quiet sunday project

I had a very quiet Sunday and finally got around to a little project that was niggling at me.  As I just recently mentioned, that gaura this year is getting very lanky and covering the guem.

I've tried tying it back with string on a stake but it never lasts - the string moves and the stake leans.  So I got out the drill and put a few screws into the brick, which let me secure the string firmly into the wall.  As you can see, it pulled the gaura back into a more compact shape.  The geum actually gets a bit of sunlight now.  The lavender is leggy as it is every year but the daffodils have started to die back under them so it shouldn't matter.  It is satisfying to get little projects done.

november in the western bed

Things were looking pretty dull back here for a few weeks, but the lavender is picking up as the geum is finishing.  The gaura is also starting to come in too but it's a lot taller this year.  I've had to trim back the farther bush and keep tying it back.

The oakleaf hydrangea is also starting to come into bloom.  Those flower caps are looking great and they'll be developing long into the summer.

And under the second hydrangea, Thatcher was having a snooze.  That dichondra must be a nice soft bed.

spring in the garden

I think I can cautiously say that the back of winter has been broken.  We're getting more and more sunny days, and quite a few days of 19 or 20 degrees.  Here are a few photos of the garden's celebration of spring.

The hellebore bed has been going great guns all winter but I decided it was worth sharing again.

The geum are starting their spring flush too.  I'm liking this bed - geum and daffs for the spring, lavender and gaura for the summer.

Speaking of daffs - the first of my fancy daffs opened last weekend!  Sadly, something got to the petals before it opened and nibbled one of them off. But I absolutely adore them, I hope they like this spot so they thrive and multiply.

This isn't quite as pretty, it's more a monstrous triffid.  This is my colocasia I transplanted to the corner of the western garden.  It's now probably 5 or more years old, and look at how massive it's become!  That trunk is as big around as a human leg.

It's also putting out heaps of babies.  We'll see how long it can stay in there before it's just too big!

a hint of spring

I've been really unmotivated about the garden this winter.  It's the coldest, wettest winter I can remember since moving to Australia six years ago.  It's hard to be excited about gardening in that weather.  But today was a hint of spring to come - a perfectly sunny day with a high of 18.  How could I stay inside in that weather?

The bees were busy in my rosemary bush.

A few cyclamen plants that survived the deep shade under the fig tree are putting on a lovely show.

And the geum is already starting to put out its spring flush!  I thought it would wait a lot longer.  You can also just see the daffodils springing up behind it.

The hellebore are going crazy, look at this show!

Even Thatcher was enjoying the sunshine in front of a few spring stars.

The multigraft twig is putting out heaps of new shoots, both leaves and flowers.  That's reassuring since the last set of growth in the autumn dropped its leaves and died over winter, possibly because of the cold.  I just hope we don't get a bad cold snap that knocks out this growth too!

Which just reminds us that spring is still a month away. This week will be more sunny warmth but after that is a return to the cold.

june flowers

Along with the winter vegetables, here's an update on the winter flowers.  The snowflakes are going nuts - every winter their clumps get thicker and thicker (this is what they looked like last winter).

My species tulips are just starting to wake up too.  I start watering them again in the winter, knowing they wake up quite early.  The first growing tip has appeared!  Can you find it in this photo?

My colmnara orchid is still growing away.  They seem to rotate between putting out flowers and putting out new pseudobulbs.  I bought it last year in August just when it was blooming.  It doesn't look like it will blossom again by August, it's still working on several new pseudobulbs.  But I can't complain as it seems to be green and happy!  Maybe I'll visit the orchid show again and get another pretty orchid in bloom.

My three hellebores are blooming one at a time.  The first ones are coming in very pale this year for some reason; last year they were dark purple-black.  Maybe the next flush will come in darker?

On the other hand the second plant appears to be coming in dark.  The third one's sulking a bit but I know it will get there soon enough.

The nearby gaura has finished and is looking a bit scraggly.  After this photo I went in and trimmed them back a bit.  One of them had a bit of dead growth which I cut out, I hope that doesn't mean it's dying.

I haven't shown you the succulents in ages.  I went through a phase where I was growing quite a few, but I decided they're rather boring plants.  They grow very slowly and don't change much; I like a plant with a bit of personality.  But this little bowl of succulents has slowly filled in.  I like that in the winter the ones on the left turn red.

That's about it in the garden at the moment!  That and major pruning but that's not very interesting for the blog.

west bed updates

Now that the mess from the flood has (mostly) been cleaned up and summer is quickly turning to autumn I thought I'd update on how things are looking.  The gaura needed to be tied back so they don't flop all over, and the lavender got its autumn trim.  The geum is doing ok, it wilts if it gets too dry and probably wouldn't survive one of our hot summers.

This side of the west bed is thriving.  Look at the size of that colocasia in the corner, it's huge!  It's much happier there than the maple tree ever was.  The vitex has really surprised me with how quickly it's growing, too, hopefully by summer 2012 or 2013 it'll have spread enough to cast some shade around.  It's got lots of flower buds but they haven't opened yet.  The dichondra "silver falls" has realy taken to that bed, although it doesn't seem to want to spill over the front as I was hoping it would.  Some wild violets have seeded at the back of the bed and I've decided to let them stay, they form a nice dense green ground cover and love shade.  Some "weeds" can be very helpful.

The Amazon Queen colocasia is going crazy too.  It makes this whole bed look very lush which I love.  The hellebores have held out well over the summer heat (the crowns can die back completely but mine manage to hold on), the plectranthus cuttings are really growing along and the ajuga "black scallop" are slowly spreading.

Overall, not a bad effort.

january flowers update

It's not just the veggies that have gone crazy, the flowers are also loving this weather.  My gaura's coming into bloom now and is looking great.  I'm a little irked though.  It's hard to tell in this photo but the one on the left is a bit more pink than the one on the right, even though the label was the same.

The geum is starting to repeat-bloom as well.  Such a dainty little flower!

The ageratum is still small but a few of them are starting to flower.  I can't wait to see these guys at full size.

The vitex is huge!  It was this big when I planted it last year:

Now it's this big and growing every day:

The hydrangeas are starting to fade to pink.  Since this photo, they've actually faded to a pretty ugly brown.  But there's another set of flower heads still coming in.

And the sunflowers are still going strong.  They're obviously two different types as the one on the left is still going and the flower head isn't near opening yet.  The geraniums are doing pretty well too considering.

gaura and fig bags

Just a few random pictures for this post. My gaura is starting to bloom, just a few at the moment but soon the stalks should be covered with these dainty little blossoms.

I should also mention that I've decided to try a different tactic to saving some early figs this year. The first crop gets eaten by the birds, in fact a few are already half-eaten when they're still way too unripe to enjoy. So this year I bought a pack of cheap little bags and tied them over five figs. So far they haven't been touched, but they're only just getting the first purple blush. The weather's been fairly cool so I don't think the first crop will be ready for another week or two.

And finally, I put in cuttings of plectranthus Mona lavender between the ajuga. I had to cover them with bird netting the next day because the blackbirds had already kicked the bark over them! One cutting has already died, I think it was too small and dried out, but the other two are still there and I'll replace the dead one. Gardening this way sure takes a lot longer than just buying the plants, but it costs a lot less. At around $14 a pop, I don't mind taking cuttings from the one plant and being patient.