Video blog: Is there no such thing as an average month anymore?
This June has been a complete pain in the bum with storm damage. Cool, excessively wet to the point of flooding my alpine sink and windy enough to blow over my 15ft high Echium pininana after three years of nurturing.
You expect storm damage in November, not June! At least I can say on the day we finally finished this video, the clouds parted and the sun finally shone, with rumours of a heatwave to come. There’s no such thing as an average month or year anymore. Welcome to gardening with climate change!
PS – I’ve been torturing myself because I called the Chinese RICE paper plant a Chinese rice plant (Tetrapanax papyrifer Rex) – my mistake, this video lark is harder than it looks!
Clearing up storm damage in your garden
Echiums are monocarpic (they die after flowering). As they bulk out and lengthen during the flowering period, they inevitably become top-heavy and are prone to collapse, just like this one. Do beware, as the leaves irritate many people’s skin, due to tiny embedded hairs.
See my video post for tips on removing an Echium that’s finished flowering. For more on preparing for storm damage at any time of the year, here’s my main information page.
