I worked with Chris. We did the rest of the clearing on the exotic/ tropical beds in front of the glasshouse, Tom Stuart-Smith originally did a design with them, blending Bergenia and more exotic plants to transition the other beds nearby and the glasshouse, but over time it became just exotic plants.
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| Photo 1: Cleared area on one of the two beds outside the front of the Great Glasshouse. |
I learnt that Aspidistra elatior flowers from the base - like pink rosettes, pollinated by slugs and snails.
We dug out tree dahlia Dahlia imperialis, Canna cultivars like 'Weymouth' and 'Yara' and repotted these. Hardier plants like Schefflera, Tetrapanax papyrifer and Trachycarpus fortunei are left in. Canna musifolia is a hardy type that can be left outside. Schefflera are hard to propagate, they can be done by seed or vegetatively, seeds have to be very fresh, for the latter it's usually hard to get the material (young shoots from the stem).
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| Photo 2: Potting up of tree dahlias - Dahlia imperialis using PFS soil mix - a pre-mixed soil that they buy in. These will be transferred to prop, where after we have moved them to we will water, so that they won't be so heavy. |