THE hardest winter for many years has taken its toll on many gardens.

But now that summer has reached its height, keen gardener Maciej Pomian-Srzednicki is finding the damage is not as bad as he head feared.

In his sheltered garden at Southern Comfort in Meadfoot Sea Road, Macief currently has a spectacular firework of a plant in flower.

And also flowering outside is a plant more normally found indoors or in a conservatory.

Maciej said both are generally considered to be tender or on the tender/hardy borderline, but they sailed through last winter in Southern Comfort. He is also now finding plants he thought had been hit by the winter are showing signs of life. It shows the value of not condemning plants too early in the season if they appear to be dead.

The most spectacular in the garden at the moment is the Furcraea longaeva.

Macief explained this is a large plant of the agave family agavaceae and, like the agaves, is monocarpic. Sadly that means it flowers only once and then dies.

The plant is a native of the central American arid plains and deserts. The flower spike is about 4.5 metres in height, with slightly scented yellowy green flowers. Maciej said while its flowering is quite remarkable it is nevertheless not that unusual.

He said: "On Tresco, there are furcreas flowering during most years and earlier this year I observed two plants with developing flower spikes at Coleton Fishacre and now by Torquay Pavilion, near the fountain.

"Furcaeas generally succumb to temperatures more than just a few degrees centigrade below zero, especially when the surrounding soil is damp. I lost quite a fine plant one winter and the culprit was cold combined with damp. The plant simply rotted. I now grow all my Furcraeas in sharply drained positions and in full sun. Last winter temperatures in my garden reached a brief low of -5°C but provided the core of the plant is kept close to zero it will survive and recover fully from any yellowing of the leaves. Insulation is afforded by the dead leaves which form a skirt around the base. The skirt should not be removed for this very reason.

"After flowering the plant dies leaving behind a large number of seeds and bulbils (miniature plants formed on the flower stalk) which will go on to produce another generation."

Also flowering is a vivid red hippeastrum. Maciej explained: "This is another plant from South America. It is often referred to as Amaryllis but, please note, Amaryllis is quite a different plant.

"Hippeastrum are generally grown in pots to give a potent display of petal and flower in the early spring. Most species are tender and would not survive even a mild Devon winter.

"There are a few forms, however, which are just a fraction more resistant; and this fraction enabled ours to over-winter from last year without any visible ill-effects.

"It was not even planted in a favoured position.

"This year it has flowered superbly and has easily the most impressive flower in the garden.

"During our recent NGS Open Day several visitors found it difficult to believe it had been outside all winter."

Southern Comfort will be opening again in September, but if you can't wait take a look at his web page www.pomian.co.uk/garden