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!