Musa: May 2010

Not ferns!!

Just to prove that this blog is more than just about ferns! I’ve posted a picture of some Geranium flowers taken last Sunday in the early evening sunlight. I’m afraid I don’t know the variety of Geranium – I could say it is because this plant is one of the few that were already here when I moved to this house. But the truth is that I’m pretty hopeless at labelling / remembering plant names, I have made an effort to document the names of my ferns (Oops . . . that word again!)

I’ve just noticed that in this wide-angle shot you can see the top of a tree fern! Sorry!

Ferns – again!

I seem to be becoming addicted to ferns! This time of year (May) is when ferns look their best, they’ve been busy making new fronds (and influencing people) and they look so fresh. Ferns and Hostas go together well and at the moment are the dominant feature of my garden.

So . . . the picture below is of a group of ferns and Hostas gathered around the trunk of a tree fern, taken 23 May 2010:

The ferns are:
Polystichum polyblepharum, (Tassel Fern) . . . Left front of picture
Dryopteris buschiana, (aka crassirhizoma) . . Left back (left of tree fern trunk)
Polystichum setiferum, ‘Dahlem’ . . . Right back of picture
Athyrium otophorum ‘Okanum’ . . . Right front (only showing a few fronds)
Onoclea sensibilis . . . Centre (only showing a few fronds)

Hart’s Tongue Fern – Asplenium scolopendrium

Ok . . . So this fern is not exactly what you would call exotic! Even in the Asplenium genus it is the most basic. In fact, I originally planted it in an out-of-the-way place where it hardly ever seen. But what I like about it is the way it colonises old walls and paths. I know it prefers lime soil so I guess it likes to grow in the mortar of damp walls. I think it looks particularly good at this time of year as its strap-like fronds unfurl, I must admit that I do remove some of the old dead and battered fronds from the previous year.

The photo below is Asplenium scolopendrium or Hart’s Tongue Fern taken on May 23rd:

There are many cultivars of Asplenium scolopendrium and their nomenclature is very confusing (to me). I do have a cultivar called (I think) ‘Cristatum’, it is slightly more exotic in that it has crested ends to its fronds. It also has spread about the garden but at the end of the day, I think I prefer the basic, bog standard Asplenium scolopendrium – even if it is a hard name to spell!

Is My Tree Fern Dead?

I’m not sure why but most of the traffic to this humble blog seems to come from people who have either lost or think they may have lost their tree fern to the cold winter. I would like to thank those people as without them this blog would not have any readership. The trouble is – I really am no expert on Tree Ferns! I have tried to give as much advice as I can and have sifted through various books of mine to try and be more helpful. The book ‘Garden Ferns’ by Martin Rickard is probably the most informative on the subject. I’ve even looked in some of my old Victorian books on ferns but they have been of little help.

I won’t repeat the information given in my previous posts on the subject of Tree Ferns – you can find this by clicking the ‘tree fern’ label either in the right-hand column or at the foot of this post.

What I will do is copy the comments and replies I have made to people over the past few days in the hope that they may, at least, be of some small help to all the people who access this blog on the subject of dead and dying Tree Ferns.

I’m sorry I can’t be of more assistance – the following are some of the comments and my replies:

Can anyone help me please? I have a 5 ft Dicksonia antarctica and I think its poorly. The ferns / fronds are very small and it looks stunted. Its planted in ericaceous soil in a large tub, and although it got a lot of sun last year it never did well. Is shading that important? Is it a nutritional issue? I feed it with seaweed extract now and again. Is it possible that the sun has just done its damage?
On the plus side, it has sent up 6 new fronds but they are only a foot long. The winter did its best to kill it off but, like Flash Gordon, he's alive.
Please advise. Many thanks,
Jack.
Nr Guildford. Surrey.

Hello Jack

I’m certainly not an expert on Tree Ferns (or anything else really!). I have no experience of growing Tree Ferns in pots but with the help of Martin Rickard’s excellent book: ‘Garden Ferns’, I think your main problem may be that the plant is getting too much sunlight. Martin Rickard says that a Tree Fern in full sunlight will have much shorter fronds. Of course, a tree fern needs its trunk to be kept moist throughout the growing season and this could mean watering the trunk every day and possibly more in hot weather when growing in sunlight. Martin Rickard also advocates the use of a general-purpose fertilizer but I would not think that a seaweed extract fertilizer would do any damage. I use a basic general-purpose liquid fertilizer and the tap water here is very alkaline.

I hope I’ve been of some help. The largest of my tree ferns is now growing in full sunlight since my neighbour felled the tree that used to give it shade. As the tree has only recently been felled, I wait to see what effect it will have on the tree fern, I do know that I will have to water it even more!

Thanks for your post and long live Flash Gordon!

Rob

Anonymous said...

My tree fern is quite moist in the middle with no sign of any fronds could it of died????

19 May 2010 19:53

I think that may be the case but it is worth waiting a little longer to see for sure. It is always worth protecting the crown with straw over winter, I use old fern fronds.

I hope you tree fern pulls through.

Rob

Mary said...

I am mourning my beautiful tree fern as I think it is dead but I am afraid to give up hope! It was absolutely fantastic but last winter was extremely cold (in Ireland - a freak winter) and all the fronds died off. I was hopeful that this spring loads of new fronds would uncoil from the centre and spring up but each day nothing happened. Yesterday, I examined the centre in great detail. It is very moist, smells badly and is crawling with little worms of some sort - it is definitely rotting away in my opinion. The only thing I can think of doing is maybe trying to saw off the top few centimetres as perhaps the rotting material is only in the very top layers and there are perfectly healthy uncoiled fronds below just waiting to escape (unlikely I am sure but still I wonder have I nothing to lose by sawing off a few centimetres). What does anyone think? Likewise I too have searched the web for any help but can't find any specific to my query.

Hi Mary

May I offer my sympathy, the passing of old fronds is always sad. It does sound like your tree fern has expired. You could try removing the rotting part but I’m not sure that would help.

I’m no expert on tree ferns but I have scoured my collection of books on ferns to see if there is anything about resuscitating a tree fern. Martin Rickard in his book ‘Garden Ferns’ writes:

“It seems to me that it is the meristem (the bud tissue in the crown) that is vital for the continued success of the plant, so from late October to mid-April I protect this area of the plant.”

From what Martin says it seems that cutting into or cutting off the meristem would not help.

Sorry I can’t give more joyful advice but thanks for your post and once again my sincere sympathy.

Rob

25 May 2010 09:59

Anonymous said...

I'm in Lancashire and we too had a deeply cold winter with temps as low as -20
Our two tree ferns were well protected- it appears we have lost both of them. The smallest was obvious. It was wet and mushy ontop and smelt bad. The second 5ft high fern started seeping orange slime out of the trunk during early April and it appears the top (although not mushy or rotten) has completely died- all the developing fronds were dry and black.

I’m sorry about the loss of your tree ferns. Both mine have survived unscathed but last winter (and the one before) was very cold. I live close to the coast in Kent and I don’t think we got temperatures anywhere near those you experienced.

It is interesting what you say about your smallest tree fern. The smaller of my two was badly affected the winter before last. In researching some of the comments I’ve had about the losses through the winter, I noticed that Martin Rickard in his book ‘Garden Ferns’ suggests that shorter tree ferns are less hardy. He bases this on the severe winter in the mid 80’s when he says that none of the plants he saw that were less than 4ft high had survived despite being protected. Of course, the theory is that this is due to temperatures being lower near the ground.

The winter before last caused the coiled fronds in the crown of my smaller tree fern to turn black and die. However, new growth fronds did come through despite the dead coils impeding their progress somewhat. Perhaps there is some hope for your 5ft tree fern? I hope so.

Thanks for your post.

Rob

Hosta ‘Sundown’

This time of the year is when the Hostas are starting to make their presence felt. As I think I’ve said before, I’ve been pretty lazy at keeping the labels of the 30 or so different Hostas in the garden hence I only know the names of a few of them.

Luckily I know the name of what I think is one of the best – Hosta ‘Sundown’ and it looks its best right now! See photo below:

The black canes of the Black Bamboo – Pyllostachys nigra really stand out against it.

Spring Shrubs

May is a good time of year for 2 of my favourite and hardest working shrubs - Philadelphus coronarius 'Aureus' and Choisya 'Aztec Pearl'.
Philadelphus coronarius ‘Aureus’ has bright yellow-green leaves and really lights up the quite shady position it has along a boundary fence. It’s creamy-white scented flowers will soon bloom and for a couple of weeks it will look even more spectacular. Sadly after flowering the leaves lose some of their yellow-golden colour and become more green. This is the time of year to prune it back, as soon as it has finished flowering. In fact, as it blooms on the previous year’s growth, if you prune it later in the summer, you wont get any flowers the following spring.
The photo below shows Philadelphus coronarius ‘Aureus’ with the white flowers of Choisya ‘Aztec Pearl’ behind it, the black canes of the bamboo Phyllostachys nigra and a small Tree Fern – Dicksonia antarctica. The Tree Fern still has some green fronds of last year’s growth but you can just make out the new coils of fronds emerging.

Philadelphus coronarius 'Aureus' flowers

The flowers of Philadelphus coronarius ‘Aureus’ (photo taken last year)

Choisya 'Aztec Pearl' A variety of Choisya ternata but in my view infinitely better. I’ve grown the straight form and also the variety ‘Sundance’ which I’ve found to be a weak, anaemic looking plant with its yellowy leaves.
But ‘Aztec Pearl’ is great! I like it’s finger-like evergreen leaves and its scented flowers in May and it usually repeat flowers in late summer. It is supposed to be a tender shrub that should be grown in full sun. Mine grows in the shade of a north facing fence and a towering bamboo and seems perfectly healthy and flowers well. It is about 6ft high and I occasionally chop lumps from it when it gets too exuberant.

A Shady Place

I’ve been to some shady places in my time but this one is shadier than even the El Chico Club in Thanet in the late 60’s. (I can’t believe I’ve just written such rubbish!)

Anyway this shady corner of the garden has to contend with being in the deep shade of a thirsty Poplar tree that stands over 100ft high. Plus there is next door’s Leylandii tree and a 6ft high, ivy clad fence. All in all, its a challenging place to be for such a lazy gardener!

So . . . . This time of year, this shady corner is starting to look OK, even though it requires water to get it going. The following photo is how it looks now in mid May 2010:

(If you click on the above image, you get the Flickr photo which looks better – press the back button to return to the great Musa Blog.)

The plants in the photo include:

Ligularia dentata 'Desdemona' (far left)
Geranium macrorrhizum (above that)
Hosta 'Frances Williams' (bottom left)
Smyrnium perfoliatum (centre)
The violet blue flowers of Geranium pyrenaicum 'Bill Wallis' (right)
The shrub Fatsia japonica (right)
Ivy covering the fence

Ligularia dentata 'Desdemona' has large, kidney-shaped leaves that emerge red and fade to greenish bronze, with maroon backs and purple stems. The flowers are large orange daisies which appear in loose, flat-topped sprays in mid-summer. This plant is happy in some shade but likes moisture, something that there is little of in this shady, dry corner. It is also prone to slug attack and this part of the garden is an ancient homeland of the slug and they continually fight a guerrilla war against my plantings. So, this plant is in the wrong place really but I like it very much even if I do have to lug a watering can all the way down the garden every day from Spring onwards.

Flowers of Ligularia dentata 'Desdemona'

Geranium macrorrhizum

Geranium macrorrhizum . . . I think its common name is ‘The Bigroot Cranesbill’ and it does have thick rhizome-like roots which I guess helps it survive in dry places. I planted 4 plants at the base of the large Poplar (unpopular to me) tree some years ago. They have spread to form a dense evergreen covering and I think they are one of the few plants that would thrive in this inhospitable area. I think one of the varieties I planted was ‘Bevan’s Variety’. The foliage is said to emit a lemon - sherbet smell when crushed or touched but I must admit I seldom venture that far in to this part of the garden to find out. It has magenta – pink flowers in late spring to early summer and the foliage takes on a red tinge in the autumn.

Geranium macrorrhizum and

Smyrnium perfoliatum (foreground)

Smyrnium perfoliatum . . . I’ve already written about this plant in more detail, click on the label in the right-hand column to read that post.

Geranium pyrenaicum 'Bill Wallis' . . . Now I really, really like this plant! Geranium pyrenaicum's common name is the Hedgerow Geranium and as the name suggests it does well in dry shade which is useful for this dry, shady corner of the garden. This form is particularly good and (so far) is not invasive. It has violet / purple / blue flowers lasting from now (May) right through the summer. It seems quite happy in my shady, dry corner of the garden and all I ever do is clear some of the weeds and Ivy from its path.

Photos of Geranium pyrenaicum 'Bill Wallis':

So . . That’s enough for this post, I’ve got to go and water Ligularia dentata 'Desdemona'!

New Plants Bought Online

After a couple of cold winters I have lost some of the varieties of plants like Colcoasia. The winters have actually not been that bad, it is more the case that I have not taken basic precautions. I am a lazy gardener!

Anyway, the sort of stuff I want is not available locally and I didn’t feel like making the very long drive to a plant nursery that deals in exotic and tropical plants. So, it was with some doubt that I decided to buy ‘online’, I feared that I would end up with a few weak, small plants that had probably been crushed in transit. Nothing could be further from the truth!

I ordered 4 different varieties of Colocasia, 3 types of banana, an Alocasia and a variety of Aeonium. The plants averaged about £8 each. Three days later I arrived home to find a couple of large cardboard boxes left by the wheelie bins. Each box was open at the top and inside were some of the healthiest plants I have ever seen. They were not tiny seedlings as I expected but quite large plants in quite large pots. I would tell you the size of pot but I don’t understand litres, I’m happier with pints (of beer).

So, I can heartily recommend Amulree Exotics based near Norwich and trading under the name of Turn-It-Tropical. Their website address is:

http://www.turn-it-tropical.co.uk/

They have a vast range of tropical / exotic plants and have become a ‘Trusted Musa Supplier’.

My Birthday Today!!

Birthday!! And this was the card I got! Very apt
Originally uploaded by emagen
Today is my birthday. Yippeeeeee !! This is the card I got . . . . Very apt!

Humulus lupulus 'Aureus' (Golden Hop)

The Golden Hop – Humulus lupulus ‘Aureus’ – has started its climb over the trellis and eventually over the house. The foliage is particularly bright at this time of year and looks really good with the sunlight on it. I try and train it to go where I want but I inevitably end up having to just pull out shoots that attempt to smother other plants.

It is a great climber for quickly covering a large area. It does die back to the ground in winter and one is left with the task of cutting out all the entwined dead growth. It also tends to sucker and these need digging out before the plant takes over the whole garden.

The green coloured hop flowers appear in late August and look and smell really good!

In recent years my plant has suffered from mildew which disfigures it and its flowers and gives me great disappointment. It may be that the rootstock has become too congested (its about ten years old) or that I am over or under watering it. I shall try and spray it at the first sign of mildew this year . . . . If I get round to it!

The photo below was taken on the 3rd May:

Tree Ferns - Dicksonia antarctica – May 2010

Both my Tree Ferns (Dicksonia antarctica) have survived the cold winter (so far!). In fact, they have faired better than last year. Last year the small Tree Fern was badly hit by the cold winter but the tall one suffered no ill effects. This time last year I thought I may have lost the small Tree Fern – coiled fronds, like claws that would have been the new growth had died. These dead coils then seemed to block any new growth coming through, I’m pleased to say that the new growth did get past the dead coils but it resulted in a bit of an uneven spread of fronds.

Last winter, I put old dead fronds around the top of the large Tree Fern and stuffed some fleece into the top of the smaller one. This has done the trick and both are now beginning to send up new growth (see photos below). However, it is still very cold and I hope we don’t get a severe frost now!

Some of last year’s fronds have turned black due to frost but I will leave them on the plant for a while longer yet because I have a theory that their weight helps bend their old stems downwards and out of the way from the new growth. This is only a theory!

Anyway . . . Below are a couple of photos of the new fronds emerging this year

Above: New fronds of Dicksonia antarctica

Click on the ‘Dicksonia’ or ‘Tree Fern’ labels for earlier posts.

Tetrapanax papyrifera – May 2010

After a cold Winter and a very cold Spring I believe I have lost some of my more exotic plants. But I am pleased to see that my Tetrapanax papyrifera ‘Rex’ (Rice Paper Plant) has started to sprout from the remains of its old stem. I had wrapped some fleece around the stem but not before the first bout of very cold weather just before Christmas (my excuse is that I was away in France). The top of the stem was definately dead and I thought the plant had ‘had it’. But it is now sending out new growth from further down the stem as the photo below shows:

Above: Tetrapanax papyrifera – new growth – 3 may 2010

This is one of my favorite plants and the giant leaves give a stunning effect. As I’ve said in one of my previous posts, I’ve not really planted it in the best position as it is too close to a path so I might try taking some cuttings from it this year.

By the way . . . . hasn’t it got a great name!

To access earlier posts on Tetrapanax papyrifera click on the name in the labels column on the right of this page.

Adrasan, Easter 2010

Before this blog gets back to the serious business of writing about gardens and plants, I must just post some final images of our stay in Adrasan this April. First . . . . .

The Land Beyond Efes

We set out on a trek aiming to get to Sazak Bay, a supposed journey of 2 to 3 hours, the path started behind the Arikanda Hotel and skirted the mountain of Musa Dag heading upwards. Our first mistake on this dreadful journey was to not understand the directions given by the hotel staff to reach the path! They told us to follow round the edge of the hotel to reach the path. They meant walk along the edge of the river. We went round the back of the hotel building, climbed the steps to the first-floor then leapt across a yawning chasm (probably with an owl in it) and through a hedge. This brought us into the garden of the neighbours (a lawyer) where we had to scramble through another hedge to reach the path to Sazak Bay. We all performed this feat again on our return!

It was a warm day and the path went relentlessly upwards! The first thing I noticed was the complete lack of anyone selling Efes beer! Bravely we carried on. The photo below shows the author exclaiming the lack of Efes outlets:

Having walked for what seemed like hours, we rested on a large rock named: ‘Uncomfortable Rock’. Photo below: resting on ‘Uncomfortable Rock’

It was at this point that I decided that the 2 youngest Musa’s were holding us back from achieving our target destination. As expedition leader, I took the decision to abandon them! We gave them a small amount of water and left them at ‘Uncomfortable Rock’. (They actually found their way back but not before first encountering a grimacing tortoise blocking the path. This tortoise had a particularly menacing grimace but, taking after their father, they managed to dodge past it. They eventually found their way to the Chill House Bar – just like their father would have done!).

Mrs Musa and I staggered on. Further up the path we could see the main track winding ahead but decided to take a left fork onto a small track that went steeply upwards. Why did we do that I hear you ask??!! Well, dear reader, you must realise that by now we were suffering the effects of lack of Efes, we were suffering from hallucinations and I was slipping in and out of consciousness! We climbed on until we reached a small meadow area, I looked in vain for a bar or anywhere selling Efes and then the dreadful realisation dawned: we were in The Land Beyond Efes !

The sun beat down and the trees swayed in the breeze with a moaning sound. We had to go back! We galumphed (a nod here to Arthur Ransome) down the mountain, not stopping until we reached ‘Uncomfortable Rock’ and from there galumphed on to the Arikanda River Garden. We again leapt the yawning chasm and collapsed onto seats by the river. Cold Efes was brought by concerned staff in an effort to revive us and it did the trick!

And so - that was our terrible adventure to The Land Beyond Efes !

Below is a view of the Bay taken from - The Land Beyond Efes !

Other Stuff . . .

We went with Vahit to the ruins of the ancient Lycian city of Arykanda – an amazing place and I always enjoy going there. It is virtually deserted, anywhere else you would expect to see hordes of tourists.

Photo below: the amphitheatre at Arykanda