Pampas Grass

Although the geese did not presage the first frost a hailstorm followed the same day! The frost has yet to start. Unfortunately we had plenty of wind and the newly opened Pampas Grass is already leaning at a crazy angle. For some reason, our garden catches the very worst of the wind and the Pampas Grass does not last long before breaking, at which stage it gets brought indoors as a decoration.


I'm sure people get tired of seeing my Kaffir Lilies but I just love them. Unfortunately they cannot be seen from the house windows so I'm starting a second patch this year. This is the time of year when one doesn't get into the garden much so having some close to the windows will be a real bonus.

Friday 25th January 2008

 

The weather continues to be pretty yuck but today we had a spell wherein I was able to get out into the garden for a couple of hours and do some serious gardening. A most enjoyable experience. As always the Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) are the most delightful of the sights at this time of year and even the early flowering Daffodils cannot compete. I think that in my next life I shall buy a woodland and plant a whole streamside bank with snowdrops.


I did some cleaning up of the ponds and removed some of the dead leaves that had found their way in over the winter. It is a process which has to be done almost leaf by leaf because there are so many tiny Newt tadpoles which have to be rescued and put back into the water.


One of the flowers that has only just finished its summer flowering is the Kaffir Lily (Schizostylis coccinea major) and even its stems of seedheads provide an attractive addition to the border.



Otherwise the main plants of note at this time of year are the dwarf conifers, some of the ferns and the grasses, bamboos, sedges and rushes. Those pictured above are one of the Golden Striped Rushes (Acorus gramineus varieties, either Ohgon or variegatus) and a Bamboo (Fargesia murielae Mae).


This is called Black Grass. In practice it is not a grass at all but a flowering plant Ophiopogon planiscapus nigrescens which has loose clusters of pink, white, blue or purplish flowers in summer followed by fat black fruits. I love it but so far have had little success at getting it to spread. Perhaps one needs to buy a lot of them for a good display.