Euphorbia mellifera, Humulus lupulus and other meanderings

Thinks are really starting to grow now in the Musa garden after a long cold winter.

Euphorbia mellifera has started to flower. It looked a bit bedraggled after winter and although it still looks a bit ‘leggy’ it has gained its bright emerald-green foliage.

The common name is Honey Spurge as, it is said, the flowers smell of honey, I can’t say I’ve ever really noticed. It does make a very neat dome shaped shrub, the specimen in the picture taken today will fill-out in a few weeks and not look so ‘leggy’. I’ve grown it close to a warm wall as advised in the books but it does seem quite hardy.

You can see in the photo the Golden Hop, Humulus lupulus ‘Aureus’, starting to climb the trellis with a mission to take over the world! Within a few weeks it will completely cover the trellis and then, with a little guidance from me, make its way across the house and up to the 1st floor windows. The flowers in late summer are great for cutting and drying and the smell is of beer which I like! I think it’s a stunning plant but one that needs controlling. I’ve learnt never to water it as this seems to cause mildew on the leaves and flowers.

Other things of interest (OK of interest to me) are: Thousands of tadpoles in the pond. Dozens of newts in the pond. The breeding herd of minnows were very hungry when we got back from France. Looks like all the stems of Musa sikkimensis are dead, I should have wrapped them in fleece! Hosta are coming up. Everything is coming up. Is it time to dismantle the temporary plastic greenhouse? Should its occupants now make try to make it in the real world?

 

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