It's that time of year again, alternating between the joy of plants waking up and the fear of them rotting. The UK has had a very mild winter so hopefully this will reduce the amount of end of winter damage. We just need spring to be not too wet and just for once to move smoothly from winter - spring - summer.
Anyway it's time to start waking the plants up and getting back into the garden and greenhouse. This is about checking how the plants have done, removing any signs of rot and checking for bugs. The greenhouse is looking good.
![]()
The manfreda / mangave bench is looking the best it ever has. I kept a closer eye on these this year having learnt that they do not like to totally dry out even over winter. This made a big difference and even the small manfreda guttata offsets that I removed at the end of last summer, are not looking bad. The mangave fans may spot some surprises / future posts in there.
The echeveria agavoides 'ebony' in the black bowl has formed a really good shape. It's lost some of the colour as expected, but will colour up as soon as it can be moved outside. The large bowl is more established.
![]()
This year they seem to have held their colour much better than previous years. Hopefully this will mean an even darker colour when they go back into their summer spot. The bowl is now full, so it's going to be interesting to see what happens as they start to push up against each other.
It's good to be back in the greenhouse again and thinking about projects for the year. Lots in the pipeline, so hopefully we'll have a good summer.
Anyway it's time to start waking the plants up and getting back into the garden and greenhouse. This is about checking how the plants have done, removing any signs of rot and checking for bugs. The greenhouse is looking good.
The manfreda / mangave bench is looking the best it ever has. I kept a closer eye on these this year having learnt that they do not like to totally dry out even over winter. This made a big difference and even the small manfreda guttata offsets that I removed at the end of last summer, are not looking bad. The mangave fans may spot some surprises / future posts in there.
The echeveria agavoides 'ebony' in the black bowl has formed a really good shape. It's lost some of the colour as expected, but will colour up as soon as it can be moved outside. The large bowl is more established.
This year they seem to have held their colour much better than previous years. Hopefully this will mean an even darker colour when they go back into their summer spot. The bowl is now full, so it's going to be interesting to see what happens as they start to push up against each other.
It's good to be back in the greenhouse again and thinking about projects for the year. Lots in the pipeline, so hopefully we'll have a good summer.