http://www.exoticgarden.com/blog A subtropical garden in a temperate climate that defies being in a city. Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:44:52 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Many apologies to my regular readers for not posting since Oct 20th – here is my excuse! Since I returned from hosting a two week cruse around Madeira and the Canaries with 49 guests in tow, I have been spending pretty much all my time getting the garden prepared for winter ... http://www.exoticgarden.com/blog/the-garden/three-glorious-minutes-in-late-october-at-the-exotic-garden/ This weekend sees the last open day of the season at Exotic Garden and it looks like being a rather cool one, but hopefully with brilliant sun and a blue sky. With our terribly fickle climate, especially over the last few years, it is impossible to predict the weather at ... http://www.exoticgarden.com/blog/the-garden/the-season-ends-at-the-exotic-garden%e2%80%a6/ [caption id="attachment_1943" align="aligncenter" width="585" caption="Nerine bowdenii ‘Stefanie’"][/caption] It’s that extraordinary time of year again when so many autumn bulbs are coming into bloom to grace our gardens with their abundant though often delicate autumn colours. The Nerines, Colchicums, Amaryllis belladonna, Autumn Crocus, Cyclamen and autumn flowering snowdrops, yes snowdrops! There ... http://www.exoticgarden.com/blog/the-garden/nothing-can-beat-the-sheer-beauty-of-autumn-flowering-bulbs%e2%80%a6/ [caption id="attachment_1922" align="aligncenter" width="391" caption="A fabulous Begonia I obtained in Madeira as a small root about six years ago. If anybody know the name of this one please let me know."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1924" align="aligncenter" width="585" caption="Detail of the same the  Begonia "][/caption] The late Christopher Lloyd memorably said ‘If I was reduced ... http://www.exoticgarden.com/blog/the-garden/luxuriant-begonias-are-so-over-the-top/ Looking back to this time last year I wrote about August being the coldest for 17 years and I see now that August this year was the coldest for 18 years, so the question is -  are we now into a run of cold summers let alone cold winters? I ... http://www.exoticgarden.com/blog/the-garden/a-very-blustery-september/