It has been a good start to my open garden at Driftwood, we have had some visitors every day this past week, with a large group last Monday. I decided to invest in a couple of new bistro sets for the back patio, and opted for a fab orange to blend in with other accessories in the area, cushions, parasol and metal mirror. They look really great and work well with both the dark coloured railway sleepers and the Indian sandstone patio slabs as you can see.
Also new, on the back wall, is a lovely metal mirror, with a honeycomb effect across the glass and 6 metal bees, which was a gift from some local friends last month. The area has taken on a new lease of life this summer, having had the French windows fitted in a garden room last winter, opening out onto the area too. A lovely new acquisition last month was a plant that actually received third prize in the Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Year competition.
It is a really interesting Mangave, to add to my ever-growing collection. Praying Hands is an extraordinary departure from the usual star-shaped rosettes. Each dark green, scale-like leaf curls upwards into the elegant form of an artichoke.
The tip of each leaf is finished with a maroon spine, each converging at the top where the artichoke comes to a point. It is drought tolerant, requiring just a little watering and can be grown outside all year in areas with very mild winters such as coastal and city gardens, but like most tender perennials, will otherwise need to be brough.
