There's a couple of plants in the garden I want to highlight on this post that are doing fine despite our expectations of just being summer bedding due to their reputation of being only borderline hardy for our location.
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| Pteris cretica |
Pteris cretica is popular here as a houseplant but we have been growing it under the eaves of our jungle hut for several years now. Granted that it does have extra protection being under cover all year round, it doesn't exempt it from experiencing minus temperatures in the depths of our winter. It's main problem though is that it is one of the many favoured snack of slugs and snails in the garden, making it tricky to keep pristine but what's left behind remains attractive with its variegated leaves.
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| Calliandra surinamensis |
Next one would be Calliandra surinamensis which is mainly grown for its fluffy pink flowers but we love it for its delicate pinnate leaves reminiscent of Shy Mimosa leaves. This South American plant has always been reputed to be only borderline hardy but we grow it outside all year round, sited next to a Yucca rostrata that died this spring after going through a late cold spell here last April (20C one day then -4C the following day can do a lot of damage). A little mystery here, a cold spell that killed a hardier Yucca and yet this plant remained fine and doing very well now.
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| Calliandra surinamensis |
Perhaps time to revise it's reputed hardiness??
Mark :-)
This gardening blog follows our journey as we create our Tropical and Exotic themed garden. We hope you'll enjoy the journey as much as we do. We started our Exotic Garden in 2005 and this site will show its development, as well as our travels, both abroad and within the UK to gardens, nurseries and friends.
-4 C seems perfectly survivable for Y. rostrata. A surprise--soil too moist?
ReplyDeleteI have Pteris cretica ‘Albolineata’ out in the garden, left in the pot, pot planted in the ground. Lovely plant. Yours looks great in that blue pot.
It was a particularly wet winter plus that very late cold snap has done the yucca the fatal damage I suspect
DeleteI've never seen that Calliandra before. I like its feathery pink flower better than those we get with the red powderpuff shrub, Calliandra haematocephala, commonly grown here. Like HB, I've grown that Pteris in the ground previously in my former garden - it didn't hold up as well in my current one.
ReplyDeleteI suspect the calliandra will do amazingly well in your garden!
DeleteI've killed Pteris cretica, or rather winter did. The foliage of Calliandra surinamensis is quite lovely.
ReplyDeleteCertainly is, the fluffy flowers are a bonus
DeleteI love that blue pot in your first photo - a most sumptuous colour!
ReplyDeleteGlad you like it!
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