In the heat of the moment
N
OW that the better weather is here conservatories can heat up tremendously even at the merest flash of sun. If you aren’t around to open windows and doors, draw blinds and start fans, it can be like an oven by the end of the day – which doesn’t bode well for plants.
Some people respond to the challenge by keeping a few large Mediterranean-style trees like olives, oleander and oranges and moving them outside in summer, or they go for desert plants such as agaves, aloes and cacti that can cope with the heat.
If you want a softer, prettier and more botanical effect, what about a small collection of tender lavenders and pelargonium species? If you don’t have a conservatory they are ideal for the sort of hot suntrap patio where bedding plants curl up – but bring them indoors for the winter.
Tender lavender species grow wild in the Canary Islands. The best known is Lavandula x christiana. It has feathery foliage in sage green growing into a loose mound shape from which wiry stems sprout bearing candelabralike heads of purple-blue flowers. You would have no trouble recognising them as lavender, except they aren’t scented.
Even more striking is Lavandula buchii var. buchii, a slightly smaller plant with a mass of bright silver-filigree foliage and branching spikes of pinkish lilac flowers.
Lavandula minutolii has highly-textured fragrant ferny foliage and airy spikes of flowers dotted with tufts of light blue. Pelargonium species hail from South Africa so they are also at home in the heat.
Pelargonium x splendide makes a small, neat clump of grey green paddle-shaped leaves topped by two-tone flowers, the upper petals being maroon and the lower ones white. And Pelargonium echinatum has spiny stems with slightly velvet-textured kidneyshaped leaves and sprays of white flowers bearing a pair of maroon blotches. There’s also a pink form, which is even more appealing. They do need careful watering.
Do it every day or two in summer, especially inside a hot conservatory, but go sparingly in spring and autumn and keep them fairly dry all winter. The odd lapse in watering won’t be a disaster.
These are not everyday plants – think of them as a connoisseur’s conservatory collection. You will find them at specialist nurseries.
Still, it’s always worth the effort to have something special.
BED AND BORDER FOR SUMMER WILDLIFE