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hi Pammie, you need to chit them first [ideally anyway]. stand them in a tray/egg boxes and leave in a well lit but cool room until they have sprouted.

it depends on which sort you have. earlies or main crop.

this is the RHS pages on growing spuds. I have second earlies to start chitting this week. its quite extensive but the info is usually very good.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/vegetables/potatoes/grow-your-own

That's a magnificent looking plant, Andy!

I have one I grew from seed in the kitchen. Last year it flowered for the first time which gave me hope that it would flower even better this year - but, no, not a single flower this year! :(

Thanks for all you comments About my Hyacinths , I was going to plant in the garden after they’d flowered as have done previous bulbs . I know they’ll flower better in the garden & place them in a good place with others

That's what i have to do as the outer leaves and stems bend looking roughed up. I use the branch cutter like a hedge shears to make it fast work. I do the same thing with Aechmea caudata .That's one of the largest in height bromeliads and is sharp edged as it blocks a pathway after 20+ years. Delonix ,have you ever been to Dunsmuir house and gardens? I was a volunteer gardener and got one pup way back when. That place had a great Cactus and succulent garden that didn't really go with English cottage look of the rest of the acreage. A few years ago they donated the huge Golden barrel cactus,and the other c&s to the Ruth Bancroft Garden and I think UC Berkeley also.
Some kind of new age church had planted that hillside in the 70's.

Sort of thing my Levi would do x

welcome back Penn.
where abouts in the N/E are you. I grew up in Sunderland 500yds from the beach at Seaburn. I am envious that you are so near the sea. I miss it terribly.
Glad you like some of your British natives, I am the same.
I wonder if your shed/tree house was a child's Wendy house/cum treehouse. that would explain the low ceiling.
Hope you are able to post pictures.

as said, 'forced' hyacinths rarely last long and I find unless in a very cool room never open fully. And if they do they flop as the heads are just too heavy for the shallow bowls they are planted in.

plant them out in Feb and if there is still green foliage give them a feed . They will probably flower next year but with fewer flowers [though you may just get leaves]. The following year there will be more flowers per stem.

I actually prefer them less congested.

As Hywel says, hyacinths only have short flowering time and that is now over for this year.

Plant them out in the garden where they will build the flowers for next year, and you will get to remember your Granddaughters present come 2026

They will flower later in 2026 than this year, more into Springtime, not for Christmas

A living room or lounge is not a good place for spring bulbs, even if there's no heat near the bulbs the surrounding air would be too warm and dry.
Hyacinths don't last long anyway in my experience so it may be their natural growth cycle. The leaves look all right so you could plant them in the garden and look forward to seeing them again next spring.

Nice find Karen, the design looks like a spiders web.

Sounds like you're having such an adventure creating something new out of the old garden. I can't wait to see how it all progresses over time.

Love the look of Kentia Palms and the fact that they're relatively low maintenance compared to many other palms.

Welcome back to GoY, and good luck with your new garden.
I don't remember you ... what was your previous user name ?
I'm still here on and off.

Highly likely Bb. Thats’s usually why they do this.

It's looking great Karen! I didn't get so much wind here too, but do your pots stand up to any strong winds?

Haha!

Wow!

Yes, it’s a very long-lived plant. This one is still a baby. I think their life span is at least 200 years.

Every fall I cut 100 to 150 leaves off this plant. Since it’s an old and established plant it grows back very fast.

Looking fabulous! Love your little solar fountain.

That's an old lady! I know how they can take over a space when they're mature and she's definitely mature!

Oh dear! Have you been paying far too much attention to that puzzle and not enough to Jessie?

Here in Townsville we've been experiencing a very hot and dry January this year. Our city has been running around 2 deg C above maximum temperature for the month. Now while that doesn't seem like much, over the course of a whole month it's a huge figure. The humidity has also been horrid, so most days it's been feeling like 40 deg C.

That made me smile Feverfew :-)

Lovely flowers, Andy! I've grown Begonias for years but never Cane Begonias.

Last year I got some 'Dragon Wings' Begonias & they grew very tall in 6" pots. So much so I cut them back 50% just before Christmas. They are now starting to flower again. But the curious thing with these Begonias is that they seem to need sunlight to colour up. The plants during the summer outside on the balcony were a very deep pink - almost red but in the kitchen, where they don't get direct sunlight, the flowers are just a wishy washy pale pink - almost white. :( Even the leaves lost their brilliant shiny green colour! :(

Thanks for telling us about Mr Kaja 7 I’m sorry you lost him too. :( As others have already said our pets become part of our family. We all miss our pets when they leave us! :(

Looks awesome!

Welcome back.

They don’t grow here, either.

Wow! That’s really hot! I hate when it gets hot like that here, too. Stay cool 😎

Bushbernie,

It’s very easy to grow like most Clerodendrum.

I had one in a pot and I used to keep it small and only brought it indoors when it flowered.

It loves a tropical to subtropical climate. It’s a very drought tolerant plant, also. I see many here that don’t receive any water and they very well all year in the landscape.

They are tough. If they don’t like the weather conditions, they will go dormant until their conditions improve.

Thanks for sharing with us. Went there years ago, I might find the climb a bit taxing now. Glad you made it without mishap, well worth the effort, Lovely views.

A great collection. Look forward to seeing them in the future, some are bound to thrive!

Thank you Stripes x

That's pretty x

It's all looking good Karen x

Lovely to see your doves Janey. We have a pair that have started to visit us. They are so cute together. I hope that all the birds have kept safe with the awful winds we've had.
It's the garden birdwatch this weekend, so we'll be looking out into the garden and marking down what we see. Hope you didn't have any damage during the storm. Gerry banged a stake into the ground as a support for part of our fence.....got to get 2 new fence posts....

Yep, it was a hot morning. We were there at around 10.00 am and it was 37 deg C. We didn't last long and took off for the cafe by 10.30 or so.

Thank you Sheila XX.

Lovely photos of some wonderful exotics Bernie. Thanks for sharing.

It looks very hot! :)

Aw, thank you so much Penny. What generous comments. X

Nice display of your plants.

Oh,that's exciting...thank youx

What an amazing cockatiel Klahanie, to know words and be able to sing in tune! I’ve just followed your link, and as you say, very sad for you and Andy.

Yes Janey, it’s definitely the time of year for lists! 🙂

Any day now, Julia!

It's a nice one :-)

That's a very different layout from the norm! Really interesting and very attractive. I like the way the paths give you lots of small areas to plant up as mini themed gardens and you got some lovely combinations of colour and shape.Wish I had your imagination! I'm looking forward to seeing more of your new garden!

Great photos. I have never been there or even seen it from a distance. Looks quite a climb. Very impressed!