Read this amazing story published in the Independent yesterday :

By James Woodward
Friday, 7 November 2008

But despite being told they would not bear fruit, the property development managing director can now gaze up at 16ft (five metres) of growth bearing more than 70 bananas. Mr Hillard, who has grown plants since he was 11, was surprised when the plants flowered and and stunned when they then produced four “hands” of fruit, each holding about 18 bananas.

He called the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) who said the news was so rare he “should get down on the prayer mat”. The RHS has told him is the only person in Britain known to grow bananas in the home.

The bananas bloomed in his hi-tech solar room, which stays between 10C and 16C above outside temperature all year, and is just warm enough for the east Asian crop to grow healthily.

Now Mr Hillard intends to fry them up in a tasty curry. He said: “This has all been done by the English sunshine in my solar room, which provides my house with an oxygen-rich atmosphere.

It has been called the most energy-efficient house in the world. I was surprised when they flowered because I was told, ‘Oh they’ll never grow fruit’. Now they are growing into a forest, and I’ve got seven babies. I asked the Royal Horticultural Society and they told me to get down on my prayer mat because they had been trying for years to get theirs to bear fruit. Mine have grown to four or five inches and they are edible.

“Perhaps there is a Lord somewhere who has done it too but I don’t know where he is. It looks like a giant beehive and the trunk is full of water. You would call it a palm. The leaves grow about 5.5m up, nearly touching the roof.”

He said that he would be cooking the bananas in a slap-up meal despite the RHS’s warnings that the fruit will taste odd. He said: “I love bananas and will probably cook them like a plantain; they will be very nice fried with rice.”

Mr Hillard says he is “taking on” the scientific community’s findings about global warming, saying the problem is much more advanced than accepted wisdom suggests.

Leigh Hunt, the Royal Horticultural Society’s principal horticultural adviser, confirmed that Mr Hillard was probably the first British grower to achieve the feat in a house. He said: “This is likely because he was growing musa basjoo [the Japanese banana], a species that wasn’t grown very often in the UK until the fashion for tropical gardens came in.

“So while it has been perfectly possible to flower musa basjoo in tropical glasshouses, such as at Kew, but it has been unlikely for amateurs to grow it because they weren’t sold very often and gardeners had little interest in growing them because they required mollycoddling during the winter [they are not fully hardy].

“Unfortunately, the fruits that musa basjoo produce are unpalatable, mainly because they contain seed. Ripening may not happen as the low light levels of a British winter are not conducive for good growth. Commercial bananas don’t contain seeds because they are generally the seedless variety, dwarf Cavendish.”

Mr Hillard, a pioneering environmental architect, designed Tranquility as a four-bedroom “eco-house” made of Cotswold stone, which has total annual energy costs of less than £150 a year.

The former naval officer wrote his first environmental paper aged just 18 and has written several books addressing environmental issues, including climate change, food and poverty. Heating the house last year cost just £60 and he uses rainwater for showering and washing up.

Last month, Graham and Daphne Bath, from Hampshire, revealed that a banana tree they had been growing in their garden for the past nine years had borne fruit for the first time

Tags: Exotics

The Economist magazine recently ventured into horticultural matters with a very interesting article about the future of our gardens.Great to read about something other than the big financial mess we seem to be in at the moment.

Gardening is a great antedote to stress - anyone feeling the financial strain might like to get their hands dirty and connect to their roots - or just read this article for inspiration. It captures everything I say about gardening in a changing climate. In particular, it confirms that water conservation and new planting schemes are key to the survival of our gardens in the future.

GARDENS are more than just yard decorations for the green-thumbed: they

also express a worldview. As concern over climate change grows,

environmentally sensitive gardens are becoming more popular. Many

gardeners try to conserve water and avoid the use of pesticides,

preferring instead biological controls, manual removal and companion

planting, in which certain plants are grown next to each other to protect

both from pests or diseases. Commendable as these measures are, they are

only a beginning.

Gardens need not change in the way that a natural ecosystem must in

response to climate change. With humans around to pluck out unwanted weeds

and provide nutrition, garden plants are cosseted, and thrive in

non-optimum conditions, because they are not subject to the struggle for

existence that plants in the wild are.

Still, gardens of the future are likely to change for two reasons. First,

warmer weather will transform the gardener’s palette (the olive tree and

the potted citrus, for instance, will continue their northward invasion

via the middle-class gardens of Europe). And secondly, gardeners may

realise that they can be greener by changing what they grow.

Horticultural fashions change constantly. The 1950s British cottage garden

features delphiniums, rhododendrons, foxgloves, lupins and azaleas. The

modern gardener—concerned as she is with “structure”, “texture” and

“form”—might sneer at such gauche displays of showy flowers. Out go the

daffodils and ox-eye daisies, and in come tree ferns, cycads, bamboo,

ornamental grasses and Japanese maple. But what else will change?

Broadly, gardens in the northern hemisphere will be uprooted and moved

southwards, horticulturally speaking. In places that are currently hotter

and drier, such as Spain and parts of the Mediterranean, gardeners will

come to appreciate the charms of cacti and succulents.

In drier but more temperate places, it might be time to rethink the lawn.

Grass is thirsty. On the Royal Horticultural Society’s website, Richard

Bisgrove, a senior lecturer in landscape management at the University of

Reading, suggests planting little thickets of drought-resistant plants in

gravel. Chamomile likes hot, dry soil and smells great—it could make a

lovely lawn in low-traffic areas.

Gardeners will also have to ask themselves whether the plants, fruits and

vegetables they are growing remain appropriate—growing, say, tomatoes in

water-stressed areas of the world is not exactly green. Figs might be

better.

Similarly, one might also consider how environmentally friendly it is to

buy new annual-bedding plants each year from the garden centre, rather

than growing them from seed. More radical still might be to wave a

permanent goodbye to the tiresomely-thirsty pansy, and say hello to the

more resilient geranium.

In America’s hurricane corridor, offering gardening advice seems somewhat

beside the point. But elsewhere, more extremes of rainfall (a lot all of a

sudden, then none for a long time) are to be expected.

Earlier this year, The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and the

University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, looked at what a

British garden might look at in 2050. Intense rainfall, it warned, leads

to nutrients being more easily washed out. Gardeners will need to respond

by digging in organic matter and mulching.

Tyndall’s entry in this year’s the Chelsea Flower Show shunned the use of

concrete, which is impermeable to rainwater and contributes to flooding

(because water runs off so quickly). The Tyndall garden has a path made

from an innovative porous material made from recycled Cornish china-clay

waste.

Gardens in a warmer climate will also find they have longer growing

seasons and fewer frosts. That may be good for the geraniums, but some

plants and trees—apples, pears, plums, rhubarb and raspberries—need cold

spells to stimulate flowering and fruiting. Pine and beech trees need cold

to start forming leaves.

Milder winters and warmer summers also mean more pests; aphids, spider

mites and thrips will all increase. Insects from elsewhere are also likely

to present new problems for gardeners. On the other hand, new pests will

also bring their predators. In the garden as elsewhere, a changing climate

present threats and opportunities, particularly for the green-minded and

green-thumbed.

© 2008 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group.

The USA cetainly looks greener than it did 24 hours ago.

The President-elect brings new optimism about the future of climate change issues in the USA . Will his appointment herald the green light for radical environmental reform?  Mr Obama’s plans are certainly ambitious and long overdue. The energy and enthusiasm he inspires is what America and the rest of the world desperately needs to make a difference to the future of our planet.

This blog currently receives more hits from America than any other country . There is obviously tremendous interest in climate change from Los Angeles to New York - check out which are the greenest states in this vast country http://www.sustainlane.com/us-city-rankings/

I look forward to sharing experiences about gardening in the changing US political and environmental climate on my new blog which launches early in 2009 .  Just in time for Obama’s inaugaration on 20 January, and, hopefully, ….the birth of a greener future for the USA.

Today marks the beginning of November and a step closer to shorter days and less hours in the garden.

The winds of change change are definitely upon us - leaves are falling and flowers fading - preparing for a winter of discontent perhaps?

Planting seeds for a new future is what we all need to do in these uncertain times. I hope these pictures will inspire you to prepare for the important and long-overdue political, social, economic and environmental changes that are emerging in our global society.

The sun has returned over the past few days and cast a wonderful autumnal light over late flowering plants that have survived the very heavy rainfall of the past weeks.

I decided to take a walk round Lewes to see what is growing in other people’s gardens. I love checking out front gardens - it seems such an English thing to do . Perhaps there are other nosy gardeners elsewhere in the world up to this sort of thing?

Found these beautiful Japanese anenomes which are a must for this time of year .Delicate shades of pink and white look stunning against dark green foliage and their height gives shape to any autumnal border: http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plantprofile_anemones.shtml

Noticed these bright red dahlias which suggest a hint of the Caribean in a traditional english garden . To the left of this colourful display is a very healthy olive tree - now an increasingly common sight in UK gardens.

Everything is looking so lush as a result of all the rain. I love the mix of green and bright sunlight . Hope the rain stays away in order that we can appreciate how wonderful UK gardens can be in the Autumn.

Dahlias can be grown from seed over winter ready for planting next year. Save the seeds when the flowers finish and follow these instructions:http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/dahlias-from-seed/

Just ventured out into the garden to take this close up pic of my lovely sun-flower to cheer everyone up.

Enough of the doom and gloom in the news and the weather forecast http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/

Here are some REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL:

The beautiful soft pink clematis on my south facing terrace has started flowering again which is an unexpected delight and a real bonus for this time of year.

The apple harvest this year is exceptional - the early spring sun and constant moisture have produced an excellent crop. Have been busy making apple pies, chutneys, compots before the wet rots them. Any other suggestions for what to do with a glut of apples gratefully received.

Inspite of the lack of sun, the chilli peppers just go on and on producing these wonderful bright, fiery pepers ranging from bright orange, yellow and green - all on one plant!  We have fed on many hot chillis and thai curries over the past few weeks .These have warmed our spirits and made me realise how lucky we are to have all this to enjoy in the garden, inspite of the unpredictable weather.

August officially marks the end of what the Met Office call summer and we are now into the Autumn forecast.

They suggest that temperatures will be above average and rainfall below average. Does this mean that we might have an Indian summer like the last two years of wonderful sunny days right until the end of October.?

It is certainly sun that we need after the dullest August on record since records began in 1929 with only 105.5 hours of sunshine, far less than the average for the month of 165.1.This August was also the fifth wettest on record with 139.8mm (5.5in) of rain falling, causing floods in some areas and disasters for most gardeners.

I am sticking to my belief that we will get more sun this month and definitely NOT going to put my shorts away just yet. As for the rain,  I need to keep the wellies handy if the wet weather today continues as predicted: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/uk_forecast_warnings.html?day=3

How has your weather been so far this September?

Tags: Met Office

Has anyone noticed the decidedly Autumnal feel in the morning and evening now that the days are getting shorter? This is a sure sign that growing days for many plants are starting to reduce.

Sad to think that in just a few months I will be starting to protect some of my exotic and tropical plants in the garden so they can survive the English winter.

Growing tropical, exotic and mediterranean plants is a rewarding experience but making sure they survive our wet and sometimes cold winters is one of the biggest challenges for UK gardeners.This is complicated by the fact that many parts of the UK experience completely different weather patterns during the winter.

As shown in my previous blog, Cornwall, located in the SW of England, is one area that seems to provide conditions that enable these plants not just to survive our winters but actually do extrmely well. Perhaps this is why Phil from Trebrown Nurseries in Liskeard is such an expert on the subject. There is an excellent plant hardiness map on their site http://www.trebrown.com/hrdzone.html and here is Phil sharing his thoughts on hardiness and growing days in his first Global Gardening guest blog:

The map is very much an underestimate due to the data being an average record of 40 years.If we’d only focussed on, let’s say all the years post 1979 then the map would be very different, as the climate is much warmer today.

We plan to revise it in 2010/2012 for records up to 2010. It will be interesting to
see if the records from the last decade show significant changes to the map.

Of-course the map doesn’t really tell us much regarding what can be grown here. No zone map can be accurate due to the fact that it doesn’t take into account the number of growing degree days for a particular latitude. This would be different for different species. UK summers are short in comparison with other similar world-wide zones. Although our summer day length is long, they seldom reach high enough temperatures to count as Growing Degree Days (GDD) for truly tropical plants. A GDD for a particular species is a day that can be counted as a day that that plant grew. Quite often a zone 9 or zone 10 plant will put on no growth whatsoever during the whole year here in Cornwall.

We have a very strange climate here in the UK. There is very little change between our
cool summers and our mild winters. Very little temperature swing compared to almost everywhere else in the world outside the tropics. For this reason plants can manage to pull through our winters but then sit waiting for the summer heat which almost never comes. Therefore we should be looking for plants that can put on growth at low temperatures, high elevation tropical plants make reasonably good candidates. It’s not
possible to make a map to reflect this information, because every plant has it’s own ideal temperature Growing Degree Day.

At some stage we will include the minimum GDD temperature for each species contained in the species’ growing information on our site. We have quite a lot of information on file here, and all this information will eventually be placed on the Trebrown.com website.

Currently there is an interesting article about Growing Degree Days (GDD) on our server here:http://www.trebrown.com/documents/climate/climateadaptedness.php

Tags: Exotics, Trebrown

Tags: elephants ears

House prices may be going down but there is one way you can make your house more attractive to buyers:

INSTALL A RAIN-WATER HARVESTING SYSTEM

According to a UK survey, sponsored by Save the Rain a significant proportion of homeowners (1 in 3) would be more likely to buy a house if a rainwater harvesting system was already installed. With the increasing amount of rainfall falling from the skies over the UK this is a serious option that many sellers might like to consider to beat the current storms in the housing market.

A rainwater harvesting system will also save you money in the future as many of the water companies are threatening to put up their water rates by up to 60% over the next five years.

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1043365/Householders-hit-1-000-water-prices-set-soar-60.html

A major reason for installing a rainwater system is that it will help the environment by saving billions of water and prevent flooding which is now a serious threat to many homes in the UK. Not to mention the benefits of having harvested rainwater for your plants on tap when the next drought arrives - seems hard to beleive at the moment but it will!

WHAT EXACTLY IS A RAINWATER HARVESTING SYSTEM?

It comprises a storage tank which can be buried under garden or path, drive or patio which collects water from the roof, filters off leaves and other debris and then stores it. Then, when you flush the toilet or run the taps, a pump in the tank comes on automatically.

The system holds about 3 weeks worth of water, depending on the size of the building. The tank can be topped up by the water mains in case of drought as it should not run dry. If the tank gets too full after  heavy rain, an overflow pipe discharges the excess to a soakaway.

A rainwater harvesting system starts saving you water immediately, and will do so for many years, with minimal upkeep and maximum reliability.There is a very useful website which identifies key questions that you might now be asking about rainwater harvesting systems such as:

1. How does rainwater harvesting work?
2. How much water can a system save?
3. How much would this save on water bills?
4. How much rainwater does a system collect?
5. What can you use the water for?
6. Is it only for new buildings?
7. Is it only for houses?
8. Where is it installed?
9. How much does it cost?
10. Are there any grants available?
11. So, why should people buy Rainwater Harvesting systems?
12. How clean is the water?
13. Could rainwater get into my drinking supply?
14. Do I need a big roof area to make it worthwhile?
15. What happens when there is no rain?
16. Can it be used when there is a hosepipe ban?
17. Do I need to have a water meter?
18. How is the system maintained?
19. Who would install a Rainwater Harvesting system?
20. Is Rainwater Harvesting a new idea?
21. What regulations govern the installation of a system?

Answers can be found at: http://www.savetherain.info/media-centre/rainwater-harvesting-faqs.aspx

Or check out the UK Rainwater Harvesting Association at: http://www.ukrha.org/

Tags: rainwater harvesting