Started on display, not so much to change this morning because we changed so much yesterday. Finished laying out irises, then plunged them & the other collections we were working on yesterday (Calochortus & Frits).
The Iris groupings are very complex, there appears to be many, some of the ones that we had were Reticulate, Juno & Dwarf types. Genus Hermodactylus is related. Tony Hall from Kew is producing a monograph on all the different kinds of irises.
Then I helped James (new team member) with some repotting. We did Arisaema, strange bulbous bulbs, succulent fleshy, with roots coming from the top. The distinct point is the growing point that needs to face upwards. They require a fair amount of space, and were place halfway in the pot. Any bulbs that were rotten we sprinkled yellow sulphur powder on them. We used a general woodland mix:
- 1 part John Innes no. 2
- 1 part leaf mould
- 1 composted bark
- 1 perlite
Then we top dressed with a layer of bark.
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| Photo 1: The bulbs of Arisaema, noted that the growing point is pointy bit, though on the small ones it is slightly confusing, as they have a dead bit underneath like they are leaves. |
Then we repotted some Cypripedium. We trimmed off some of the dead on the roots and old leaf growth/ stalks. The soil they had been in was sitting quite wet and had compacted over time - so had less drainage, so it was good to give them in the new mix, as it was drier. The soil mix was:
- 2 parts fine composted bark
- 1 part Melcourt potting bark
- 1 part super coarse Perlite
- 2 parts leaf mould
- 8g per litre of mix of Tufa dust (or Dolomitic limestone powder).
Some species require an acid mix, but not ones in the Wisley collection.
We topped dressed these also with a thin layer of bark.
Also from the same house that James is looking after are also other terrestrial orchids like Pleione - I learnt that they have annual roots and these die off once per year. They rest just on the surface of the forest floor. Here is a good link about repotting them - http://www.pleione.info/cultivation---2.html
Then I helped repot Sempervivum - this is a labour intensive process, we had to take off layers/ sheaths of dead with a tweezers, sometimes dismantling a whole pot, doing them individually and composing them back together preferably in nice satisfying mounds.
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| Photo 2: Sarah's amazing clean up job of semps. |
The heather collection in Howard's Field had started their interest again - the Erica x darleyensis and tree heather types like E. lusitanica & E. arborea are flowering.