rose-scented pelargonium

order: geraniales
family: geraniaceae
genus: pelargonium
species: x
cultivar: 'Grandeur Odorata Rose'

Like every year else, in this spring (2013), after the winter had melted away, we did a major shopping for our garden. We happened to go to several garden centres different from the ones we usually go to. I don't even remember what their names were and where they were exactly. But this particular garden centre close to the town called Aschaffenburg had a massive range of herbs. We picked up plant after plant and placed in our shopping cart. They also had quite a selection of scented pelargoniums, which was on my wish list. I took care in selecting my favourite one and the outcome was this cultivar labelled as 'Grandeur Odorata Rose'.

The scented part of the plant is not the flowers but rather the soft and furred leaves, which give off the most typical smell of roses, like that of rose water, when rubbed. The plant didn't flower as profusely as the common pelargoniums we have for the balcony, but I didn't seem to miss anything because the scent alone was so pleasurable. I placed it at the south side of our garden where it received full sun. It needed very frequent watering though it seemed to be able to withstand some drought.

After the growing season, I moved it into our stairwell untrimmed, where lighting condition isn't the best, but the plant doesn't complain. Some lower leaves turned yellow and shed. That's all. Even fallen leaves are nicely scented. They often fill the stairwell with delightful perfume if the neighbours above us trampled on them while leaving the house before I could pick them up.

The care for this plant is easy. The only thing I need to make sure is to never expose it to freezing temperature. With ample water and some fertiliser, it grows very much in a single season.

natal plum // large num-num

order: gentianales
family: apocynaceae
genus: carissa
species: macrocarpa

first posted on 08/01/2013:

natal plum in late autumn 2012.

This is yet another plant from my dogbane (apocynaceae) collection. The species is said to be native to South Africa, where it is also widely cultivated for its plum-looking, edible fruits. Other species from the Carissa genus bearing similar fruits include C. spinarum (conkerberry // currant bush) and C. carandas (karanda). All of these fruits have been used in different geographical areas as food. Although caution should be taken, as all other parts of the plants are said to be poisonous  According to the description found on different sources, the plant has spines, but I haven't discovered any on my plant. The flowers are white and looking like stars. Their fragrance is much like that of a gardenia plant and is said to be more intense at night to attract nocturnal pollinators. My plant dealer didn't specify if this is of a particular cultivar, so I assume its characters should be close to those of the wild species. Although I cannot rule out the possibility of any of the cultivars I've come across on the internet. The list of the cultivars goes on and on. This includes 'Tuttlei', 'Tomlinson', 'Green Carpet', 'Boxwood Beauty', 'horizontalis' etc. My intention is to grow it into a sizeable bush or a small tree, so I hope I haven't got myself a prostrate cultivar.

In my "care notes", it says the plant can withstand cold down to 5°C with no problem and it is tolerant of shades. So that makes overwintering it quite convenient. Whenever the temperature outside drops below 5°C, I'd move it into the stairwell, where it takes up a corner, that is otherwise less than ideal, lighting-wise, for other plants. The soil that comes with the plant looks fresh and airy. I can tell that it has been repotted very recently. In spite of this, I intend to transplant it into a proper pot in the next possible appointment. All this while, I have too many plants growing in plastic containers. With them scattered all around, the garden can hardly look fetching. A friend of mine actually made a comment on this during her visit. But for now, the weather is still too cold and there's nothing going on with the plant. So I guess I'd just lie in wait to see its flowers and plums.

>>Update (25.12.2013):

in flower july 2013.

My lovely num-num bush bloomed so beautifully this summer. It turned out that the fragrance wasn't as strong as I had expected. Its faint citrus-like note could only be sensed if the flowers are pressed tight against the nose. As pretty as they are, the flowers are unfortunately short-lived. I didn't get to see any fruit, the reason of which probably being that there isn't any colibri around.

chinese juniper

order: pinales
family: cupressaceae
genus: juniperus
species: chinensis

Chinese juniper in autumn 2013.

In August 2012, as the summer was at its hottest, we went down to Arcen in the Netherlands to attend the yearly koi show. On the show there were also a bonsai exhibition and stands selling small young plants meant to be trained into bonsai. There were many Chinese junipers styled into miniature bonsai on sale. I was about to bring home one of those, but the friend I went with kept on dissuading me, saying the price was too high and that I should at least get a bigger plant to begin with. Eventually I put the chosen tree back to the shelf. Once back home, I regretted greatly.

My friend must have sensed my regret or have been irritated by it that he offered to help me find one on ebay. I couldn't believe we were very fortunate to be able to beat one on ebay. The seller had two of his Chinese junipers for sale. I was actually interested in his other tree but the price went way too high. I won this half-cascade form juniper by outbidding the other bidder by only 0.24 EUR. It was SOOOO close! You can imagine how happy I was.

After the plant arrived in my garden, I mostly let it grow freely, keeping trimming to near zero. I wanted it to grow strong and put on more foliage, which it did. Frequent feeding and consistent watering resulted in tight and healthy-looking foliage. Next year, I'm going to have to thin out some of the foliage masses, so that inner branches will not go bald. I just hope nobody is going to steal it from my garden.

star jasmine

order: gentianales
family: apocynaceae
genus: trachelospermum
species: jasminoides

star jasmine in flower 2013.

This is another dogbane member that I acquired at the off-season sale at the end of 2012. 5 Euros was what it was worth. I quickly carried it home. It's a vigorous climber that is frost-resistant to about -5°C. It was in flower for a couple of months in the spring this year, during which the white stars filled the balcony with its sweet citrus-like scent. I must say that we were really happy to have planted it right next to our breakfast table.

As we went to Italy earlier this year, we got to see a huge storey-high specimen of star jasmine with trunks bigger than my wrist hugging the stone walls at the locanda where we rented a house for a week. That got me very ambitious in growing this thing into something of that size. I realise that it's going to take forever for this to happen. But since the plant is easy to grow and not as easy to kill as many other plants, I'm confident that it will one day grow that massive trunk that I admire.

It should be quite easy to propagate the plant with cuttings. I don't want to try that, unless a friend asks for it. Winter storage is a problem for me, because this thing will need some protection from cold. The only place I can offer it is our narrow stairwell, which is less than ideally lit. I need to worry about how my upstair neighbours will react to all the green plants I move into the stairwell over the winter. I hope they don't mind too much.