Department: Herbaceous
This was created in 2013 and the idea was that it would come into maturity in 3 years. The site has one side shaded by a big oak tree and a more open sunny exposed side, so planting has to take this into account of what would flourish on one side more than the other. My first impressions of the South African Meadow was that it was very flat and dominated mainly by Gazanias, but later after meeting James I realised there was meant to be much more undulation, height and more grasses/ grass species. James actually came in to concentrate on helping to rectify this, in fact as part of it I later joined in with planting of extra plants like Watsonia and grasses, and even plants that James got from South Africa itself and was the first of its kind to be planted in this country. The reason why the S. African meadow was so flat was because when they created this, there was meant to be 10cm of sand as a layer on top and a jute mesh on top of that, but actually 30cm of sand was put on top, so the plants have struggled to punch through the plant layer, and have stayed on the surface because when it has been irrigated it has not been done so long enough so the roots of the plants do not probe very far below, so you have much more shallow rooted shorter plants.
Contrary to the intention of the design he has had to suggest feeding it because he wanted to give the plants some assistance of putting on more root growth. But the idea was to feed it in powder form so that it would leak out of the ground quite quickly and the nutrients wouldn't stay in the ground for long, but long enough to give the plants a quick boost. This accompanied by deeper, longer watering to encourage them to probe deeper. When we did new planting, we had to get a pole digger from Trials to get through the badly compacted sand area, and even though it was raining heavily to water the holes in first, then planted the plants in. James was hands on in this process himself.
This was the schedule of how it was started:
Year 0
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1st Year
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2nd Year
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3rd Year
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(Start of flowering)
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(Full flowering)
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Jan
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Select site
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Cut down
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Cut down
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Feb
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Remove perennial weeds
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Flash burn
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Remove perennial weeds
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Mar
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Perennial weed control
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Plant
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Sow
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Weed
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Weed
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Apr
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Seed sowing
Rake and firm sand
Jute mat cover
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May
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Irrigation
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Thin
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Thin
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Jun
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Weed
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Jul
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Weed
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Aug
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Planting
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Sep
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Oct
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Soil cultivation
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Check balance of taller plants
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Check balance
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Nov
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Firm soil
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Dec
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Sand layer
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This is the plant list. It is set into a table to show plant and seed mixes that respond to the different aspects of the site. James calculates his seed and plant mixes quite mathematically, with formulas to pre-work out the quantity, different proportions he wants for each plant per square metre.
Non Grassy Mix
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Grass Dominated Mix
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Shade Tolerant Mix
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Agapanthus praecox Headbourne Blue
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Seed
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Seed
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Seed
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Agapanthus inapertus Wisley forms?
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Aloe boyeli (Pot river pass)
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Aloe cooperi
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Berkehya macrospermus
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Seed
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Seed
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Seed
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Berkehya purpurea
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Seed
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Seed
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Seed
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Berkheya multijuga
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Seed
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Seed
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Seed
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Bermema macrocephala
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Plants
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Plants
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Bulbinella abysinnica
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Seed
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Seed
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Crassula vaginata
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Seed
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Seed
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Crinum bulbispermum
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Plants
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Plants
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Crinum macowanii
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Plants
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Plants
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Crinum variabile
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Plants
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Plants
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Crocosmia masonorium
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Plants
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Plants
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Plants
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Crocosmia pearsei
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Plants
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Cymbopogon spp
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Plants
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Plants
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Delespermum cooperi
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Seed
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Seed
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Delospermum basuticum
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Seed
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Diascea integerrima
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Seed
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Seed
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Diascia rigescens
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Seed/Plants
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Seed/Plants
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Seed/Plants
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Diascia tugelensis
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Seed/Plants
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Seed/Plants
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Dierama grandiflorum
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Plants
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Plants
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Dierama mossii
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Seed
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Seed
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Dierama pulcherrimum Dark Cerise
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Seed/Plants
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Seed/Plants
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Seed
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Dierama latifolium JJA
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Seed
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Dierama trichorrhizum
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Seed
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Seed
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Seed
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Dimorphotheca jucundum
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Seed/Plants
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Erythrina zeyheri
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Plants
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Plants
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Eucomis bicolor
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Plants
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Plants
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Eucomis comosa
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Plants
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Plants
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Plants
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Eucomis pallidiflora/pole evansii
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Plants
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Plants
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Euryops acraeus
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Euryops tysonii
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Galtonia candicans
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Seed
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Seed
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Seed
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Gazania linearis
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Plants
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Plants
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Plants
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Geranium brycei
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Plants
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Plants
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Plants
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Geranium magnoliflorum
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Plants
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Plants
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Plants
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Geum capense
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Seed
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Seed
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Gladiolus ex Nottingham Road
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Plants
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Plants
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Gladiolus daleni
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Seed/Plants
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Seed/Plants
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Gladiolus flanaganii
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Seed/Plants
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Gladiolus oppositiflorus
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Seed/ Plants
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Seed/Plants
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Gladiolus papilio Ruby seedlings
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Plants
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Plants
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Gladiolus papilio yellow green
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Seed
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Seed
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Gladiolus saundersii
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Plants
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Plants
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Plants
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Greyia sutherlandii
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Haplocarpha scaposa
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Seed
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Seed
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Seed
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Helichrysum aureum
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Seed
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Seed
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Helichrysum palidum
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Plants
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Plants
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Helichrysum splendidum type.
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Plants
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Hesperantha bauri good form (clonal)
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Plants
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Hesperantha coccinea
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Seed
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Seed
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Hesperantha grandiflora
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Plants
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Kniphofia albomontana
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Plants
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Plants
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Kniphofia caulescens Jelitto form
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Seed
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Seed
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Kniphofia caulescens linear form
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Kniphofia northiae
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Seed
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Seed
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Seed
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Kniphofia cv ritualis
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Plants
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Plants
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Kniphofia hirsuta Fire Dance
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Seed
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Seed
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Seed
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Kniphofia multiflora
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Seed
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Seed
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Seed
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Kniphofia rooperi ex SA
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Plants
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Plants
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Plants
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Kniphofia triangularis
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Seed
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Seed
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Kniphofia triangularis Dohne form
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Seed
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Seed
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Kniphofia uvaria
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Seed
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Seed
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Seed
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Lessertia perennans
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Merxmuellera spp
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Plants
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Moraea alticola
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Seed
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Seed
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Moraea muddii
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Plants
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Moraea spathulata
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Plants
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Plants
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Nerine angustifolia
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Plants
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Nerine bowdenii JJA
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Plants
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Nerine bowdenii normal commercial
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Phygelius aequalis Sani Pass
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Plants
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Phygelius capensis dwarfer form
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Plants
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Plants
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Scadoxus puniceus
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Plants
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Plants
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Senecio macrospermus
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Seed
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Seed
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Themeda triandra
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Plants
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Plants
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Tritonia disticha
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Seed
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Seed
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Seed
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Tritonia drakensbergensis
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Plants
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Plants
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Watsonia confusa
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Seed
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Seed
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Watsonia densifolia
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Seed
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Seed
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Watsonia galpinii pale pink
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Seed/Plants
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Seed/Plants
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Seed/Plants
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Watsonia latifolia
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Seed
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Seed
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Watsonia lepidia
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Seed
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Watsonia pillansii ex Wisley
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Seed/Plants
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Seed/Plants
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Seed/Plants
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Watsonia pulchra
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Seed
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Seed
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Zantedeschia albomaculata
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Plant
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Seed
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These South African plants also coincides with his studies at Sheffield, at how hardy they can be in the UK. His selections have been refined by the ones that are the toughest and proven to survive our climate, adding to the possibilities of what can be grown here.
Here are guidance notes he wrote for the department to help bring on the South African meadow a bit more:
Because we have a ridiculously deep sand layer, plants are perched up a long way from the underlying soil, which also seems to be heavily compacted. As such species are growing glacially slowly, especially in very dry spring and early summer as in 2015. There are good densities of evergreen geophytes like Watsonia, Kniphofia and Dierama, but everything is sort of bonsai-ed by the above. I think we have enough cover of Gazania etc now to increase growth rates. The strategy is to increase plant size to allow the roots to punch in more to the underlying soil. In order to do this without increasing P and K fertility that we can never then get rid of, we should apply Nitrogen only fertilisers, in combination with some irrigation, as these cannot be absorbed in dry soil.
I would suggest the following
- Procure enough Nitro-Chalk (pelleted Ammonium Nitrate) for 2 (split applications) x 15 g /m2 application over the entire area. I think the area is about 800m2
- Procure enough hoof and horn to provide a slower release N source for a single 100g/m2 application at the same time as the above. A N only Osmocote type fertilizer would be fine and probably cheaper if you can find?
- Apply the second Nitro chalk application 4-5 weeks after the first
- Irrigate next week to start plants growing, many are at PWP
- Then irrigate again immediately after the fertilizer application
Then irrigate heavily every 10 days if no significant rain falls
The aim is to get the biomass to expand and get some height and mass. I suggest we leave a “caned off” square of 3 x 3 m where we do not fertilise to get a contrast, so we can see if the N is really doing the business or whether its P deficiency.
Clearly there is a cost in all of this, but if I am to come and provide advice at my cost, then the quid pro quo is that the RHS needs to find the modest resources to try to move forward on these plantings.