identify a plant please

Stoner

HI,

We saw this plant in Cornwall, it was lovely and it grew down a wall, the gardener said its nick name was something line "messy" and that it was African.

anyone any idea of its full name and where to get some?

thanks

looksee

Mesembryanethemum. Fairly easy to get at present in garden centres etc as they are in flower. There are two kinds, the purple one which grows kind of wild a bit like aubretia, in the right place. The other is a cultivar of lots of colours and is usually the one on sale.

You will not get great results from them unless you have the right spot, in full sun and fairly near the coast. They close up if the sun goes in. The multicoloured one is a bit easier but is strictly an annual, whereas the purple one will be a perennial in a sheltered spot.

Stoner

Thank you, I was thinking of building irrigated planters on top of my wall in d15 and was hoping this would grow down the wall and brighten it up, the wall does not get much sun so this may be a bad idea given your advice.

doctor evil

I hear old guttering is good to use.

Stoner

thanks a great idea, i never thought of that. I've seen old downpipe run vertically down a wall filled with gravel in the bottom and with soil in the top and in various large holes that were drilled in the side, but the gutter would suit me.

looksee

There is a small version of campanula which would suit your conditions, it grows more or less wild and once established will grow in every crack and crevice, has a nice blue flower and a long flowering season.

Also consider woodland strawberry - again I have them growing in all sorts of odd places, self seeded and producing lots of strawberries from between pavings etc. They flower and fruit from late spring to the autumn.

Nasturtiums will also self seed and drape down a wall, they flower better from poorish soil.

Harts tongue fern will also self seed (eventually) - I have a very shady spot and they are again growing all over the place from one original plant.

Stoner

looksee wrote: »

There is a small version of campanula which would suit your conditions, it grows more or less wild and once established will grow in every crack and crevice, has a nice blue flower and a long flowering season.

Also consider woodland strawberry - again I have them growing in all sorts of odd places, self seeded and producing lots of strawberries from between pavings etc. They flower and fruit from late spring to the autumn.

Nasturtiums will also self seed and drape down a wall, they flower better from poorish soil.

Harts tongue fern will also self seed (eventually) - I have a very shady spot and they are again growing all over the place from one original plant.

last question, any idea where to get them in Dublin please?

looksee

You will find the campanula in the 'rockery' section of any decent garden center, the wild strawberries also. The fern not too difficult either. Nasturtiums you grow from seed, bit late this year but you could sow them in the autumn or spring for next year.

Can't help you with specific places but the plants are all fairly common, you might try Mr Middleton in Dublin, I am not in Dublin so I do not know the garden centres in Dublin.

Stoner

i picked up a couple of the campanulas yesterday, I'd still like something a little more shrubby though

looksee

Shrubs would probably have difficulty surviving in the kind of environment you are suggesting. The things I was suggesting can often grow in minimal soil.