Ideally I should cut these back and remove the cat protection to reveal the glorious bulbs underneath, but of course there aren’t any because when they should have been planted the nepeta were in full song. Solution: raise bulbs in pots and plant these out now? Supermarket bulbs in pots are not really big enough, but they may be better than nothing this year.

9 Feb 18

I planted 6 sprouting plants each of ‘Tête-à-tête’, ‘Minnow’ and ‘Jetfire’ from Homebase. Each plant consisted of at least two bulbs. Also some dwarf viola bedding.

30 Mch 18

Very good result, particularly considering all the frost and snow we’ve had this year.

Phyllostachys aureosulcata from Homebase in large Sankey ‘Smithy’ plastic pot. (Large version of the pots I use for Brugmansias). Label claimed it had AGM, but RHS said this only applies to the spectabilis form which my plant may or may not be. Anyway, it looks great.

1 Feb 18

It seems to be standing up well to the high winds we’ve been having recently

I want something fastigiate that will grow in a big tub. The site gets the sun for the second half of the day, but is exposed to the occasional strong wind. Unfortunately, the car is nearly always there when I am at home.

15 Dec 17

I chose a plant of Phyllostachys aureosulcata

and planted it in a 50cm cylindrical plastic pot, which will hopefully keep it upright in the wind.

Yes, I know they won’t last.

I’ll leave these for another few months to see if they come again. Also the three pots of tulips planted under Armeria, Ajuga and Arabis.

I’ll also plant some tulips in plastic pots in November or December for burying in the gravel.

Brugmansia in front of the garage is doing well, and hasn’t been blown over thanks to the new pot supports.

Could this be the ultimate support for medium sized pots? It’s worked so far for the Brugmansia in the front in quite strong winds. The three stakes are driven through cells in the honeycomb support material in the gravel.

This is a relic from the previous London garden. I started with the pot closer to the house, where the leaves that side got shredded in the wind. Let’s see how they recover in this new position.

The wooden slats round the pot have done a good job of keeping it upright in the wind.

Groups of pots on the gravel are working really well, particularly in the front garden.

This sedge hop plant is doing very well. Its roots had more or less filled its planting bag, so I’ve removed this. I’ve also moved it away from the pendulous sedge which it resembles quite closely.