Another week and another Six on Saturday, although by the time I finish resizing and preparing all the photographs, it could well be Six on Sunday. The weather this week has been more mizzle and overcast than sunny. We’ve enjoyed the occasional shower of rain, but not enough to make a difference.
1. Bromelias
Mr. Piglet added to our collection of Bromelias and scooped up another bargain in Lidls, and I thought I was the plant-a-holic!
We bought the last two in March, and much to my surprise, they are still alive. But I’m not sure if they need more light as the other Bromelias we’ve had for about sixteen years grow outside.
2. Helichrysum Italicum (Roth) G.Don Curry Plant
This wildflower has decided to make its home in our garden.
Helichrysum italicum (Roth) G.Don
3. Pachypodium Lamerei – Madagascar Cactus Palm in flower!
Madge has finally flowered!
I was given this plant in November 2017 and called her Madge. I wrote about her here:
4. Banana Plant Growing in a Pot
Back in March, I seriously doubted whether the banana plant would survive. It struggled all through the summer of 2023, so I finally dug it up and planted it in a pot. I never held out much hope.
Today, it looks like a happy plant! I will need to find a bigger pot soon, but I don’t want to repot before the autumn.
5. Strelitzia
The Strelitzia continues to sprout new leaves, so fingers crossed it will produce flowers this year.
6. Dipladenia Growing in Pots
Dipladenias are such a rewarding plant and so easy to grow!
Phew! That’s a wrap for this week’s Six on Saturday, hosted by Jim
Piglet in Portugal 
Hopeful for our Strelizia too this year.
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Hi Jo, I was in Cavoeiro at the end of April and the Strels were in flower then. Now I wonder if we have missed the flowering season for this year. Do you feed yours?
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No, we don’t. It fends for itself beneath a poinsettia tree 🤔🩵
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So lovely things for a Mediterranean garden ! Good luck with the banana tree
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Thanks, Fred. I am delighted with the banana tree … I need to start feeding it soon as the nutrients from the compost will soon be gone
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Every 2 weeks here.
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You choose such beautiful and climate appropriate plants, Piglet. So different from our midwestern US varieties!!
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We are so lucky we do not (usually) get ground frost so we have a good variety of plants to choose from. The problem we have is salt winds.
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Wow, salt winds sound challenging. Do they affect the soil and make it difficult for the plants to grow?
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The bromeliads are beautiful.
Love these plants to bits. Fingers crossed for your strelizia.
We have a large clump opposite the stoep which flowers regular as clockwork.
However, there is a small bunch in the back garden I transplanted from another bed several years ago that flowered last week for the very first time.
How’s the knees?
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Hi Ark, I have only just discovered all the different varieties of bromeliads. Now I just need to decide if they prefer sun or shade. At the moment apsrt from the purple leafed variety they all live indoors and the room is quite dark. the strelizia has only flowered once since we planted them. We will see. I’m an optimist.
The knee, sadly is what it is. thanks to that surgeon I am permantly disabled. The only thing I can do now is try and maintain the mobility I have and manage the pain. 😦
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I have a few bromeliads. I love them. My favorite is the matchstick bromeliad.
I bought a single plant from a nursery a couple of years back. After a season I separated and repotted about twenty babies and planted some out in the garden proper.
They are flourishing and as you know so easy to care for.
You have my sincere sympathy over your knee.
I have similar issues after a hernia op.
I have tried to strength the tissue / muscle around the hernia but the nerves must have been damaged and I have to watch myself when picking up things else I am out the game for a day or two and my wife is giving me an earful : “What were you lifting? Now look at you. You are not 25 any more This is why we have a gardener once a week for goodness sake!”
Oops. Guilty as charged I am afraid
Of course, I only found about possible risks of the op afterwards after reading some stories on the internet.
Funny how we readily accept tradesman and the like make botched jobs on occasion yet I don’t think we consider surgeons in the same light, even though there are plenty of ‘horror ‘ stories all over the place.
Have you consider physiotherapy?
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“Of course, I only found about possible risks of the op afterwards after reading some stories on the internet.
Funny how we readily accept tradesman and the like make botched jobs on occasion yet I don’t think we consider surgeons in the same light, even though there are plenty of ‘horror ‘ stories all over the place.”
You don’t think you are going to be the 3% and this, I believe was surgeon error, but proving it is another matter as someone reached out to me and said they had the same surgeon and was left unable to walk. OF course we can’t turn back the clock and we now just make the most of it.
I’m sorry to hear your op was also not a succuess.
AS for physio? I’ve had hundreds of sessions and the last physio I had thought the muscles/nerves had been damaged during the op.as no matter how much exercise I did the muscles did not seem to be responsding. Unfortunately, that physio, the best of a bad bunch, and who was brilliant! returned to hHolland and I never got to follow through on his theory.
I feel angry, sad, sink into despair and depression at times at times as I was so active but I keep plodding on trying to find new hobbies and interests from Hiking, Dancing, Zumba and Pilates, and Yoga.. And as for gardening…everything takes three times as long.
I hope things improve for you, Ark.
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Likewise, Piglet.
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