Columnar cacti for RHS Hyde Hall
Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2021 2:34 pm
As many of you will know my interest in cacti and succulents is using them in the context of the garden and landscape, which I have been doing in my current and previous gardens for around 30 years.
I volunteer at Hyde Hall and for many years have been badgering the staff there that they should up the spiky plant levels in the dry garden. They already have a scant few and, seeing those, my thoughts have been 'if you grow X then you can grow W, Y and Z, too'. My naggig paid off and a couple of years ago - possibly just to shut me up - the curator and some of the head gardeners agreed to visit my garden.
Suffice to say it blew their minds and the curator Rob Brett is now really keen to try some more succulent plants and I am thrilled that they have asked me to come on board for some guidance based on what I have been doing here. Although the winter temperatures there are a little colder compared to mine I am familiar enough with the climate there over the years to make some confident suggestions.
Of course then COVID happened, staff were furloughed, funding was drastically cut, everything was side-lined.
However, last week we had a meeting and will be slowly picking up where we left off. Change is something that happens at a glacial pace within the RHS but there is one particular area they are keen to plant up in the short term. There are some lovely new buildings on the hill top that are configured in such a way as to give a rectangular courtyard open to the south and with deep overhanging eaves – especially on the south-facing wall. The microclimate there is excellent, the overhanging eaves keep the bed really dry, even in heavy rain, light levels are great and – with a heated corridor just behind – the cold is mitigated to a large extent.
The plan is to start sourcing some plants over this coming year, change the growing media in the planting beds autumn/winter 2022/23 for planting spring 2023. I am so excited by this. Especially that the staff there are completely up for it – growing such unusual plants, pushing some boundaries and planting for a changing climate.
My input is mainly with regard to plant choices – I have a list of things to look out for and specifically on the list are Trichocereus terscheckii and pasacana. I have grown both of these here successfully for many, many years and believe that the sheltered south facing border at Hyde Hall is just the perfect spot to grow one (or more!) alongside some other equally exotic but contrasting succulent plants.
One of my other tasks is to help source plants so, with that in mind, I am posting here to see if anyone has – or knows someone who has – any large columnar cacti that have outgrown their greenhouse and would be prepared to find them a new home at RHS Hyde Hall? These would be the hardest plants to find commercially. Do please ask around, it would be fantastic to see an otherwise struggling plant given a new lease of life!
I volunteer at Hyde Hall and for many years have been badgering the staff there that they should up the spiky plant levels in the dry garden. They already have a scant few and, seeing those, my thoughts have been 'if you grow X then you can grow W, Y and Z, too'. My naggig paid off and a couple of years ago - possibly just to shut me up - the curator and some of the head gardeners agreed to visit my garden.
Suffice to say it blew their minds and the curator Rob Brett is now really keen to try some more succulent plants and I am thrilled that they have asked me to come on board for some guidance based on what I have been doing here. Although the winter temperatures there are a little colder compared to mine I am familiar enough with the climate there over the years to make some confident suggestions.
Of course then COVID happened, staff were furloughed, funding was drastically cut, everything was side-lined.
However, last week we had a meeting and will be slowly picking up where we left off. Change is something that happens at a glacial pace within the RHS but there is one particular area they are keen to plant up in the short term. There are some lovely new buildings on the hill top that are configured in such a way as to give a rectangular courtyard open to the south and with deep overhanging eaves – especially on the south-facing wall. The microclimate there is excellent, the overhanging eaves keep the bed really dry, even in heavy rain, light levels are great and – with a heated corridor just behind – the cold is mitigated to a large extent.
The plan is to start sourcing some plants over this coming year, change the growing media in the planting beds autumn/winter 2022/23 for planting spring 2023. I am so excited by this. Especially that the staff there are completely up for it – growing such unusual plants, pushing some boundaries and planting for a changing climate.
My input is mainly with regard to plant choices – I have a list of things to look out for and specifically on the list are Trichocereus terscheckii and pasacana. I have grown both of these here successfully for many, many years and believe that the sheltered south facing border at Hyde Hall is just the perfect spot to grow one (or more!) alongside some other equally exotic but contrasting succulent plants.
One of my other tasks is to help source plants so, with that in mind, I am posting here to see if anyone has – or knows someone who has – any large columnar cacti that have outgrown their greenhouse and would be prepared to find them a new home at RHS Hyde Hall? These would be the hardest plants to find commercially. Do please ask around, it would be fantastic to see an otherwise struggling plant given a new lease of life!