Tufa ideas

[mark smyth]

Rain!

[Paddy Tobin]

Mark,

I have a lump of tufa which I must also plant up but I had the impression that the tufa should be in contact with some under stratum of soil/compost so that the plants in the tufa could send their roots through the tufa to the compost below.

Do you believe that the plants you put into the tufa rock will survive there without any other recourse to nourishment?

Paddy

[mark smyth]

Only joking about relying on the rain. I'll have to water it daily

[David Nicholson]

It looks splendid Mark, but I think I agree with Paddy in respect of tufa 'wicking' moisture from underlying substrate. Still we shall see how you go on and no doubt you will prove the doubters wrong!

[Lesley Cox]

Crying out for tiny saxifragas, dianthus etc, ramondas on the cooler side.
When did you last visit Easter Island?

[mark smyth]

Lesley I was on the islands a few years ago. I sneaked this little head in my rucksack.

I need to learn more about taking cuttings to put in the tufa. I've done large Dianthus cuttings but how do I take cuttings of the small compact Dianthus. How/when do I take Sax cuttings?

[Lesley Cox]

Do little cuttings exactly same way as large ones Mark but they're a bit more fiddly and it helps to stick your tongue out the side of your mouth. I have a pair of very small, very sharp surgical scissors for taking the cuttings of very small plants, such as D. 'Whitehill' and the porophyllum saxes. I also use a liquid rooting hormone, cuttings in little bunches, dipped for about 5 seconds, to 1/3d their length. For most things and certainly dianthus and saxifraga, I do cuttings soon after flowering, on the new growth, so they're pretty soft, usually tip cuttings.

[mark smyth]

My feature was vandalised during the night The lump of tufa lies in two bits this morning.

[Maggi Young]

Mark, that is infuriating. Can you cobble the two bits back together with wire, so that not all is lost?
Or, better still, find the culprit and cobble him with wire!

[mark smyth]

I sleep in the room that over looks the garden and although I heard people during the night I didnt hear the gate open or heard gravel being walked on. Drunk or not this person knew to be quiet

[WimB]

That's really sad. Are you certain it's a person and not an animal who did it?

[Lesley Cox]

What a b.....d! I hope you can retrieve something from the damage Mark. Had you planted it yet?

[mark smyth]

The feet are wide enough to make it stable. No animals large enough to do it other than human. I'll move it to the back garden. I have another piece of tufa to use

Lesley nothing planted yet. I'll be taking Dianthus and other cuttings in a couple of weeks

[JohnnyD]

Hi Mark,
Clare & I have a few tufa chunks which we planted with a mix of plants.
All the tufa pieces are in contact with the ground but I am sure I can reassure Paddy the it is not necessary for roots to penetrate to the ground. If they can they will, but generally it is the consistency of water content which comes from the ground which helps plants thrive.
The best advice I believe is to think small, not just for cuttings as has already been proposed (I must try some of those little dianthus!) but for any plant. Plants with damaged root systems (as they will certainly be if they were large and 'made to fit') will establish much faster if they are tiny to start with.
Always pick the smallest rosette from the sax, the tiniest little offset from erodium etc.
Plant in drilled holes and, planting deep, fill back with tufa dust. That way there is likely to be a little reservoir of really moist ground at the start.
Plant seed, erinus, thyme, draba, androsace etc.
Oh, and be patient! It takes a long time for some plants to be self-sufficient.
Finally, as for your vandalised lump, drill matching holes in the two broken pieces, stick in a spike to bridge the gap, and 'glue' together with a wettish mix of sand or fine limestone and pva glue. Don't be too precise in the fit and you will have a great crevice for planting!
Good Luck,
John

Asperula hirta grew right through the thin section. Pic. from March 2005
Saxifraga - three years from planting.
Saxifraga
Sempervivum are probably the easiest of all.
Self-sown erinus in asperula.
Potentilla nitida - probably best in deeper shade.
Thyme cascades really well.
Draba and saxifraga in mini-garden 'min-chunk'. Draba is at least six years old.
Erodium , sedum and saxifraga. Sax label is somewhere under the cushion!
Saxifraga close-up in March 2004.

[Maggi Young]

Johnny, terrific tips about mending the broken tufa chunks. Great to see these plants doing so well on yours............one plant which I would suggest MIGHT like to root right through to the soil is the Potentilla nitida..... ours has  a tap root going at least two and a half feet, 70 to 80 cms down - in a raised bed.... I never would have guessed a little chap like that could have such a hold on the planet  until we tried, many moons ago, to move it! Excavated  down as far a s we could but fat tap root still went further.... lord knows how deep it goes now... maybe twice the above distances??!!
Most subjects are happy just to root around in the actual tufa, as you say, water is the key.