REPOTTING PLANTS ON A SUNNY SPRING DAY
Yesterday and today have been glorious with temperatures in the high teens here on the Pennine Mountains of West Yorkshire. As spring is the busiest time of the year in my garden, I had to get to it. Yesterday was a killer, when I dug up a jasmine and climbing rose (Jasmine officinale and Generous Gardener). It was a terrible shame, criminal really, but I've had my 6ft wooden fences replaced with 5ft concrete post and wood panel fencing (which allows light and air through) and the jasmine and rose would have been far too vigorous to be supported on such a low fence. The rose had to go anyway because it made the mistake of taking a piece out of my hand while I was removing the jasmine! I have a permanent balance problem which makes gardening hazardous enough, scary sometimes, often painful!, without keeping plants that make gardening even more treacherous. I have vague plans for the spaces that they occupied but that'll come later. Meanwhile, today, and last week, I did easier jobs which needed to be done.
I have three large hostas (Patriot, Sagae, Brimcup) which have been in their individual terracotta containers a while. I have neither the strength nor inclination to divide them this year (I would divide in spring before there is a lot of growth above ground, chopping them in half with a spade), so I simply removed the gravel, top dressed with fresh compost, and replaced the gravel. I will feed them well this year and maybe next year (when I don't have to dig up jasmines and roses) I will divide them. I also have a small Reverse Patriot which seems to be just waking up in its much smaller pot.
In the mini-greenhouse, I have overwintered my begonia tubers (mostly I grow the trailing kind) buried all together in a large flowerpot filled with vermiculite. Today I investigated and most of the tubers have begun to form shoots, so I have potted them into individual pots of compost, with the concave top of the tuber just above compost level. As our English weather could still turn nasty, I have put those individual pots within larger pots and filled up the space with vermiculite so that the begonia tubers are still protected. There is also a little layer of vermiculite covering the young shoots. I put the pots back in the mini-greenhouse for added protection (on 29 April 2016 it snowed!).
What else did I do? Oh, I repotted the Holly Fern - Cyrtomium fortunei. It has been in its pot outdoors a couple of years now and I thought it time to repot it, giving it some fresh compost. I cut off the old leaves which have over wintered and there are numerous strong fronds ready to unfurl. During winter, I keep the pot of the Holly Fern within a large pot as double insulation. It lives in a corner on top of a storage corner where it is protected.
I must mention the Dryopteris filix-mas Euxinensis. That had been growing in a terracotta pot quite a few years and I was worried about it. I knew it was pot bound and it's such a wonderful fern that I didn't want it to die. The thing is, getting it out of the large terracotta pot was an absolute nightmare. For one thing, the pot weighs a ton so there was no way that I could lift the thing, turn it upside down, and shake it! Not a chance. Not with the pot being filled with a large potbound fern as well. But I did get the plant out of the pot. How? I got my breadknife which is long and serrated. I could have used a fine saw, if I had one. I cut around the rootball's circumference, right around the inside of the pot, cutting as deeply as I could. Then I cut away a small slice of the compost (not a wedge like cutting a cake) so that I could get the tines of my small garden fork into it. I lay the pot on its side on my sloping lawn with the base of the pot uphill. Then I rammed the fork tines into the area which I had sliced. Carefully, using leverage against the edge of the pot, I persuaded the rootball to leave its container.
Of course, I could have broken the pot in doing this, but I didn't. And the way I figured it, I valued the plant more than the pot so a hammer to smash the pot was the next option. I've now planted the Dryopteris filix-mas Euxinensis in the big border, at the bottom of the slope next to three other ferns that seem to be doing well.
The three ferns I refer to above are Braun's Holly Fern (Polystichum braunii), Buckler Fern (Dryopteris atrata) and Wood Fern (Thelypteris decursive pinnata). Even though I worried that they might not like where I planted them, at the bottom of my large border's slope, because they get some sunshine there, they have done magnificently. Interestingly, the first two mentioned retained their green foliage all winter long, while the third, the Wood Fern lost its leaves entirely. All three now have tightly curled fronds waiting to unfurl.
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| Hosta 'Patriot' 2016 |
In the mini-greenhouse, I have overwintered my begonia tubers (mostly I grow the trailing kind) buried all together in a large flowerpot filled with vermiculite. Today I investigated and most of the tubers have begun to form shoots, so I have potted them into individual pots of compost, with the concave top of the tuber just above compost level. As our English weather could still turn nasty, I have put those individual pots within larger pots and filled up the space with vermiculite so that the begonia tubers are still protected. There is also a little layer of vermiculite covering the young shoots. I put the pots back in the mini-greenhouse for added protection (on 29 April 2016 it snowed!).
What else did I do? Oh, I repotted the Holly Fern - Cyrtomium fortunei. It has been in its pot outdoors a couple of years now and I thought it time to repot it, giving it some fresh compost. I cut off the old leaves which have over wintered and there are numerous strong fronds ready to unfurl. During winter, I keep the pot of the Holly Fern within a large pot as double insulation. It lives in a corner on top of a storage corner where it is protected.
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| Cyrtomium fortunei |
Of course, I could have broken the pot in doing this, but I didn't. And the way I figured it, I valued the plant more than the pot so a hammer to smash the pot was the next option. I've now planted the Dryopteris filix-mas Euxinensis in the big border, at the bottom of the slope next to three other ferns that seem to be doing well.
The three ferns I refer to above are Braun's Holly Fern (Polystichum braunii), Buckler Fern (Dryopteris atrata) and Wood Fern (Thelypteris decursive pinnata). Even though I worried that they might not like where I planted them, at the bottom of my large border's slope, because they get some sunshine there, they have done magnificently. Interestingly, the first two mentioned retained their green foliage all winter long, while the third, the Wood Fern lost its leaves entirely. All three now have tightly curled fronds waiting to unfurl.