My Henri Rousseau Garden.

I have been enjoying my alien garden for months now and it is still looking great . in reality , I never roll in the hay what to call it because it is not really alien or tropical , it is just bright biased and full of spectacular foliage . I call it my Rousseau garden because it is inspired by one of his imaginary landscape such as the one picture in ‘ The Dream ’ . Obviously it has no Lion or nude ma’am and a lot of the plants are brave but I want to make a plush , jungly finger .

I have used a combination of hardy plants , tender ones and yearbook . The tall variegate supergrass VariegatedAruno donax‘Variegata ’ is a staring foil for the huge leaves ofTetrapanax papyriferwhich comes from Taiwan .

Tetrapanex papyrifer

Tetrapanex papyrifer

The variegated canna and the genus Abutilon in the above picture are not hardy although I did give the abutilon in and it died off but came back . Obviously I took thinning as a safeguard .

Abutilon‘Nabob ’ withDahlia‘Bishop of Leicester ’

Shefflera taiwanianais another attractive foliage industrial plant . It has not reliably hardy , specially when untried but I got mine through last winter with no problems . It likes the protection of other plant because it ca n’t cope with cold current of air . I grow it in front of the giant grass , Arundo donaxand this part of the garden is very sheltered .

Tetrapanex papyrifer

Shefflera taiwaniana

I grewMelia azedarachfrom seed picked up in Greece six years ago and I was delighted to find that it survived the wintertime outside .

Melia azedarachwithDahlia‘Thomas A. Edison ’

Tetrapanex papyrifer

Other striking foliage is allow for by a hardy banana tree , Musa basjoo . Although the roots are sturdy it has to be wrapped up for the wintertime .

Musa basjooandTetrapanex papyrifer

canna make dramatic punctuation mark points and they are gentle from seed . At least they would be if they did n’t have bullet - alike case which inhibit sprouting . You are apprize to scrape off some of the seminal fluid pelage with a knife or emery paper . This of course reckon whether you prefer to cut your finger or engrave the cutis off your finger tips . I have done both and neither method acting is very successful and I never get a very good sprouting rate . I particularly wish the bold foliage of the banana tree leafage canna , Canna musifolia .

Abutilon‘Nabob’ withDahlia‘Bishop of Leicester’

Canna musifolia

I also like the white variegate one calledCanna‘Stuttgart ’ which is still rather small from seed but next year I go for it will have its showy orange tree flowers .

Canna‘Stuttgart ’

Shefflera taiwaniana

I have to land the canna inside in wintertime and I have made work for myself by falling for a tender bush with dark pointed leaves which also needs wintertime protection . It is calledPseudopanax‘Sabre ’ and as it baffle magnanimous I recognise I shall rue buying it .

Pseudopanax ‘ Sabre ’

I like the vary foliage ofYucca gloriosa ‘ Variegata ’ . If it blooms it will be a bonus but I get it on its spiky foliage .

Melia azedarachwithDahlia‘Thomas A. Edison’

Yucca gloriosa‘Variegata ’

I have plantedEucalyptus gunniand in the leaping I will coppice it so that it will keep its minuscule jejune leave-taking . I have a gold bean tree , Catalpa bignonioides‘Aurea ’ and a foxglove tree , Paulownia tomentosaboth which will be foreshorten down every year now they are build so that I will get the monster farewell .

Eucalyptus gunniwithDahlia‘Honka Fragile ’ andEuryops pectinatus

Musa basjooandTetrapanex papyrifer

annual here include Cuphea heterophylla , genus Nasturtium , Mirabilis jalapa , Nicotiana‘Tinkerbelle’Coreopsis tinctoria‘Roulette’,Ricinus communis‘Carmencita’,Ipomoealobata , Rudbecki , Black Eyed Susie , Thunbergia alata , Antirrhinum ‘ Black prince‘and quite a few others . Tithoniais sadly missing this year as slugs ate every single seedling .

Dahlias cater most of the colour , I do n’t have it away how I managed without them for so many years . Still I have visitor who do n’t care them and seem to bump them a bit vulgar or something . What else blossom from July until the first frost and keeps the garden looking wonderful into the fall ? What ’s not to like asunder from the earwig ? I always tell people who profess not to care them to seek and forget their prejudices and look at them with fresh eyes as if they have never seen them before . Here are a few of mine . I have n’t included any of my own seedling because I want to have a last drool over some of my favourite seed grown ones in a disjoined post .

I also have ferns , hostas , begonia and so much more planted here , but that is enough for today . Life has been a bit hectic of late because just a few days after I got back from Greece I had to pack my suitcase again for a trip to Shropshire with my gardening friend to see some fabulous gardens . But now I am home and look frontward to catch up with the blogging world .

Canna musifolia

34 Responses toMy Henri Rousseau Garden.

The Rousseau Garden strike me as everlasting in both name and instruction execution . An exotic cat or 2 would be a dainty addition , though 😉 I do n’t know how I vex by for so many years without Dahlia pinnata either . I so wish I could uprise big - leaved plants like your Tetrapanax in my own garden . A blogger friend in nearby Long Beach has been successful with it but I killed the seedling a blogger friend in Oregon sent me .