The arrival of the tropics

Now the temperature is edging up into something approaching spring decency, the more exotic inhabitants of the garden are beginning to make an appearance.

You will be pleased to know that the tree ferns appear to have made it through the harshest winter in living memory, although the new fronds are still proving a little shy to emerge. I understand a can of Coke in the crown is supposed to work wonders, but I'm a little loathe to try it in case it's a wind up.

Elsewhere we have the first shoots of banana, even though they've virtually had to start from scratch again because of that damn winter.

The rice paper plant is also making a comeback, and the gunera is sticking its hairy bonce up for another year. I wonder if it will approach anything close to the monster plant it is supposed to. It has been decidedly wimpish in the past, mainly due to the competition it has faced from the moisture sucking plants nearby.

We'll see.