Mid January Garden

Today (15th Jan) I took delivery of a new compact camera – a Panasonic Lumix FS30. This camera is destined for my daughter’s forthcoming trek over the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. The camera joins a growing portfolio of Musa cameras which include a Canon DSLR, a Canon G9 and a Canon D10 (underwater), however,  it was decided that our existing cameras are too valuable to risk on the trek. Armed with this new camera I ventured out into the Musa acres to test it out.

It is a cloudy, windy day and the garden looks rather drab, however, it is quite mild for January at about 9 degrees. At least the evergreen bamboos, Magnolia grandiflora, Cordyline and palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) give some structure to the garden. The Olive Tree (Olea europaea) still retains a good number of its silvery, grey-green leaves, they do not show-up well in the above photo (centre-left) but sparkle at night when lit by the garden spotlights.

 

 

 

The Tree Ferns (Dicksonia antarctica) look very battered by the recent very cold and snowy weather. The one pictured right has a 6ft high trunk, its frost-blackened, broken, dead fronds hang sadly down the sides of the trunk. The crown is stuffed with horticultural fleece in an attempt to give the growing point some protection whilst still allowing air to circulate and thus prevent rot. I’m thinking that I will leave the dead fronds hanging where they are as they might give the trunk some protection against the cold.

 

I do hope it survives and wonder what else this winter will throw at it!

 

 

I’m amazed that most of the succulents seem to have survived, so far. The photo below shows a group of 3 different Echeverias, some Sempervivums and an Aloe, they all seem OK. I cover this group of succulents with just a plastic propagator cover, this keeps the rain off but does next to nothing to protect against the recent sub-zero temperatures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 [There’s a gap here and I can’t get rid of it. Sorry!

Scroll down for more interesting mid-January Musa news]

The photo on the right (taken today) shows a Pachyphytum bracteosum looking quite healthy, I said in a post in early September that I doubted it would survive winter.. Again this plant has just been protected by a piece of plastic and you would think that the moisture in its very succulent leaves would have frozen and burst its skin. Perhaps it has anti-freeze properties waiting to be discovered! Most books give the advice that this Mexican succulent is only hardy down to freezing but one article I read recently did say that it could withstand temperatures down to –4. However, it has been down to –12 in my garden just before Christmas.

 

The Agave also looks to have survived well so far. I should have moved it closer to the warmth of the house but it is a viscous plant and I prefer to not get too close to it!

It just sits there, unprotected, bad-tempered and  threatening! In a beautiful sort of way!

 

 

 

 

The daffodils are continuing to grow in the current mild weather showing the promise of Spring.

Also showing that this camera takes quite good shots even in the low light condition of today.

 

 

 

 

So – The Panasonic FS30 is a great camera for the price (£115) and I think should take some great shots of Morocco and the Atlas Mountains.

I just hope that my daughter gets to go on her trek. I wonder what will be the wider effects of the overthrow of the Tunisian regime will be on Morocco. I applaud the over-throw of the corrupt government of Tunisia and welcome the possibilities that other similar governments in the region may also fall. However, the selfish side of me hopes that my daughter and her school will get their holiday.

Last photo showing this camera’s ability to adapt to changes in lighting. In this case, a photograph inside looking out: