OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2011 – SPRING FLOWERS AND SPRING RAINS!

A two-month entry – rather brief.
(I'm afraid life interfered with my regular Blog entries so now it’s time for quick a catch-up.)

A rather excessive amount of seedlings!

Absolutely ALL the Xerochrysum bracteatum seeds germinated in their little seed beds so, having left them a bit too long, I had to frantically select a few and plant out into various spots in the garden.
I’m afraid the rest had to be dumped – no space to put them and no time to re-pot or give them away. They are certainly well worth growing though – they produce lovely flowers and heaps of viable seeds.

I had to dismantle most of the bricks here to get rid of plastic under the
soil. Then I added a lot of compost and some mulch and now
have another good spot for a garden.

The plastic has been removed from this raised bed and now I’ve put in the tiny Geraldton Wax (Chamelaucium “My Sweet 16”) and the two Gastrolobium “Brown Butterfly” creepers, bought from the online nursery in September – plus a few of the Xerochrusum bracteatum seedlings. In the front in the middle is a trowel-full of roots of Bluebells (Wahlenbergie communis).

Here's how it all looks at the end of November. The X. bracteatum are about
to flower and everything else is growing well.

Flowering in October
Heaps and heaps of different plants come and go throughout the spring months. Some last for months and some only for weeks. Impressive ones have been: Eutaxia obovata, Orthrosanthus 'Blue Flags' (only one spike in this, its first year), Grevillea ‘Carpet Layer’, Matted Pea Bush (Pultenaea pedunculata), Prickly Tea Tree, Native Flax (Linum), Native Iris (Patersonia occidentalis), Hop Goodenia, Fringed Darwinia, Kangaroo Apple (Solanum aviculare) and many, many more. A lot of them are in the Picasa album for these two months and you can see them by clicking here.
But one has no flowers....
The one that has surprised me with almost NO flowers is the Grevillea ‘Winpara Gem’ which was a mass of red flowers at this time last year. It seems that it was reacting to the dry weather by flowering to survive but, now that we have plenty of rain, it now sees no reason to make an effort. Pity! This is what it looked like in October, 2010.

October 2010 - a fabulous display!

Flowering in November Some from last month continued to flowers and some new ones appeared. This was my month for the various Callistemons (Bottle Brushes). My son’s garden in Point Cook was ablaze with ‘Kings Park’ Bottle brushes back in late September but up here in Camperdown, we didn’t see them till November. We’ve also had an absolute carpet of white stars on the Pratia and that’s been going since mid-October. The Native Bluebells (Wahlenbergias) are growing well and whenever the sun shines they are a delightful blue haze in various corners of the garden. Unfortunately, we’ve had a lot of cloudy skies when they just sulk and won’t open. Much the same with the Cardigan River Carpet (Helichrysum dealbatum), a lovely paper daisy from Western Australia that seems to do quite well here. Flowering right through November we’ve had Lavetera, Viminaria, Hibbertias, Common Everlastings (C. apiculatum), , the ever-flowering Alyogyne ‘Elle Maree’, Melaleucas, Native Perlargonium, the big Willow Myrtle (Agonis flexuosa) and various Eremophilas. The Scaveola is a picture of lavender flowers, the Kunzeas are just beginning as are the Pussy Tails.

Disasters!
The unusually wet month again produced a couple of disasters. We lost TWO Eucalypts which were growing on the up-side of the block – both with VERY wet feet and consequently they simply broke off at the surface.

No comment!

So now I’m quite worried about other Eucalypts that are showing signs of dampness at the bottom of their trunks. We’ll just have to wait and see. It’s very discouraging, though!
I suppose that’s what happens when you come to a new place during a drought and then the whole weather patterns change. According to the locals, this is what it used to be like. I may have to change my whole outlook on what to grow here.
Vegetables
The Asparagus has been wonderful for all of the last two months, the more rain it gets the faster it grows, so we’ve been eating it almost every second or third day. It’s just about finished now and I’ll let it grow into ferns till next year’s crop.
Apart from heaps of Silver Beet, I haven’t grown much more this season. However, there are some tomato plants in now and they already have some baby tomatoes and are looking very healthy. Three small Golden Globe pumpkin plants should also provide some good food next year.

Plenty of work to do
I still have many of the new plants from the online nursery to put into the garden but they may have to wait until the Xmas season is over before I have much time available. Depending on how hot the summer is, they just might have to wait a lot longer. Gardeners do have to be flexible!

PicasaYou can identify all the flowering plants in the Picasa Album by clicking here.