A weekend by the sea

Sorry I haven’t been able to add anything recently, ive been away at the weekend down to visit my parents for mothers day. They live down in Dorset in a cute little village by the sea. Its always nice to go and visit.

The weather was fantastic! Cant believe its only March! The sea was so clear!

My mum loved her Hellebore I gave her- hers havent settled in yet from the move from London and living in pots for a few years! I also help my mum create a new bed- we decided to plant some of the arid plants in an area of gravel round the front of the house. It was crying out really for some tall trees to help break up the wind that whips around the house but I will sneak them in later- this was getting my dad used to the idea of planting up the bed! He seems to want to leave it as gravel in case people want to park on it!

My mum inherited many of my surplus plants – and seems to have potted plants coming out of her ears so she was very glad to get some of them in the ground where they should all look after themselves as they are drought tolerant.

In the bed went Agave Americana, Aloe Striatula, Variegated Phormium cookianum, Trachycarpus takil, Brahea armata, Cordyline australis, a Variegated Yucca glauca, a Euphorbia mellifera and a sweep of Gladiolus byzanntius. The soil under the gravel was incredibly tough hardcore, followed by a 6” layer of clay followed by sandy soil. Not great for the cacti but I dug out the clay and replaced with potting compost and sandy sub soil.

It looks pretty good if I do say so myself! Looking forward to seeing if the Gladiolus survive as these are basically in 2” of soil and gravel! I will probably add some Echinopsis cacti from my garden when im next down, and any other succulents that may do well down there.