DECEMBER - A MONTH OF EXTREMES!

How many seasons can you have in one month?
December weather has been even more amazing than November’s, with unbelievable variations – from freezing cold and rainy to warm, summery days; more rain and ending on the final day of the month with 40 degrees and one of those hot northerly winds which, as I write, is managing to rip branches off any tree it can get hold of.


The Willow that the hard-working grandsons had just finished pruning
got a bit more unexpected pruning from the wind.

Coping with a "Bad Back"
Even more of a challenge for this particular gardener has been the advent of a ‘Bad Back’! Always hard to live with for anyone, a bad back for a gardener is doubly frustrating. The first two weeks of December were spent hobbling around almost unable to walk - much less bend - but after some careful and gentle treatment from an Osteopath, things slowly improved. Bending is OUT, as well as any sudden movement or turn. However, once I became relatively mobile again, husband Geoff and I developed a few special tools to help with some of the easier gardening tasks and enabled me to feel a little less useless.


Behold! The Long Handled Spoon and the Magic Pick-up Stick!

The spoon is great for getting underneath small weeds and digging them right out and the pick-up stick enables me to dispose of them into the wheelbarrow. It’s surprising how much I can get done just by wandering through the garden with these two implements, pulling the light plastic wheelbarrow with me. I’m not overburdened with patience so this helps keep me busy and productive and keeps my mind off the frustration of not being able to do EVERYTHING I want to!

Helping hands and strong muscles!
There has also been a very helpful visit from two big grandsons who offered to drive up from Melbourne and get some heavy jobs done for us. They happily (and sooo easily!) moved some very big stones to edge the driveway, a job which was far too heavy for either of us to attempt. They also trimmed the Willow tree and disposed of the prunings and generally made themselves VERY useful with weeding, lifting, carting compost, sawing branches, etc. etc.



Big rocks need big muscles!





Sadly, these muscles were too strong for my spade handle!



"Magic Sunflower Circle House"

Then came the fun project – a Sunflower House. I’d seen it on a TV program and it sounded like a great idea for when smaller grandchildren visit.

We marked out quite a large circle, the boys dug a trench around the perimeter and disposed of the grass. Then they filled it with compost and planted the sunflower seeds. I was very happy to email them one week later and report that almost all of the seeds had come up and were looking extremely healthy. Next comes deciding how many of these many plants we need to thin out. Too close and they won’t grow big and strong, too far apart and we won’t get the effect we’re after of a secret hiding place for small children. It’s going to be an interesting experiment.

Within a week, almost every seed came up. Deciding how much to
thin them out is the next decision.

Just add heat ...
After all the rain in spring, the sunshine and heat that arrived in the first week of December produced enormous growth everywhere - unrestrained, undisciplined, wild growth! The asparagus shot up from normal size to more than a metre overnight; the Silver Beet grew and grew and went to seed in a week; the tomatoes tripled their size in a week and suddenly produced baby tomatoes; and we have been inundated with broad beans from neighbours who just can’t eat all their produce and can’t give it away fast enough. Geoff is complaining that mowing the grass is just like painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge – he’s no sooner finished than he has to start again. And to think that a little more than a year ago we were complaining about a drought!

... and even more rain.
A day of sunshine and 34 degree heat around the 5th or 6th was followed by ominous black clouds that brought a hail storm and more days of rain. A farm dam on the edge of town broke its banks and flowed out over roads and down the hillside, losing gallons and gallons of precious water. Again, our block became soggy and, to my grave concern, one of my small Eucalypts was left in a puddle of water. A day or so later my fears were realised and, after experiencing some strong winds, when I went out to check I found it flat on the ground.



Not looking good.



Worst fears realised.

With the assistance of the big grandsons, it’s been propped up with a star picket and, so far, seems to be surviving. I will be watching and hoping for the next few weeks or months. Who knows? It may survive – anything is possible.

Grapes
It seems the wet weather isn’t appreciated by Geoff’s grapevines. The big one, which he’s had in for about four years and, for the first time, was producing loads of bunches of grapes, has developed something that looks remarkably like ‘black rot’. He had spray ready to treat it but every time he was ready to spray, the rain came again and it had to be postponed. There’s a little new, healthy growth happening at present but it’s probably too late for spraying to do any real good.
The three new vines that have been dotted around the house are perfectly healthy. We just hope they stay that way!

Skinks and butterflies
The skinks continue to enjoy the garden, whatever the weather turns on and everywhere we walk, there are little scuttling sounds in the undergrowth.

And the butterflies! They are everywhere – fluttering around anything that has flowers on it – sipping nectar, chasing each other in mid air, rising in a cloud when surprised by an interfering human – a wonderful sight to see, particularly when the sun is shining and the air is warm and still. We’ve had a few of those days in late December, and hoping for lots more!

Picasa albums
My photographic record of what’s flowering, what’s finishing and what disasters have occurred is all available on Picasa here.

NOVEMBER - IS IT SPRING YET?

Springtime arrives (sort of) – even though it’s nearly summer!

At last! The small seedlings that have been languishing through the winter and cold spring are on their way. I can see them growing day by day – just when I had almost given up hope. We’re still getting those cold snaps, though. Just can’t seem to shake them off for too long.
Milk Carton as seedling pot.
I don’t know where I read this but I’m giving it a try. After the milk carton is washed out, make quite a few holes in the bottom, fill it with potting mix and use it for the first transplant of a tiny seedling. When it’s ready to go out into the garden, cut the base right off the pot and settle it into the garden. Then you can slide the pot up and use it as a wind guard while the seedling becomes stronger. As an added bonus, it’s also quite good at keeping snails away.

Australian Bluebells – Wahlenbergia communis.

A wonderful plant with heaps and heaps of iridescent blue stars. I’ve grown it in various parts of the garden ever since we came here. Sometimes it spreads everywhere – as here

And sometimes it gets lost amongst stronger plants and disappears entirely. I’ve had some failures at transplanting clumps of it but this year – victory! There are now about four more sites where it seems to be very happy and I’m hoping it will stay for some years.
It’s not a plant for ‘tidy’ gardens. It falls all over the place, comes up in unexpected corners, and only blooms properly when the sun shines. But then, it gleams and sparkles.

It goes beautifully with golden Common Everlastings close by - Chrysocephalum apiculatum.

Many Photos on PicasaIt’s a wonderful month – now, after all our waiting for the warm weather to arrive. I’ve gone mad with the digital camera and have many, many photos of flowering Hibbertias, Melaleucas, Alyogynes, Eremophilas, Mint Bush, Native Iris, the list goes on and on and I have put them all – some in various stages of growth – on the November Picasa Album here.
Visitors
I was lucky enough to have some keen gardeners visiting this month and we had a marvellous time wandering around the garden and through the Bushland, discovering plants in full flower, some just beginning, others just finished. I did have a bit of a worry with trying to answer questions about botanical names and had to rush for my trusty spreadsheet. Fortunately I have been keeping good records – otherwise I wouldn’t have a clue about some of the proper names.

Visitor stress!
Does everyone stress out when visitors are coming? I have to admit that for the week before two lots of visitors were expected I was out there for an hour or so every day with wheelbarrow and spade, trundling heaps of mulch into spots that have needed it for the last month or so. Things that needed pruning were pruned, weeds were picked (or kicked!) out and husband Geoff got out for the final mowing until the place looked practically perfect. THEN, the weather bureau forecast rain from the Friday to Sunday! Thank you, Fate!
Fortunately, they were wrong. Friday was fine all day when the REAL gardener was here. Not so good on the other two days but at least we were able to enjoy it through the windows and we did get out on two or three occasions.

Many Skinks all over the garden.
It’s been wonderful to see how the skink population has suddenly exploded. Everywhere we walk, suddenly there a flash of movement and a couple of skinks disappear into the undergrowth. We see them in the mornings, basking on the warm rocks in the early sunshine. I haven’t managed to photograph any this month but I caught a mother and babies out there last January when we had a bit more reliable sunshine.

Australian Shrike Thrush
Although we’re surrounded by English Blackbirds and their songs, we are also lucky enough to have the Australian Shrike Thrush as a regular visitor. It was a couple of years ago that I took this video of one at our bedroom window. The poor little fellow thought he’d found the love of his life and was serenading his reflection with great passion. They have a wonderful song – equal to any European song bird.




We also have our resident Wattle Birds, New Holland Honeyeaters, Thornbills, Scrub Wrens, and Magpies which live in our trees and patrol the block, chasing away the occasional Starling invasion. At this time of the year there are always baby birds on one sort or another. The baby Magpies and Wattle Birds keep up their constant squawking for food and I managed a couple of pictures of two Wattle Birds being fed on our fence a week or so ago.

The parents are very fair and alternate between the two – when they can. There’s always a scuffle for the next mouthful, though, and mum or dad are sometimes caught in the middle of an enormous scuffle. Very entertaining!


The Last Week in November and Wind and Rain are wreaking havoc!
I’m afraid I’ve become so used to drought conditions that I’ve been caught by surprise with all this rain. And it seems that others may have been too.
When I was buying a couple of Eremophilas a year or so ago, I remarked to the Nurseryman that I hadn’t seen many of these before. He agreed with me and said that, because they come from the dry desert area of South Australia, a few years ago he would never have sold them for growing in the ‘wet south-west of Victoria’. Now, he told me, with Climate Change, he is selling more and more of the West Australian and dry-country plants.
Well, that could all be changing again! In the last three weeks, with all the extra rain in November, I’ve lost two Acacias and one Banksia – all with ‘wet feet’. I mentioned last month that in certain parts of our block, I could hear the water trickling underground. This is obviously a VERY BAD THING for some of my trees, as you’ll see from these photos.


Banksia burdetti (from Geraldton)




Acacia "Scarlet Blaze"




Acacia implexa

The poor Acacia “Scarlet Blaze” was blown out by gale winds last month but, because it had quite a large tap root still in the ground, I tried staking it up again – to no avail. Then I noticed the Acacia implexa – which has been in since March 2005 and was growing beautifully – had started to shed its leaves. As I thought – it’s dying! Must be wet feet.
And so I checked a few others for similar signs. Not unexpectedly, the Geraldton Banksia (B. burdetti) was definitely showing signs of imminent death! Its leaves began drying and are now quite dry and curling. Another victim bites the dust!

I also found my Viminaria “Golden Spray” (V. juncea) had broken off and was flat on the ground after the rain and wind. It had heaps of flower buds and I suspect the rain made it too heavy and the wind was the final straw.
It’s all very sad, but obviously these different conditions have to be taken into account for future plantings.


Vegetables
I’m not growing many this year. I think I’m running out of energy and what I have I’d rather spend on the native plants. I have one grafted tomato and my latest visitor has presented us with two special Italian varieties which are doing well so far. I’m picking silver beet every day or so, and my small grandson has insisted on transplanting some cucumbers that came up from the compost heap. Against my prediction to him, they seem to be fine! And the one thing I really love, the asparagus, keeps on producing with very little assistance from me. That’s the sort of vegy I like!

Nearly Summer:Maybe by the time I’m writing the blog for next month we’ll be complaining about how hot it is! Meanwhile, there are lots more photos in the Picasa album for November. Just click here.





SOME WELCOME SPRING WARMTH - FOR A WHILE!

5th October
At last a little warmth in the air! I can hardly believe it! There I was on the first day of October, sitting out on the veranda enjoying the sunny day in front of me – then I looked at the thermometer. It was a mere 16 degrees! We’ve been so starved of heat that even 16 degrees seemed warm in comparison to what we’ve been having. It was so warm and dry that for the first time we were able to actually hang some washing outside. AND it all dried!
My silver-beet seedlings have begun to look just a little taller and some are really looking enthusiastic about growing. A few, though, I fear, are permanently stunted. That will teach me to plant them too early. I have some more seeds ready to sow but will try to be patient for a little longer, until I’m sure the last of the freezing weather is over.
Tomorrow we’re heading to northern Victoria for a few days to have a look at the Murray River with real water in it. We’ll visit the Barmah Forest and see the magnificent Red Gums taking their first proper drink for years and maybe even take a boat trip. Full report when we return.

7th to 10th at the Murray River
Sadly, we didn’t get into the Barmah Forest to see the Red Gums with their feet in the water. And why not? You’ll never guess the answer: it was TOO WET!
Ironic, isn’t it? After making enquiries at the Information Centre in Echuca, we drove as far as Barmah and then consulted with the local shopkeeper.
He was a mine of VERY USEFUL information.
“You can drive up to the Dharnya Centre but the roads into the forest from there are all closed because they’re flooded. You can get out and walk along a few of the tracks but I wouldn’t advise it – the place is FULL of mosquitoes, almost big enough to carry you away!”
Now, since we were well aware that the mosquitoes up that way can carry Ross River Fever, that put us off completely. (I’ve looked it up since and discovered that there's also a Barmah River Virus as well! So, here's all the information about those very nasty diseases).
We did drive up to the Dharnya Centre and I bravely got out of the car for a few minutes to read a couple of information signs but in that short time, I was bitten twice and slapped about three or four mossies to death. Back to the car quick-smart and let’s get out of here!
The latest news about roads being opened is available here.
So, instead of walking through the forest, we opted for a Paddle Steamer ride on the Murray. We had a glorious sunny day for it and it was certainly a much safer – and more restful – way of spending a few hours.

We could see from the debris along the banks that the river had been very much higher. The Captain told us it was now down to the ‘normal’ winter level.

A walk through the Echuca Wharves Museum told us a bit more about how the river has been managed by the locks system to allow navigation all year.

Thurs 21.10.10
Once we got back home, the glorious weather which we had for a week or so, encouraged me to get out and do all the re-potting and planting-out I’d been planning for springtime. Various seedlings which I’d managed to grow from seed have been carefully transplanted to either garden or larger pot and I’m hoping they’ll start to strengthen up a little after their hard life through the long, cold winter.
There are quite a few Bent Goodenias (G. gesticulata), lots of Viminaria, and a few Kangaroo Apple (Solanum aviculare) and the Everlastings (Chrysocephelum apiculatum) seem to be doing well from bits I’ve managed to strike. The Spikey Acacias (A.aphylla) and Sticky Everlastings (Xerochrysum viscosa) from our trip to the Werribee Zoo are looking a trifle delicate so they’ve been put into larger pots for a little more TLC.
The snails are out in full force – and ravenous – so the new plants can’t be left for a second without a bit of protective baiting.
Those blackbirds, which are the bane of my life – scratching out my mulch and stealing my worms – are serenading us morning and evening with the most beautiful singing. It’s so lovely and so varied, I’ve almost forgiven them for being here.
However, I’m afraid the other native birds aren’t quite so forgiving. The magpies and, particularly the wattle birds, do their very best to rid the world of these ‘foreigners’ and swoop and chase them at every opportunity. It’s particularly entertaining in the early morning to hear the blackbird start up with his delicate carolling only to hear our resident wattlebird interrupt over and over again with his raucous screech, and it sounds exactly like: “Get out! Get out!”
At the end of the day, with the sun still shining and the birds singing, we sit on the verandah and all the perfumes are released and fill the warm air. The Boronia is still flowering, the Eutaxia is sweet with honey and from next door comes the heady scent of their Jasmine.
We are advised by the locals – who are all well-versed in weather forecasting – to enjoy it while we can. More than one of them has assured us that next year will be wetter than this one! I can hardly wait!

26th October – Cranbourne Gardens
I visited the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne on 26th October with a busload of like-minded people. It’s "set in 363 hectares of heathlands, wetlands and woodlands" (to quote their website) and there is also a separate “Australian Garden” section which is where we spent our time. I’m rather ambivalent about this garden. It’s all been designed by various architects and is very well set out for identification of plants and everything is beautifully labelled but it does seem to be just a bit more ‘ordered’ than I would prefer. There seems to be a need to pretend that we can still grow our English-style Cottage Gardens but replace exotics with Australian plants and that’s not what I’m endeavouring to do. I much prefer to grow a natural looking Australian garden, where the plants are all mixed up together, where they lean on each other, shade each other, and fight for their own place. A lot of the plants I saw were cut into hedges, pruned neatly back and made to look as though they were imitation European plants.


The gardens are set around a "red centre" depicting the centre of Australia
which is very effective and quite beautiful.
It's just the neat garden beds of the outside that don't appeal to me.

I would really like to have seen more of the ‘natural’ area but with a limited amount of time, this was more of a ‘discovery trip’ for me. I’ll be back there again some time to see the rest.

30th and 31st MORE RAIN
We have had complaints from a couple of our children that “it’s always raining in the South West”. Well, not this time. This time the rest of Victoria has been getting more than we have! Melbourne had 135 mm over the weekend when we had only about 30mm. Even so, in the old measurements, that's almost an inch and the ground is definitely soggy once more.

Just when we thought it was drying out!

We can hear again the trickling of the underground water as it heads for lower ground and – we have had another disaster! A casualty of the wet ground and the wind overnight, my Acacia Scarlet Blaze (A. leprosa-x) has finally given up trying to remain upright. 

It was tied tightly to a star picket because it never seemed to establish a proper root system but in the wind, the tie broke and now – it’s gone. I’ve heard similar stories about the same tree and I suspect it’s just not a very strong cultivar.

It will be interesting to see how much more rain we get before spring is officially over – the garden could do with just a LITTLE break from being soaked. I’m quite worried about some small Eucalypts I put in earlier this year which I keep finding standing in pools of water – I’m sure they don’t like it. Some long periods of sunshine would be most welcome, too! And then, I suppose, we’ll be complaining about the heat! 



Grevillea "Winpara Gem" - the more I prune it (usually about mid-September) the
more it produces glorious flowers!

I'm certainly not complaining, though, when I gaze into the middle of my beautiful "Winpara Gem". It's absolutely covered in flowers. You can see the whole bush - and a record of all the garden's development over the month of October by clicking right here.



SPRING IS COMING - BUT OH, SO SLOWLY!

This is a great picture of the cold and damp atmosphere in our part of the world at the beginning of September. The wind is from the south-west, the rain is coming over the hills from the sea, and the flattened Manna Gum is the result of the gale-force winds of August. On the bare branches of the willow you can see the lichen that grows on everything during our cold, wet winters here.
Yes, it’s grey and it’s bleak but there’s no way we can complain about the weather when it produces such lush, green growth and the rain is filling all the dams.
We can’t help being just a little impatient for the arrival of spring, though. Every time the sun comes out, even for half an hour, I’m tempted to rush outside and find a job to do in the garden. Maybe it’s only pulling out a weed or two or pruning back a straggly bush, but it’s just wonderful to feel that little bit of heat in the atmosphere.

Wattles coming and wattles going.
The early ones, Cootamundra (A. baileyana) and Black Wattle (A. decurrens) are nearly gone and the later ones, Dog Tooth Wattle (A.cultriformis), Varnish Wattle (A.verniciflua) and Gold Dust Wattle (A. acinacea) are having their day in the sun – if there is any! Others, like A longiflora, A. drummondii and A. howittii, are just a little later in the month and in the Picasa Album here, all their photos are displayed with their date of flowering. I believe I’m going to find this pictorial and dated record a very useful reference for coming years – even if there are some variations in the seasons. It means that I can choose the placement of new wattles with the knowledge of what will be out around them.

Birds & other animals
I guess it MUST be Spring because we can now hear a couple of Magpie babies with their incessant, high-pitched: “Mu-u-um! Mu-u-um! MU-U-U-M!” No wonder the parents keep feeding them – just to shut them up! 

A New Holland Honeyeater in the Grevillea Superb

 The Wattle Birds and New Holland Honeyeaters are very happy with all the Grevilleas, Hakeas, Eremophilas and Eucalypt flowers that are now out everywhere and we’re still hoping for some babies from the couple of Shrike Thrushes we have around. English Skylarks are singing away high up above us and there are lots of baby noises from the tiny birds – probably Scrub Wrens and Thorn Bills. I’ve also come across quite a few skinks scuttling away in the undergrowth. No sign or sound yet of any frogs, though.

Other sounds and smells
Another sound that comes and goes – depending on how much rain we have – is the very soft trickling of water seeping away under our grassy paddock. It’s still very soft and spongy but at least our land has a gentle slope that allows it to get away. A very big plus, of course, is that all the ground water is filling up, which bodes well for the lakes and the farmers’ bores.
It’s a pity we can’t have ‘smell-o-vision’ on computer. As well as the sweet smell of green grass and – for those who don’t suffer from hay-fever – the wattles, my Boronia is covered in flowers and as soon as I step outside the door I can smell it; even from round the other side of the house – providing there’s no strong wind.

Boronia "Heaven Scent"

And then there’s the glowing, blue Rosemary bush. No, it’s not Australian but it’s wonderful to work nearby and hear the bees humming all over it; and then after weeding around it or even brushing up against it, I come away smelling so delicious I really don’t want to wash it off.

Eucalyptus preissiana
The buds of this Eucalyptus from the Mallee are thick and woody and just how these delicate flowers make their way out is one of those little wonders of nature. I’m continually astonished at the strength of flowers that burst their way out of such strong coverings. Now it’s started to flower, I’m impatient to see it covered in these big yellow blossoms.


Eucalyptus preissiana - just starting to flower.

Seeds and their germination times
I’m always surprised at how the seeds of Australian Natives can sit in the ground for such a long time before anything happens, and how their germination times can vary so much.
In March this year, I collected seeds from my own Viminaria “Golden Spray” (V. juncea) and decided that, mimicking the way it would happen in nature, I would put them in the ground immediately. I pre-treated them with nearly-boiling water, soaking them overnight, and put them into potting mix, covering them lightly with some seed-raising mixture. I was delighted to find that within 4-5 weeks I had seven seedlings, most of which kept growing really well until about July. They then stopped growing but appeared to be still quite healthy. Because this Winter has been so cold and long, they sat there unmoving until I began to wonder if they would ever actually take off again. In desperation, at around 15th September, I put them outside in the rain, wind and occasional sun and hoped for the best.
I’m very happy to report that, yes, they have begun to grow and are looking very strong. As a bonus, I have now discovered another three or four seedlings in the same pot poking up out of the earth. This means they have sat in the soil for six months and are still quite viable. There’s just no knowing the best time to plant, is there? I guess the moral is – just keep trying different things.

The large seedlings around the edge were planted in May and now,
in the centre (amongst the moss) are two or three new ones popping up.

Now I have another dilemma. When do I plant my next lot of Australian Native seeds?
I have a number of seeds to plant – some I have collected and some I have bought as a tourist in various parts of Australia. I expect I’ll wait until it warms up just a little bit more to give them a chance once they germinate.

New plantings
After our visit to the Open Gardens in Warrnambool I’ve fallen in love with quite a few special plants and have made enquiries about buying some. I’ll probably wait till October to buy them and put them in but I’m so looking forward to a whole new range of flowers, shrubs and ground covers. There’s never an end to the learning experience, is there?

Next month

Next month there’ll be a report on what’s new, what’s been planted and what’s flowering as well as a planned visit to the Australian Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Cranbourne. It will be my first visit there so I expect I’ll have lots to report.

Till then ….. Check out the Picasa site by clicking here for September pictures for this blog.





MOTHER NATURE TURNS IT ON FOR THE OPEN DAY!

Sunday 12th September was an Open Day for three Australian Gardens in Warrnambool and, for the first time for about six weeks, we had two fine and sunny days in a row! The weather was perfect and the gardens a delight to see.
They were all so different: The Sparrow garden, on a suburban quarter acre block; the Halls garden on half an acre plus nature strip; and the Deppeler garden, a 15 acre property fronting the Hopkins River. Each one had its own character and style and all the owners were passionate about growing Australian natives and happy to talk about them to anyone interested. All were members of the Warrnambool & District Society for Growing Australian Plants and had meticulously labelled almost every plant, which meant we could quickly identify what we were seeing and either take notes for future reference or – as I did – photograph the plant AND the label. (Don’t you just LOVE digital cameras?)

Eremophila drummondii - a great way to record an unknown plant.

It was fascinating to see the different focus of each garden.
The Sparrows have a huge range of Cymbidiums, Dendrobiums, ferns and native ground orchids as well as Correas, Eremophila, Banksias, Hakeas, and other mid to large shrubs in every possible corner of the small garden.

A covered entrance sheltering Native Orchids and ferns.

The Halls, with two large house blocks to play with, have a beautifully landscaped back garden with a huge range of trees, shrubs and ground covers; as well as a front nature strip collection of native grasses, rocks, prostrate acacias and other ground covers. 

Banksia blechnifolia – a fascinating prostrate Banksia

 After a beautiful lunch on the river in Warrnambool we drove out of town to the 15 acre block of the Deppelers where we entered along a lane lined with Acacia cognate and Eucalyptus sideroxylon ‘Rosea’. There has been an enormous amount of work done over seven years to transform a weed-infested farmland into a flourishing garden and nursery. With all that space to work with, there is a very wide range of plants of every sort, from ground covers through every size up to large trees. There are views over the Hopkins River and a lot of riverside planting as well as rockeries around the house which display an amazing number of native ornamentals.

Banksia coccinea – Now there’s an ornamental!

We were able to pick up information and hints from every garden and we were also supplied with a number of free publications about growing Australian natives, weed identification, societies and associations which offer valuable membership and, at two of them, we could buy plants of many varieties at very reasonable prices.
All in all – an exceedingly successful day.
Photographs of some of the more unusual and spectacular plants are available by clicking: HERE

 

AUGUST, 2010 - Rain and wind ... and more rain and more wind!

It seems we now have a "Property with Lake View"

CARN THE FROGS!
Yep - it’s definitely winter! Rain and rain again as well as VERY cold for the first few days – then the sun began to make a few welcome appearances. It was just possible to detect some warmth in it and it seems that maybe the frogs have decided it’s time for a little mating action. For the first time, instead of those individual calls to each other, we heard a whole heap of them together down in the puddles on the side of the road. It sounded very much like a froggy chorus of ‘Loves old sweet song’ – so we have high hopes of finding tadpoles very soon when we inspect those puddles. Watch this space!

A FEW MORE WATTLES OUT.
The sunshine has encouraged buds to appear on a number of grevilleas and brought a few other varieties of wattle closer to blooming. The Gold Dust Wattle (A. acinacea) is absolutely covered with buds which are just starting to open and the Varnish Wattle (A. verniciflua) is much the same. Another longifolia (don’t know it’s proper name) is also blooming beautifully – its photo is on the August Picasa site, as are the others mentioned.

KANGAROO GRASSI found a plot of Kangaroo Grass outside the local Demo Dairy the other day so brought home a handful of dried heads for the seeds. There don’t seem to be many seeds left inside them but I’ll plant the few that I have and see how they go. This grass is indigenous to our area and should grow well but, with the drought, I’ve lost two or three pots of it over the years, so I’ll be interested to see if these will grow and survive.

RECYCLING
We’re very lucky with re-cycling in our shire – Corangamite. As well as the usual weekly garbage bins, we have a fortnightly pick-up of a big bin for paper, cardboard, glass, certain plastics etc. and on the alternate fortnight, we have our green bin collection. This collection accepts the normal garden prunings, weeds, etc. as well as any organic waste from the kitchen – including meat scraps, bones, small timber off-cuts, grass clippings, tea-bags, eggshells, etc. Of course, most of my kitchen and garden waste goes on the compost heap but there are quite a few things that don’t, so I’m very grateful it’s pretty easy to ‘do the right thing’.

WEEDS
Talking about ‘doing the right thing’, I have to admit to reluctantly having to use certain weedkillers in my garden. Being in a farming community we have a responsibility not to let weeds proliferate and send their seeds into the surrounding crops. Only a few months ago we had to get a farming neighbour to spray our paddock with a selective broad-leaf spray for cape-weed and now, from a paddock that was more cape-weed than grass, we now have only a few spots where that African invader has survived. Hopefully we’ll be able to keep it under control and won’t have to spray again for a long time. I also use glyphosate in the Bush Garden to control all the foreign weeds that come in from the roadside and, also (I guess) from the farmers – things like phalaris, Scotch thistles, marshmallow – the list goes on and on. After I’ve sprayed in the early spring, I manage to keep them under control with mulch and hoeing (or kicking out with my foot!), but that first spray is absolutely essential until the ground-covers take over. I’m happy to say that there are now a number of areas where very few weeds appear. Some of this can be put down to being in a shady area, heavy planting, ground cover and plenty of mulch, and some of it by simply by getting rid of them before they seed – by digging, pulling or spraying. My aim is to achieve that in most of the garden. Unfortunately, seeds blowing in from outside just can’t be helped.

WEDNESDAY, 11TH AUGUST – the day of the Big Flood!
We have had so much rain over the last few months that the ground is quite sodden. Now the heavens have opened yet again and sent us down 60 mm in about 24 hours. The drains all over town are rushing and overflowing, the garden is soggy underfoot and the paddocks over the road are looking like swimming pools. As Geoff says, we now have a property with a ‘lake frontage’.
The long-time locals are all saying: “This is what it used to be like!” and “Those paddocks always flooded every winter!” and “I remember when I was at school …”
All we hope is that the drain behind our place doesn’t overflow across the road and cascade into our block. And we thank our lucky stars that when we moved here we didn’t buy one of those blocks that are now under water.
The farmers, of course, are all smiling.

STOP PRESS!The drain did overflow and sent water cascading down our block.

Not nearly as disastrous as it could have been, though. It missed the house by about ten metres and only flowed over the paddock. A narrow escape – whew!

AFTER THE BIG FLOOD – the Big Wind!
After Wednesday’s downpour, Thursday and Friday blew with gale force – first from the north and then from the south and west, so trees and shrubs were battered from all directions. The whole garden became littered with bits of trees – branches big and small, twigs, leaves, you name it. Everywhere we looked there were signs of winter at its most ferocious.

We were very pleased we’d had a bit of weight reduction done on the big wattles down the drive, otherwise it could have been much worse. As it was we only lost a few medium sized branches from there, and one very big one from a gum tree along the front fence.
The water that flooded into the block on Wednesday weakened the roots of a couple of shrubs and on Sunday morning we discovered that a Melaleuca nesophila (the one with pretty pink bobbles) had been blown right out and was flat on the ground. The fairly young Hakea laurina on the exposed upper fence – which took the full force of the incoming torrent – was at an angle of 45 degrees and looking very vulnerable so Multi-skilled-Geoff hammered in a star picket and we dragged it up as much as possible and tied it a little closer to upright. Five years ago, at about the same age, my older H. laurina fell right over but is still happily growing along the ground. Maybe that’s what this one wants to do – we’ll see.

AND SO TO THE END OF AUGUST
The last half of August was spent indoors as more and more rain descended on us – as it did over most of south-east Australia. No more flooding in the true sense of the word but lots and lots of water lying around in the surrounding low-lying paddocks. We took a drive up to the top of Mt Leura to check out the countryside. It was great to see Lake Corangamite shining in the distance – the water’s been so far out that it’s been hardly visible for years. Local lakes: Colongulac, Purrumbete and Bullen Merri are all showing signs of welcome water increase though there’s still plenty of room for further improvement.

Lake Corangamite is away in the background, with low-lyng paddocks flooded.

VEGETABLES AND FRUIT
At the end of June I optimistically put in a bed of Silver Beet seedlings; well THAT was a bit of a mistake! They have sat there – and are still sitting there – without moving for the whole of August. If they don’t start growing soon, I think I’ll be taking them out and starting again.
I managed to find ONE day in the midst of all the rain when I could spray the Nectarine tree to avoid curly leaf. I only put the tree in two years ago and last year every leaf was affected. It’s apparently all around this district so I’m hoping that the advice I’ve had to spray it JUST before the leaves burst, will do the job. Time will tell.
Geoff has some grapevines ready to go in, planning to grow them over our pergola at the west side of the house but it’s been so cold and soggy we think it might be better to wait until we get a little warmth in the ground. Let’s hope the next couple of weeks brings some spring weather.

MORE TREES GONE!
The first week of September brought more wind to attack the trees and we lost one of the quite old wattles (A. longifolia) which had been there when we came to Camperdown seven years ago. It was rotten at the bottom and probably close to the end of its life anyway. The other major disaster though, was losing a big, beautiful Manna Gum (E. viminalis) which I’d planted as a tiny seedling in 2003 and which had been loved and nurtured all those years. It would have been about 10-15 metres high and quite solid but it seems the long drought had meant it only had shallow roots and now that the ground is so soft, the wind on top of all that was just too much for it.

LOOKING FORWARD
This month’s entries spilled over into September due to a number of causes – some of which were weather distractions and some computer problems, all of which seem to be solved now – whew! We’re now looking forward to spring more than ever. It seems to have been a long winter for everyone.

MORE PHOTOS
You can see a complete collection of photos for August here. It's an update of what's been happenng all through the month - what's flowering, what's getting buds, etc. and there are some more 'flood' photos as well.

SEPTEMBER ENTRY
Next weekend I'll be visiting visiting three Australian Native Gardens in Warrnambool. They look really interesting so I'll be reporting on them next Blog entry.

Till then, remember: "Gardening is good for you!"
Gillian

EARLIER ENTRIES
For earlier months' Blog entries go to "Previous Posts".
For earlier months' photos, you can click HERE.

Video of the Crazy Corellas

Here are those crazy birds - as promised.

JULY 2010 - A cold winter - but the wattles are on the way!

An early Cootamundra

JULY
First weekend in July and it’s been frosty, foggy and rainy and VERY cold. At least there aren’t too many jobs that need doing in the garden so I can sit inside with a clear conscience

A lot of the plants and events I talk about in this blog entry are recorded in the album of photos for June/July. This can be seen at by clicking here.

CORELLAS
The crazy corellas have invaded the area and are swooping and screeching all over the town and surrounding farmland. Corellas don't travel in a flock - they're more like an unruly mob. They dive and dodge, they veer and swoop, screeching all the time like a pack of demented witches. Their favourite trick is to do a kamikaze dive to the ground and pull out at the last minute with a triumphant cackle of maniacal laughter. They're totally crazy, and brilliant to watch! I've put a video of the Corellas on the next entry in this blog. You'll LOVE it!
The farmers, however, are NOT happy as these pesky birds get into their newly planted paddocks and wreak havoc. A couple of shotgun blasts echoed around the hills yesterday and sent the corellas on their way – at least for a short time.

BAKED POTATOES
It was very cold and still on Sunday afternoon but our first day for a while without rain so Geoff decided to light the half 44 gallon ‘fireplace’ and get rid of some fallen branches that had been collecting over the past months. Apart from cleaning the place up a bit, it was lovely spot to prop on a couple of stools and gaze into the fire – discussing the world, the weather and what needs doing around the place. He ended up with such lovely coals that we decided to wrap a couple of potatoes in foil for our dinner. Now there’s something you can’t do in the city – and they were absolutely delicious!

COLD AND RAIN AND GOLDEN WATTLES
The first three weeks of July stayed cold and wet, with a VERY heavy rain and hailstorm around the second Wednesday so there wasn’t much garden action. Despite the cold, the Cootamundra wattles began to show their bright yellow balls which has just got to make the spirits rise a little. Now, by the last week of the month, we’re surrounded by golden trees: Cootamundras (A. baileyana), Black Wattles (A. decurrans), and getting closer to blossoming are a number of Dog Tooth Wattles (A. cultriformis). A very new Queensland Wattle (A. podalyriifolia) is just starting to produce flowers for the first time. It’s had quite a struggle because it’s right under the old, well-established Black Wattles and is fighting with an enormous root system to get a little nourishment. Sounds a bit silly, probably, but I’m trying to establish a few new trees because those old ones won’t last forever.

RESCUING THE SIDE FENCE
That point was proved only a couple of days ago when we discovered that one of the old ones had split right at ground level and a large trunk was resting on the fence between us and our next-door neighbour; it hadn’t quite fallen but was well on the way. An urgent call to our tree-man resulted in about four hours work – getting rid of the dangerous trunk and doing some cutting back maintenance on all the big branches that were hanging over the fence and getting very heavy with too much growth. Of course we had him mulch all the prunings and we now have an enormous pile of fresh mulch for the garden. It will need to mature for a while before we use it but that’s all right; we are just getting to the end of our previous huge pile from a couple of years ago.

PEPINOS
Who ever heard of pepinos? Well, I hadn't until my niece gave me a couple of cuttings about 18 months ago. I carefully nurtured them in pots until they'd developed a good root system, then put them out into the garden in Spring 2009. They grew and they grew!!

Their proper name is Solanum muricatum; they're a bit like a melon and I understand they're a native of Chile or Argentina. Eventually, in July, there were dozens ready to pick. There was only one problem - nobody really liked them! They are VERY juicy but seem to me to have a very watery taste. Quite sweet but - well, I don't think I'll be growing them again. Such a pity with something that's so easy to grow! I've put some photos of the plants with fruit on the Picasa album for June/July.

LAST DAY OF JULY
Still cold and still raining but when the sun comes through there's a little bit of heat in it and we can feel that spring is on the way. Some of the birds are even starting to build their nests. And at around four o'clock, when the sun peeps out below the clouds, we get the most beautiful long shadows across the grass.

There's a willow in the middle of the block that I really thought I'd get rid of because we wanted an all-Australian garden but it's so lovely in all seasons - when it's bare, when it has tiny new leaves and in the summer when it's shady - that I just can't kill it. It's also useful for hanging the tyre swing on! There are more picturesof the shadows and the willow on the Picasa link.

Till next month, don't forget: Gardens are good for you!
Gillian

JUNE 2010 - The start of a Blogging Journey in an Australian Garden

The Bush Garden

WHY BLOG?

My husband, Geoff, and I have been in Camperdown for a little over seven years and came to a garden which had a lot of grass (and Cape Weed!) as well as shrubs and flowers that were mostly imported. Since this was in the middle of largely cleared dairying country I decided to plant lots and lots of Australian Native plants to encourage birds and insects to our one acre block.

This has been largely successful although, due to the long drought, there HAVE been quite a number of plants lost along the way. Now that we have been getting heaps and heaps of rain over the last few months, the growth and flowering has been very exciting and I'm so happy with the way the garden is looking, I want to share it with anyone who has an interest in gardening in general and Australian Natives in particular.

For photos of all the plants I write about, I've established a Picasa album. The first album is for April and May - just before I started this blog. You can see it by clicking here.

Then, for later photos, referring to June and July, you can click  here.

Now, let's begin ...

EARLY JUNE
Winter came in with a sudden burst of still days with brilliant sunshine on 2nd and 3rd June so I was dragged out into the garden again. How could I resist?
The ‘Winpara Gem’ Grevillea (G. thelemanniana x G. olivacea) seems to require pruning every season now because it’s grown so much bigger than I had anticipated and, if I don’t prune it, we lose the view of our beautiful, drooping Silver Princess. So that was a very pleasant and relatively easy job for today. It also nudged me into oiling and sharpening my secateurs!
Just wandering around the garden in this sunshine is absolute bliss! The bees are working overtime in all the Banksias, Hakeas and the Kunzea baxterii and as for the big, old, well-established Rosemary bush – there’s hardly a flower without two or three bees fighting for a place.

GERMINATING AUSTRALIAN SEEDS
I’ve decided to put a plastic roof over my seed-beds (well, that’s what I call them. They’re only old ice-cream containers and various sized pots) to protect them through the nights and early mornings. There’s no hot-house and I think they need just a little TLC now that winter’s actually here. I probably should have waited till spring to plant some of the seeds but as I didn’t and I have quite a lot of exciting germination happening, I don’t want to lose them – and I want them to keep growing!

PINK HEATH
Geoff and I have been driving through Cooriemungle Flora Reserve and also the Otway Ranges recently and in both areas I saw all the beautiful pink (and white) heaths just beginning their flowering. Its proper name is Epacris impressa – our Victorian Floral Emblem, of course – and I was reminded that I didn’t have one. Easily remedied and I have now planted a very nice specimen which came already loaded with lots of dark pink buds. Can’t wait to see its full display.

FROGS (AND FOGS!)
Heavy fogs and gentle incessant rain followed the warm days – couldn’t be better for a gardener! We have at least six frogs that start up their chorus as soon as there’s a hint of rain. I just hope they’re finding each other and adding to the frog population. For the last few drought years we’ve only heard one lone frog on very rare occasions so we’re delighted to hear them.

LEMON SCENTED GUM
Gentle rain was superseded by HEAVY rain and gales! As usual, a few branches were blown off various aging trees and, sadly, a couple from the beautiful Lemon Scented Gum (E. citriodora). It seems, on examination, that ‘something’ gets into the joints of the tree so they bleed inside. Then, when those winds come, the damaged branch is ripped off because there’s only a small amount of healthy wood left. I’ve put a couple of pics on the Picasa web site.(see link above)

30th June. (A final June entry on the last day.)

VEGETABLES:
I’ve managed to clean up a few jobs in the vegy garden. The asparagus ferns had all dried off so they’ve been cut down and the bed fertilised thoroughly. According to my reading, asparagus needs lots of feeding so it’s had a sprinkle of Rapid Raiser, a covering of beautiful, rich compost from our oldest, well-decayed heap, a few buckets of horse manure soaked in water and all has been topped off with a layer of pea-straw to keep it warm. I’ve laid some wire over the whole bed to keep those pesky blackbirds away from scratching out all my beautiful worms so, after all that, I’m expecting heaps and heaps of big, fat asparagus by about September/October.
I’ve planted a small bed of silver beet, hoping it will actually grow a bit during the cold winter months and I’m still digging up some big, beautiful parsnips. They’ve been ready for weeks and weeks but they seem to keep very well in the ground so I only dig them up when I plan to use them.

COMPOST SUCCESS
I’m VERY happy with how the compost has been going this year. I have three bays – one is the current heap where I put all kitchen waste and occasionally grass clippings, the second one is busily ‘cooking’ and the third one, if all goes according to plan, is the one ready to use on the garden. Until recently, I’ve covered each heap with plastic or shade cloth and they always took forever to mature. Now, having read the instructions PROPERLY, I am using pieces of carpet and the results are brilliant. The carpet obviously keeps things a lot warmer and damper, which helps the composting process, and it’s all working so much better. Now, instead of heaps of slaters crawling around a semi-dry heap, I find big fat worms and damp, black, earth. I used to use carpet, way back in the past but, over the years, seemed to have forgotten about it and just used whatever came to hand. Talk about a slow learner!