Dede Sophie

How to Hedera colchica ‘Sulphur Heart’ WANT TO BUY HARDY, EXOTIC PLANT SEEDS? THEN CLICK HERE FOR THE ‘SEEDS OF EADEN’ SEED SHOP There are a number of excellent, large-leaved ornamental ivy’s available for garden use, but Hedera colchica ‘Sulphur Heart’ is arguably one of the best. In fact it is my cultivar of choice of all hedera species and cultivars. The original species is native to the Near and Middle East, hence its common name of ‘Persian Ivy’. However the ‘Sulphur Heart’ cultivar has several other pseudonyms (including ‘Gold Leaf and ‘Paddy’s Pride’) which can be a little misleading when purchasing stock. It is a woody, evergreen climbing shrub, with large ovate leaves 20 cm in length which are marked by an irregular central splash of yellow, merging into pale-green and finally deep-green. In the spring the young growth is covered in a yellow down. Insignificant yellow-green flowers appear from October to November, which are usually followed by clusters of small, black berries.

With the overnight temperatures starting to drop now that autumn (fall for our American viewers) is upon us we need to make sure that we have all of our cacti and succulents in the right place moving forward for winter. A good part of our cacti and succulent collection will overwinter or winterize in the unheated greenhouse but that is because the ones which weren’t capable of surviving the freezing temperatures died out a few years back when I decided I didn’t want them in the house (Lorna doesn’t know that and is very unlikely to read this either)!  However, we are thinking about putting them into next year’s show against the local chapter of the The British Cactus & Succulent Society (BCSS) so I am going to have to put the work in this year to make sure that that at least some of our plants are of show quality, and that means sorting out the greenhouse and bringing the tender specimens inside for protection.  So why not follow us on our journey as we campaign to kick the BCSS in