The dry weather continued throughout most of May and we lost a few plants in pots, as it is impossible to keep all the garden watered. The rain, when it came in the last week of the month, was very much welcomed. Pic above is of Euphorbia mellifera, which ties in the marginal plants in the pond to a little “exotic” section of Scheffleras and banana trees. Below are views of our Wedding Cake tree and a portion of our Japanese Maple bed.
Here we have three pics of more unusual plants. Physoplexis comosa from a mountain overlooking Lake Como in Italy. An Oreocharis from damp rocks in the mountains in South-West China. An aeonium from La Gomera in the Canary Islands: I was told it was a praedictum but it’s an endemic gomerense type definitely anyway.
And some little alpines, a Globularia from the Balkans and Italy, Matthiola scapifera from the Atlas Mountains and Craigton Blue Corydalis originally propagated by Ian Young in Scotland. Matthiola scapifera is normally kept in an alpine house but when I had it in there, it went bananas and tried to take over the whole place, so it has been placed in a wall pot outside with rain cover. Craigton Blue has the most attractive colour, I think, of any corydalis.
