Readers’ gardens
It’s almost Christmas and I’ve got three lovely indicators of the festive season going strong. In the garden, gorgeous camellia ‘Yuletide’ has started to flower and standard holly bushes have produced some lovely berries, while in the house the poinsettia I bought in a local supermarket four years ago is starting to turn red.
A big job recently has been cloaking my jelly palm, Butia capitata, in a mammoth plant jacket. Last year I struggled to protect it from the salt-laden winds, which do so much damage to the fronds. So, this year I’ve sourced a huge cover, 3.6m (12ft) high. It’s a very sturdy, zipped and drawstring-secured winter coat for large shrubs and small trees. Fingers crossed it works! With the expectation of spending more time this month looking at the garden from the office window, rather than actually getting out and doing anything in it, I’ve made sure there are some great plants on my desk! I’ve got a lovely collection of succulents, grass, cacti and air plants to look at, including a Syngonanthus chrysanthus. Also looking good in the house is a Tibouchina organensis with an abundance of velvet-purple flowers. Still holding their own outside are a large hydrangea and a large Fatsia japonica. The former has some stunning blooms that are partly gone over, but it’s still looking incredible with beautiful, glossy green leaves. Next to it, in shade, the fatsia has produced more flower heads than usual and looks sensational. Coronilla glauca ‘Citrina’ is still looking fabulous, too, especially when the sun shines on it, while the pyracantha by the front door is positively glowing, with hundreds of beautiful orange berries on it – a perfect food bank for birds!