With the continuing heat wave in Germany and temperatures of up to 36 °C during the day, our garden has stopped growing and gone into a summer recess to withstand the stress and preserve water.
This is the time for the terrace and the mediterranean plant displays thriving in pots.
We keep the Oleander pots in a large basement shaft in winter, which is covered with sheets of plexiglass and nearly frost-free. There, they keep their inflorescences during the winter months and open buds earlier.
Our potted blue agapanthus started with a single flower in a small pot from the garden center 15 years ago. Now we have four large pots and many, many flowers every summer and growing. They are deciduous and shed all leaves in autumn, when we put them in the garage, rather dry and dark, with just the heat of the car when it comes back in. There, we usually forget about them. Around March, when the new pale yellow sprouts appear, we move the pots out on the terrace and start watering and feeding. Every couple of years or so, we plant them in bigger pots and divide the clumps. Garden literature says that they should sit tight in pots and should rarely be divided. In our experience it makes no difference : we divide them, whenever we want an extra pot, and they continue to thrive and bring out flowers reliably every year.
This winter we have also tried to keep the bougainvilleas alive; together with the oleanders we held them in the basement shaft. Surprisingly, they have come back nicely and we hope to be able to repeat this for the next winters. Paul planted Geranium "Rozanne" underneath, a blue Verbena, Salvia officinalis and a dark Ipomoea. I added some self-sown white poppy. It is a wild and unruly combination, but we like it.
Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment