The Tropical Border – 5th Year

/ David Marsden

Each year, I hope that the Tropical Border will improve on the one before; that it will produce more flower, more stature, more oomph.

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And mostly that’s what it has done over the past five years … except perhaps this year.  Overall, 2016 hasn’t been its best.  It still looked pretty good though and the unfurling of vast leaves and splashes of loud, vibrant colour gave me a great deal of pleasure.  But if a few plants under-performed or failed to live up to my lofty expectation well, we all fail to deliver sometimes.

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May 2016

I planted out the big tender plants from the greenhouse later than normal.  Usually I wheel out the colocasias and red bananas in April but – after some sad cases of frostbite in the past – I deferred till 12th May;

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when Tetrapanax papyrifer ‘Rex’ showed the first glimmers of life.  Last year, I installed soaker hose in the border and connected it to an automatic watering system, which has saved me endless hours staring at a jet of water.  I left the hose in the ground overwinter and it survived without mishap … right up until the moment I stabbed it with a digging fork.  Twice.  (Cutting out the punctured length, inserting a short, rigid pipe into the cut ends and securing with couple of jubilee clips fixed that problem).

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Canna ‘Red King Herbert’ emerging

As new growth emerged, I gathered my formidable number of steel plant supports

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and, either singly or in pairs to form circles, pushed them in around the bendier of plants: the dahlias, the cannas and Salvia uliginosa.

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By early July, the bed filled out shrinking the expanse of brown earth but one of the large red Abyssinian bananas (Ensete maurelii) – visible left, off centre – didn’t grow at all: from planting out until I dug it up again in November.

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August 2016

A month later, when the border matured, it was completely lost from view and remained so for the rest of the season.   Which was annoying.  The Ensete is still alive it just … erm … didn’t grow.  I have no idea why as, having now dug it up again, the root system is healthy.  Oddly, a similar thing happened in 2015 but to the other of my two plants.  Perhaps, they’ve decided to take alternate rest years.

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Colocasia esculenta, on the other hand, did pretty well.  I planted them further forward than in the past and their big, quivering leaves poked out from the undergrowth like an inquisitive herd of small elephants.  Or something.

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Canna ‘Red King Herbert’ also did well with my steel supports preventing their usual habit of kneeling over to kiss the grass.

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Canna coccinea

As I’ve written before, Canna coccinea doesn’t need staking and arguably had more flower this year.

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I’ve split my original clump to provide two big plants and would split it again if I could squeeze in a third.

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It is such an easy, satisfying plant to grow

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aided by hefty amounts of pelleted chicken manure and regular watering.  It stays in the ground over-winter under a compost mulch.

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Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’

Dahlias on the other hand were a mixed bag.  A couple of years ago I wrote “Dahlia ‘Twyning’s Smartie’ produces a staggering amount of flower – each one different.  It is a reliable, non-stop stalwart, thuggishly shouldering to the fore.”  But that was then and this year my confident assertion proved patently untrue: Smartie failed to produce any decent growth and isn’t visible in any of these photos.  I leave my dahlia tubers in the soil to overwinter too, again under a mulch, but I shall dig up the three or four Smarties to see what’s up.

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Fortunately another mainstay of the bed flowered as well as ever – Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’.

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It’s curious that under the same conditions as Smartie, Llandaff grew as normal

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along with my third dahlia, D. ‘Twyning’s After Eight’.

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I ought to be grateful that these two varieties performed

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September 2014

(but I did miss my Smartie).

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A new addition to the border last year was the hardy banana, Musa sikkimensis which continues to thrive (and reinforces my growing disregard for the more mundane, unmarked leaves of Musa Basjoo).

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One of my two Abyssinian bananas did produce huge red leaves – central in the above photo – but a 50% strike rate is pretty rubbish and the failure of the other left an irritating hole in my grand scheme.  (Which actually shouldn’t be so very irritating given I’ve had the same problem two years running).

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From those few tiny leaves in May (shown in the third photo from top), Tetrapanax papyrifer ‘Rex’ didn’t disappoint.   I hadn’t realised how invasive its roots are however and little clusters of leaves shoot up metres away from the parent  – and are quickly pulled up.  How many more TPR’s can I give away?

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Salvia uliginosa

Despite plant supports, Salvia uliginosa still keeled over.  It grows to over six-foot and a metal ring about its knees didn’t much prevent the top two-thirds flopping about all over the place.

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And that’s a shame for a plant I love so much; a plant with an enormous amount of flower right through to the first frost.

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But I shall remove it completely from the tropical border next year.  With plenty of feed and daily watering it grows too vigorously, flops and madly colonises by runner to swamp the neighbours as well.  A sad farewell to an otherwise excellent plant (but I’ll use it elsewhere).

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August 2016

I’m also going to remove all the Verbena bonariensis.  I originally added this as filler when the bed was still gappy but it’s hardy necessary any more (though I said that a year ago so don’t be cross if you spot it again in 2017).

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Next year, thanks to the kindness of Big Plant Nursery, I’ll need to find space for Cautleya spicata ‘Robusta’, a hardy ginger, and Aechmea recurvata var. recurvata, a “super rare  bromeliad”.  Fancy.  BPN very kindly sent me these two gifts along with an invite to visit their nursery in West Sussex, which I certainly intend to take up.

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October 2016

I’ve written at length over the years about my tropical border with plenty of detail on all the plants I use and various ones I’ve tried and discarded (see, amongst others,  The Tropical Border – 4th Year).  This 2016 post, originally scheduled for September, is late because of our continuing house renovation but I wanted to continue my now annual tradition of showing the border’s evolution, even without that detail I’ve provided in the past.  If nothing else it gives me a useful record of the bed from one year to the next.

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First frost

Normally The Priory has its first frost in October, sometimes even in September.  This year, the border didn’t meet its mushy end until 1st November – giving me the longest display to date.  The tropical border might be a lot of work, a lot of angst and sometimes a little disappointment but in return it provides a big box of delights.  I can’t wait for 2017.

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45 thoughts on “The Tropical Border – 5th Year”

  1. Hi David,

    I read all your articles and started a new tropical border this year. I was wondering how is your tropical border this year? Will you write another article with an update?

    Thanks

    Cristina

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    • Hi Christina,

      The tropical border I wrote about was in the garden of my major client in Sussex – which I left in 2018. I have been growing my own tropical plants here in Glos for a couple of years but, without the benefit of a heated glasshouse, some of them took a major hit during last winter’s severe temperatures. Others, I’m crossing my fingers will re-emerge in the weeks to come! Good luck with your border and do let me know how you get. Best, David

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  2. You have a beautiful TB garden! I live in the tropics, but I love lavender, and they just don’t survive in my garden. I should try again (for the 4th time). Big congratulations, therefore, for growing such a lush, beautiful TB. Do let me know if there’s a tropical plant/flower you’d really like to add in your collection.

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  4. If I were closer I would gladly take a tetrapanax, those leaves are awesome!
    What beautiful leaves and fantastic strong colors, I love it as usual. It’s going to be hard going cold turkey on the verbena, they’re so easy and the color goes so well with the reds, but I’m already looking forward to seeing what new magic you cast on this border!
    I was out in the blowing snow this afternoon cutting back browned canna stalks. These photos finally took the chill out of my bones and reminded me why it’s worth it.

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    • Thanks Frank and I would gladly give you some tetrapanex. I have some in a container too which stops it madly colonising. I’m not too good with cold turkey so don’t be surprised if you spot verbena again next year! D

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  5. You should be very pleased with the border David. It is interesting to see it through the year. I do like the combination of VB and D. Bishop. When I tried leaving Dahlias in the garden over winter they didn’t do as well due to early slug attacks. Perhaps your slugs like smarties!

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    • Hi Brian, I have certainly had problems with slug attack on newly emergent dahlias in the past but not especially this year. It might have been that Smartie was simply swamped by its neighbours. I haven’t had a chance to dig up the tubers yet as the ground has been frozen solid! D

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  6. The change from May to July is astonishing, let alone from five years ago until now. Desert plants tend to grow a little more slowly… Also, as someone with a more casual approach to gardening, I find your pristine bed edgings swoon-worthy. You really do beautiful work, Dave. x

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  8. I always love seeing your Tropical border; it does improve year on year even if some things disappoint you. I like the Verbena and would leave them, but maybe you don’t have a choice if they self seed.

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  10. I’ve Been looking forward to Tropical Border year 5, almost thought you’d forgotten to do it , thankfully not 🙂 , another fantastic read David, love your attention to detail regarding the plants, Keep it up.

    Hope the winter treats you well and isn’t too wet!

    Cheers,

    Jack.

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    • We’ve had some hard frosts here too, Annette, -5C on arriving at work one morning. At least it marks a full stop to the season (unlike last year where many confused plants carried on growing through the warm winter). D

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  18. Very very pretty! I love it! Something has to topple over, disappear or not grow or that would be weird! I love new difficult surprising plants! I am in a tropical-ish area right now, sailing for a year-ish and it’s the first time I ever saw pomegranates! I have a Myers lemon and hibiscus in pots at home, here I see them outside. Years ago I saw lots of ginger in Jamaica, I think that can be quite a challenge but so worth it! Do you have a greenhouse in the winter? Love these photos, amazing border! Perfect!

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    • Hi, thanks and “Something has to topple over, disappear or not grow or that would be weird!” is a great line and one I’ll try to remember next year. Yep, to the greenhouse. There are two large ones at The Priory, so plenty of space for storing delicates but I’m trying a new method for over-wintering some of the non-hardy plants. Why, it might even merit a post! D

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  19. It’s a shame about the salvia, David. The small flashes of intense blue in the earlier photographs, before it gets into its stride, are lovely. Would you look to try and replace the colour with something else?

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    • Hi Gill, I suspect part of the problem with Dahlia ‘Twyning’s Smartie’ was not having enough room. The colocasias were cramped too as well as Melianthus major, so I want to empty the border to an extent to allow these and others to fill out more. The salvia blue is beautiful though isn’t it? Perhaps, I’ll allow a small patch or two to stay. I’ll have to see how generous I’m feeling. D

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  20. I think you are being very hard on yourself and the border looks wonderful. As someone who is incapable of growing cannas I am truely jealous. I wonder if you replace the shy banana with a new one it will do better, maybe it’s just a weak plant. As for the dahlias, their vigour will depend on their parentage. I have the Cautleya and it’s a good doer although mine seems to be sulking since I moved it to a new location.

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    • Hi Helen,the cannas receive plenty of feed in the spring and regular water (daily now with the automatic watering system) and sit in full sun against a south facing wall – if that helps. They’re amongst the least troublesome of the plants in my border (apart from falling over!). I may replace one of the red bananas but the question is which one? Last year the one which grew well is the shirker this year and vice versa. I have other hardy gingers elsewhere in the garden and will be gathering them up for transfer to the tropical border along with this new Cautleya to fill the spaces left by S. uliginosa. D

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