Weds 28th October

Department: Glass

The Ravenala madagascariensis palm was cut down by the arb team today, it had grown too large. Big cockroaches spilt forth when it was chopped in half. This palm was in the glasshouse from the beginning - 200,7 so was 10 years old. Here is a nice description of from Petra about the palm:

Petra's blog post

Photo 1: Ravenala madagascariensis with its leaves cut back.

Photo 2: Ravenala madagascariensis cut down.

In the waterfall bed I helped Chris take out some Pavonia schrenkii - which red smallish red doesn't really give much of a display but fills a gap, and some Lantana montevidensis (a trailing and creeping one, native to S. America). In its place we put in some Hypoestes aristata ACANTHACEAE, common name Ribbon Bush, which is very impactful and creates a blue haze of flowers and lasts for awhile. According to Plant Z Africa - a good site for S. African plants, it is usually found in dry thicket, forest and damp places from the Eastern Cape in the south to tropical Africa in the north, so seems suitable in the waterfall bed. It is good for lots of different kinds of insects. It can be eaten as a spinach, while traditionally crushed leaves have been used as a poultice for sore eyes. It also makes a good cut flower because it lasts well in water. Of the plants that we took out we kept back three, cut them back to about a third and potted up as stock plants and composted the rest. We also took out a pomegranate that wasn't fitting in or doing so well in that bed.

I also worked on the Nerine sarniensis display, I took out all the ones that had finished flowering and deadheaded and rearranged and tidied up the stones and labels. The flowers are surprisingly glittery on a lot of them and gently scented.

Photo 3: Nerine sarniensis display

Chris gave an intro to his Temperate Service House:

His plants are from many parts of the world - the Himalayas, India, China, Europe. Some of his plants are interchangeble with Tropical - Brillantasia owariensis spends two months in Tropical, otherwise if it stayed in Temperate it would go too pale, and Encephalartos (coastal understorey) is more for that zone too. He props things like Oxalis and plants from the Araliaceae family in Feb (cuttings) for a summer display and in June for an autumn/ winter display. For things like the Brillantasia he props in September for the following summer. He has three plants in a pot growing for weeks. Sparmannia africana is propped on a two year rotation basis. He loves tree ferns in particular for their foliage, the displays he does are totally his subjective interpretation and follows no accurate geological/ climatic zones. The plants collected and acquired here are just for the purpose of their ornamental value.