Sunday:
We went to a plant nursery yesterday and bought as many weird and interesting tropical plants as we could fit in the car.
Then we spent a good chunk of today planting them. It took a long time because no matter how much we work the soil beforehand, when we dig holes for plants we find yet more rocks, roots, and now a lot of shards of broken terracotta pots for some reason. And curl grubs.
Anyway, we got enough to go along one fence out by the pool, about a quarter of the total area we need to fill. The plants are still quite small of course, but in a few years they will be crowding each other in a lush tropical kind of way.
We did get an unpleasant surprise when we got home yesterday and I checked growing conditions for bromeliads, which we bought in flower (in the top picture the weird pink spike in the middle and the two with gold star-like flowers) - it turns out they only flower once, when they are fully mature at 3-4 years old, then die! So three of our plants will only live through the summer then drop dead. They are supposed to send out 'pups' (baby plants) as they die so maybe we will get some little ones in years to come. We also bought palms, several varieties of cordylines, and bird's nest ferns. It looks nice already. We need to get some mulch next, then move on to the next section. The part we did is the shadiest, other fences get a lot more sun.
The bromeliads are indeed short-lived but they will produce the 'pups', so they'll replace themselves. I have a few that I've grown for many years. When mama plant begins her decline, the baby plant comes along and the process starts all over again! You will love them.
ReplyDeleteThanks Martha, hopefully we'll get lots of little pups and be able to watch them grow! It is really strange (but good) to create a garden completely from scratch. And mostly plants I've never grown before. It's exciting!
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