Second mild winter (until now)

After the winter 2013-2014, with minimum temperatures in my garden of only minus 3°C, everybody would be tempted to try with even more tropical plants. But a clever gardener known that one single night may destroy the work of an entire year. So in May 2014 I just transformed the "pots and containers room" into an Australian corner basically Grevillea species with some other plants. I had planned this since I got plants from The Desert Northwest Nursery (http://www.desertnorthwest.com).

The alpha and omega if you would like to be successful with the cultivation of proteaceae is the soil. It must be very very free draining and with an acidity of 5 to 6 pH. To simulate the bush in Australia or South Africa I use sand, lava, pumice, charcoal, and some soil (it is important to incorporate some organic material, so the pH will be more stable).   

Well, the Summer and Fall 2014 were very rainy in Switzerland, it was like what I experienced more than once in Cornwall…. At least I had not the stress to water the young plants. After a week, the plants still trying to acclimatize in the new soil.    

Theoretically now my northwest garden corner is finished,  I have to adjust only some details. Right my last tentative with a tree fern, if I lost this one too, than my garden is not the right place. 

These are the first flowers of Grevillea miqueliana subsp. moroka.