Here is a very amazed lady called Mrs Hermione Morrison looking at an enormous flowering Agave which towers 25ft over her home in Helston, Cornwall. Mrs Morrison, 70, planted this in her garden in 1982 after bringing it back as a tiny seedling from a holiday in Gibraltar.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1043993/Pictured-The-rare-plant-towers-owners-house-Britains-barmy-weather-causes-grow-25ft-weeks.htmlAgave,
Large Agave plants like [...]

Tags: agave

Thanks to both and Nancy and Karen for their lovely comments on yesterday’s blog. Great coincidence that Karen should mention Hibiscus Red Heart as I read her comment just after I had taken the pics for this next blog.
The idea came to me when I saw the sun streaming through my kitchen window for just [...]

Tags: hibiscus

27c at midday in the garden. Feel sure I am not the only one feeling the heat.
My gardening guru, Will Giles is most probably very hot and bothered at the moment. He is at Hidcote Manor in Gloucestershire to find out if his inspirational Exotic Garden has been selected as THE BEST UK GARDEN.
Will [...]

Tags: Exotics, Will Giles

The temperatures reached 28c in the garden today and my newly acquired beautiful cannas came out to welcome me back from warmer climes - they were almost as good as the ones I photographed in Spain. Don’t you just love those fabulous showy flowers and leaves - any idea which is the UK version?

I bought [...]

Tags: cannas

It was the hottest day of the year yesterday - 30c and very humid. One plant that is thriving in this tropical weather and blooming much earlier is the wonderful Dahlia - a key component for any exotic garden in the UK. There are around 50,000 different flowers - except blue apparently - which [...]

Tags: Exotics

It is unlikely that we will ever grow mangos in the UK but, I have just had my first taste of exotic fruit gardening - Ruth presented me with 3 melon plants that she has grown from seed.
The plan is to plant them outside as, according to the RHS, rising average night temperatures in March [...]

Tags: citrus

This is perhaps the most popular flower in the world and well placed to adapt to climate change.
According to fossil evidence, the rose is over 35 million years old .The cultivation of roses began in Asia around 5000 years ago, and they have been a part of the human experience ever since, appearing in ancient [...]

Tags: roses

The weather was very hot again so i decided to cool off by the sea.
Eastbourne promenade looked very English apart from the drought loving plants which are increasingly popular in our coastal resorts.

The most impressive plants for me are the Agave which seem to enjoy the sea air.
Their sword like leaves conjure up a feeling [...]

Tags: agave

Australia has just experienced the driest May on record and the government is seriously concerned about water supplies. They issued a drought statement on 31st May which clearly explains how dire the water situation is http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/drought/drought.shtml
Presumably, plants like this native Bottle Brush are thriving in the drought? My blog is visited by [...]

Tags: Bottle Brush

The hot weather came back with a vengence today .Temperatures in the garden climbed to a glorious 26c by 3pm.
The sun was very intense and even the wet soil from the past few weeks of heavy rain, quickly begin to dry out. It is amazing how rapidly moisture evaporates from soil - this turned [...]

Tags: cardoon