. Plus it's going to be big, and very structural. You have to keep an eye on the watering. As you can see the leaves can shrivel and they never totally recover.

I hadn't realised how many white plants I now have. At this rate no one else is going to be allowed in the greenhouse incase they touch any of them.

July was a month of two halves. The start lovely and warm with the hottest July day on record, the end cold and wet. It is interesting watching how the plants reacted to these different conditions. Some agaves loved the heat, others stopped growing. Almost all the alpines struggled, with the heat and are loving the colder wetter weather.

There are quite a few sempervivums in different stages of flower,

Sempervivum 'Green Dragon'

Sempervivum 'Lilac Time'

Sempervivum 'Lion King'

Sempervivum 'Engles'

Sempervivum 'Virgil'

Thankfully all have offsets, so no need to replace them.

Those that are not flowering are looking good as well, I'm liking this small form at the moment, such perfect little rosettes.

Sempervivum ciliosum

This trough was only recently planted so they still look a bit un-natural. It's a good offsetter though, so next year should cover that end.

It is not just the semps that are happy, remember my poor little orostachys fimbriata. The foxes dug it up scattering tiny bits around the garden. The original post can be found here. These were planted up in the hope some would survive.

My first flower. It doesn't look as interesting flowering on its own, but then I am trying to re-build the clumps to fill the entire trough, so good to only loose one. This is much smaller than the normal form, part of the charm, so it's going to be a while before that is filled.

I finally I may have cracked my other nemesis, scleranthus biflorus. I think I killed three of these in the last garden, then found out the problem was treating them like succulents and not watering them. These now get watered and so far so good.

I've just spotted the label is still there, sorry Loree. These are usually either buried or removed once I have photos and can place what is where. Anyway, it has doubled in size since being planted a few months back, and has already filled the space nicely. If the success carries on and it survives winter, I have plans to use them more widely in the front garden.

While the alpines may be enjoying the cooler weather, we could do with getting the sun back again now. It is meant to be summer not Autumn.

As soon as we moved into the new house and had a proper chance to look around the garden, it was obvious very few if any of the plants would make it into the future plans. Most would have to be dug up as part of the build and many more would simply be trashed by the builders. This turned out to be true, and then this weekend we dug out the last two remaining large shrubs. There are now no plants remaining from the original garden.

Before going any further, I should add that the nicer ones were saved: given to neighbours or anyone else that wanted them. Just because they were not to my taste does mean someone else wouldn't love them.

I was looking through photos trying to find a picture of the section that has just been cleared, this is the closest I could find.

It is so strange seeing the original garden. That wall in the middle of the garden really was a little strange. The two bushes that were dug up this weekend are just visible on the right hand side in the middle, the very bright green ones.

The space now looks like this:

The fruit trees have been moved and planted in the front garden, so now the only plant remaining is the bamboo.

The only problem is what to plant there? That photo looks almost due south, the green house provides some shade in the morning and the fence shade as the day progresses. I have no idea what my non spiky style will be like, it will be a whole new adventure. The only plant I know is going to be added are a couple of scheffleras, probably one either side of the wooden posts.

Although everything is ready to go, even dug some manure into the soil, I am guessing there will be lots of research and limited planting this year with most stuff going in come spring depending on best time to plant. There are enough other jobs in the front and around the house to keep me going until then.

There has been a fair amount of organising this summer; deciding which plants weren't working, duplicates and struggling plants. Add this to the fact that many plants went into the succulent rockery and it's looking quite pot light around here. So much so, for the first time ever I actually have an empty pot pile.

Recently there was a post on the Plant Lust blog (you can find it here) counting their pots and talking about what was a reasonable amount. I commented that when we moved my niece counted the pots into the cars, or she started to and got bored at 400. You can see the post on the house move here. So I promised a recount, and at the same time took some photos of them around the garden.

Starting with the vertical planting.

It looks a bit sparse at the moment, I had more on there but every time I watered they dripped onto each other which was not good, so this arrangement means I can water them without worrying. There is more space to expand into.

Some of the posts still have their holders as well, as the plants go into to create more shade here they will be moved.

There are a few pots scattered around the rockery itself. These are usually where plants have flowered and died, or bulbs that are now dormant.

There are a few on the patio, and wall.

I have become more restrained here. To start with the wall was totally covered, now it's a few discrete groups. The agave stricta nana is one of my current favourite plants, the colour is amazing in the sun. Succulent fans are at a disadvantage as no matter how hard we try it seems impossible to resist propagating more plants. The little pots are all agave cream spike.

There are an increasing number of troughs and planters appearing in the garden, these alpine ones are a bit out of the way to give them some shade during the hotter weather.

Looking at these photos, shows how much the garden is still in planting and sorting stage. Most of these groups are in temporary positions, hopefully for the last year. I haven't been bothering with good groups or nice pots. That will change next year as the garden is now starting to look like a garden and not just a collection of pots.

So far it is not looking very good for my pot count, time to up the numbers.

There are two of these pot holding areas in the garden, these are considerable smaller now so many plants have gone into the rockeries.

The numbers are starting to look more respectable now. The green house helps considerably.

Now we are into much more respectable numbers. It does help that almost all my plants are small, so a lot can fit into a small space. Which also partly explains the lack of good groupings and the more colourful pots you see else where.

Recently as you know I have been using nicer pots, although these are still small. It did get me thinking that you start looking at everything as a possible pot. I have two butlers sinks waiting to be planted once the gravel arrives for the front garden. Then you see things in shops;

I was tempted by these, could be fun watching how the metal ages. I have been looking for a pot for my variegated agave filifera group.

This fruit bowl was purchased last year with the idea of filling the frame with moss and planting into that.

The sad thing is I need to propagate more echeverias to fill it, which in turn is going to require more pots!

So what was the final count? 280, and another 60 plastic that are either in the prop area, or ready to be given away. Still respectable, but a lot less than at it's peak.

I can see this becoming an annual event and a new meme over at Plant Lust.

I have always liked moss gardens, especially the true Japanese ones, set in sloping woodland. It may be a strange thing to say, but it is the order that appeals. This may be just perceived order, with the very relaxing feeling you get walking though them and knowing how many decades it's taken to get them looking that good. Often they are combined with gravel and rock gardens which are works of art. It is the same love of symmetry and order with agaves that is attractive in these gardens and transfers to moss.

So there has always been a plan to use moss somewhere in the garden, but how? I really don't want something that looks out of place and frankly stupid. The shade garden would be the obvious place, and already there is moss starting to grow between the stones. I also have the old chimney which has great lichens covering it. These are good starts, but not the statement feature I would love.

I have been collecting a few different mosses to see which work in my cultivation. One was a type of feather moss. It was spit in half and placed on soil in a bowl.

That was back in May. Like many things there is no obvious change, then suddenly you notice it's grown massively.

It is such a vivid green, and although not perfectly flat that can be worked on. It has not only joined together but formed a nice think layer, so could easily be removed from the pot.

To keep my options open, I did what any succulent fan does naturally and cut it up to propagate more. The trick seems to be to ensure they are fully in contact with the soil and then they settle more quickly with little die back.

The pieces could probably have been smaller, but this seems a fair start. It will help work out how quickly they take, assuming they all do well, the process can be repeated to give 9 pots. That should be enough to give me something to play with.

The only problem now, is to figure out how to use them.

As many of you will know, there has never been a major flowering in the the garden, not even the yuccas. It is almost personal now, with things flowering as soon as they were no longer in the garden: plants taken to the work garden, and plants in the old house garden all flowering.

So on Saturday, sat having lunch and looking around the garden when I see it:

The dasylirion sarratifolium coming into flower. Conveniently the flower was just at the top of the leaves, so it is easy to monitor growth.

2 days later:

So one foot (30cm) growth in two days, not too bad. Already level with the top of the fence, now getting worried about the cherry tree above it.

A day later and another 6inches (15cm) so fairly consistent growth.

Now sure it is going to get up into the cherry. There is only a 3foot gap from top of flower to first branch now. At it's current rate that is only 6 days of growth. Admittedly that is the lowest branch and the leaves don't start then, but guessing this will carry on up.

So advanced planning: going to pull it away for the fence, the posts gives something to tie to. Most likely the spike will just kink to grown straight up again, but the little adjustment should hopefully be enough. Alternatively, I could let it grow into the cherry and use it to secure the flower spike. It is windy in the garden, so could be helpful.

While I decide, it is just a matter of sitting back and watching it grow. It is all very exciting for someone who hasn't had a major flower before.

There are two large yucca rostratas in the main succulent rockery and while one has settled, the other has being going down hill.

I have been putting it off, hoping more water and food would kick start it. Sadly not and the time has come for it to be dug up. It didn't take much, there were no roots at all and the first sings of rot. But you never chuck a yucca away, so it is into intensive care for this one hopefully to re-root and get back to its best.

Doesn't look good does it. I'll move it to the greenhouse over winter I think anything to give it a bit of a start. Trunked plants like this a expensive and can't afford to loose it. Plus it was a real feature so need it back.

The problem with removing plants to bring the back to health is they leave a space. What to do? It could be left empty under the assumption the plant will back next year. The space is very prominent and it is going to be at least a year until the plant is looking anywhere near healthy again.

So replacement plant it is. I purchased two smaller yucca rostatas a little while back specifically for this purpose. Placing one of them into the spot showed it was not going to be as simple as a straight swap.

With no trunk the area is too messy, it just doesn't work with the kniphofia caulescens behind it. I have been unhappy with that kniphofia anyway, it hasn't flowered and continues to get bigger. I expected it to be smaller, apparently not. So it was going to be moved anyway. One problem solved, but what to put in its place. I'll solve that one next year, it gives an opportunity to do some end of year sales shopping.

So yucca planted, with enough time to settle in before winter. It feels a little strange to already be thinking about winter and if it is ok plant or not. It makes a massive difference though, the last thing succulents need is to be planted and then straight away get frosts or cold and wet.

Now keep you fingers crossed for the sick yucca. It needs all the positive thought it can get.

The front garden has been mentioned a few time over the summer, it was due to be the big project. There has been progress, but no where near what was planned. Other demands have kept me busy, plus it slow.

At the start of spring, it was a weed and blown in plant mess.

First job to clear this mess. Turns out the builders had buried a lot of bricks and flint. The rubble was dug out and that should have been the end.

Or so I thought.

I can almost hear the laughs from the rest of you, and it wont come as a surprise to learn that a little rain later and the whole garden was once again covered in plants. The seeds were grateful for the nice loose soil and were rampant.

The whole area was then sprayed twice with weed killer, which was far more successful. Not something I had used before, but I was assured that it was quick acting and then degrades and is safe to plant the area up shortly afterwards.

The next stage was to level the whole area and compact the section that will occasionally be used to park on. Gravel was ordered, the next delay. Finally it turned up.

First part done. This will be the section that will sometimes be parked on. There are two strips of matting to reinforce the area, with the centre being left clear for planting. The plan is to plant down this central strip so it does not look like a parking space.

Second part almost done. Typically there was one tiny bit left as the gravel ran out. The section to the right of the path, will be planted up with bulbs and other plants to give a different gravel garden to the back. There will of course be the odd succulent mixed in as well.

These photos were taken at about 7pm, so you can see the garden gets afternoon and evening sun, some is in shade until 3pm, so the plants will not cook as much.

This bit can now be planted up as the bulbs arrive. I have a few large pots, and the two butlers sinks to be placed out here as well. Drains and a man hole cover mean part of the garden can not be planted.

I am going to have to find better photo point, you can look in from all sides, there is no one point that shows it best. Doesn't look good from this angle, but shows the rocks going in and the first collection of pots.

The whole garden will have a blue, white and silver theme, so the plants like yucca rostrata and pale agaves will fit in well. The palm in the photos is chamaerops humilis cerifera which has a lovely silver colour to the fronds.

This agave ovatifolia frosty blue should look right at home with the colour scheme. It will stay in the pot until next year, then go in the ground once a bit bigger.

The next stage is to build the soil bed sections. The idea is to have a large raised circular bed as the main feature, with a gravel path around the edge. This will be off to the left of the photo. Leaving two other beds; a small shade one under the bay window, the other at the front.

Still lots to do, but it feels like the main bit is done, and it's good to have plants there again.

You may remember my post on the non-spiralling aloe polyphylla. You can see the posts here. It has had a good summer so far, the extra water has meant no brown tips to the leaves, which is a first.

The big news is that there is the first signs of a spiral.

It is like one of the hidden pictures, sometimes it leaps out, other doesn't seem to be there.

It has been a long wait, I'm sure most spiral much earlier than this. As long as it gets there in the end everything is good.

They seem to be appearing all around the garden, from the circular seating area and most recently the moss circles (from the post here.) Can't resist showing the photo again.

The front garden gives more opportunities to bring in circles. There will be a circular raised bed for a start, and lots of mounding plants in the gravel. Two that will definitely be added:

This arenaria aurea seems fairly keen to stay in a circle anyway and the white flowers will go well in the white garden.

Gypsophila aretioides may provide a different challenge, to keep it perfectly circular or to let it just grow how it wants.

No surprise here: scleranthus biflorus. The watering is working, now it is just the big winter test. There is one in a pot and one in the ground, so hopefully that should give an idea of how it copes. The one in the pot is growing in a perfect circle, the one in the ground is a bit all over the place. So may need to select the plant carefully and look at how to keep it nice and circular.

This got me thinking about what other plants could be grown in circles, maybe by giving them something to grow in. Looking through the greenhouse I spotted the copper slug rings. They come in different sizes and could be half buried in the gravel or rested on top to give slight different heights.

Photo from slugrings.co.uk

Now for plants. Sempervivums form nice clumps and the smaller forms could be contained by the rings. It just happened there was a good clump of sempervivum arachnoideum cobweb that needed a new home, so time for a test.

Will be interesting to see if it can be kept within the ring. There needs to be more, whole groups.

I probably have enough small semps to fill a few of these, but it opens up a whole range of small plants. I am thinking of doing a run of them up the centre of the parking space. Need to get a few more and try joining them together to give large sizes, then the fun can start properly next spring.

So what other plants would work well in these?

There are two cycads in the rockeries; one large and one small. They tend to flush on alternate years, so there is always something to look at. Last year it was the tern of the smaller, which was posted here.

This year was the turn of the big cycad and so it has been checked regularly, but nothing.

The centre looks better than it ever has, but not a single sign of a flush.

Then the small one.

They never do that, there is an order: large - small, large - small.

I'm guessing it has more to do with the state of the leaves than anything else. Last years flush didn't like the winter and there is a lot of damage.

They say if you want your cycad to flush then cut all the leaves off. It seems damaging them over winter is just as good.

You'll have to forgive the lack of posts, another trip to Tanzania for work. The problem of going away for two weeks is that the other projects build up, so you get back to a desk piled up and then have to slog through everything.

Thankfully the garden looks after itself and is looking great. The joys of succulent rockeries requiring no maintenance.

The dasylirion serratifolium flower is now in the cherry tree, but at least it has stopped growing.

The flowers are starting to open and very disappointing. I would have put more effort into the flowers and less in the stalk.

The bees however seem to disagree. The whole stalk buzzes and everywhere you look there are bees. It doesn't seem to smell too strongly and the colour is not super bright, but something is working for them.

Many of them have leg sacks full of pollen.

The garden is full of bees, they are on every succulent that is flowering.

The other plant they are loving is the euphorbia

All these bees are a good thing, and promising for the future. I found at the last house, that once the bees found a plant they would return in force the following years. Sadly they will be disappointed to find the Dasy not flowering next year.

The irony of all these bees, is that the only plants go no where near are the flowering plants I bought especially for them! It just goes to show, even the bees think that succulents are the way forward.

Between holidays, work trips and trips to Yorkshire to visit in-laws, there has not been much time to garden let alone post here. I will have to catch up on what has been going on, especially the trips. Without doubt the best was a trip to Crete Lodge Exotic Garden in Norfolk. Here is a teaser.

Expect Dalmatians, statues, and lots and lots of succulents.

Alpine planters updates

Hectic times

Starting the annual pup cull.

Happy birthday cycad rockery.

A quick trip to the Palm Centre

Crassula sarcocaulis are suddenly everywhere.

Trust in the plan.

The blooming echeverias

Alpines loving the rain

A tiny landmark weekend

Time for a recount

One step closer to a moss feature.

It's about time.

Accepting it has to go

Progress out front

Aloe polyphylla update

More circles

The wrong flush

Return to the dasy

Finally may have some time