what's up on the porch?

Here's an update of what's progressing along this spring.  My trays of seedlings have been very productive; my Mona lavender cuttings all too although to be honest I haven't actually decided where to put them yet!  My melon seeds both germinated (though I'll only plant one) and my second lot of basil has sprouted.  I planted two beans directly in the pot but neither came up, I think I planted them too deeply, so I'm glad I started one in a punnet.  I've started a second one too and this one went into its pot after I took this photo.

I started more basil because I had a spot I could put a second plant, but I may need to replace the first one.  Either slugs or earwigs have turned my little seedling into this!

Looks like I may need to buy a punnet if I want basil anytime soon. 

Speaking of the Mona lavender, this is what it looks like this year.  It's still fairly compact but I may need to tip prune it this summer, it's gone quite bushy.  No flower buds yet, I think it flowers in the height of summer.

This little surprise greeted me on the porch recently.  My other succulents have all flowered before but this is the first time the jelly beans have flowered.  Not a terribly exciting flower but still pretty sweet.

And just off the porch, my chilies are powering away.  Unfortunately they're really tiny at the moment, I'm not sure if that's the cold or that it's not getting enough sun just yet.  But the latest batch are a bit bigger and they're certainly potent!  I've already been using them.

And this isn't really on the porch,  but my Chilean jasmine has its first flower buds!  They're still tiny but I can't wait until they open.

beautiful mona, hydrangeas and bees

My plectranthus Mona lavender has really come into its own!  Just look at all of those flowers.

I've got a little bud vase inside and picked a few.  It made me realise something I hadn't noticed - the "face" of the flowers is beautifully patterned.  You just can't see those details from above.

My oakleaf hydrangeas are also looking lovely.  They put out a second flush of flowers mid-summer and they're starting to colour up beautifully. 

I'm also realising this year the value in having autumn-flowering plants.  I've started to notice so many bees on my salvia, basil, gaura and the last of the lavender.  They probably appreciate this last feast before winter.

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.

february flowers

February's usually such a scorching month that nothing flowers except oleander. But there are a few lovely blooms in the garden at the moment. My plectranthus is still going strong, thickening out and flowering more and more. The drimiopsis below it is also filling out nicely.

I planted some impatiens last week and they are going crazy. I just love that deep red.

And my crepe myrtle has just started to flower! I thought I'd take a close-up picture now and a full-sized picture when most of the flowers are open. I never really noticed how each individual flower looks like it violently exploded!

more fun with cuttings

The cuttings are doing great in this warmish, damp weather.  The kenilworth ivy all rooted really well, as you an see here, so I decided to plant it out along the narrow front bed under the birch trees.  The blackbirds kick the bark dust into the path all the time, so I'm hoping it'll form a mat that along the edge so there's nothing for them to kick.

Three out of the four salvia cuttings have taken, and almost all the Mona lavender cuttings are taking too.  I don't know what I'll do with all these plants but it's good to have them on hand.  The Mona lavender cuttings in the ground are starting to spring up nicely too.

With a bit of patience, cuttings sure are a great way of getting free plants.  I'm finding that the trick is to keep them moist at all times but not too wet, and to make sure they don't get too hot.

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.

final plans for the west bed

I widened the front half of the west bed last weekend and decided on ajuga reptans "black scallop". It's probably the darkest form of ajuga, I though the colour would be a nice contrast to the black stems on the colocasia, and the flowers are a nice bonus. They're just little now but they'll spread a fair bit.

Not that you can see them, but here's the bed with the ajuga in.

I though long and hard about what to put between the ajuga, if anything. I finally decided on more plectranthus "mona lavender" after being given an unexpected opportunity to try to strike some cuttings. Yet another limb snapped off (dang that plant is brittle) but this time I thought I'd try to make some new plants from it. I've got a whole set of cuttings going now! On the right is Kenilworth ivy, on the left are cuttings from my tequila blue salvia, and after this photo I added some from the plectranthrus. So far none of them have died and the salvia's already sprouting new growth.

In any case, the pletranthrus should look lovely with its dark green foliage and the purple-black undersides. I still haven't seen it flower yet but it's meant to be beautiful.

plectranthus "mona lavender"

As part of my mission to introduce more lush, foresty plants around the place I decided to try out a relatively new variety of plant, plectranthus "Mona Lavender." I'd never seen them before but they were stunning - green leaves with purple-black undersides and flowers that look like lavender. I had one in mind for this spot, where that purplish scraggly hebe bush is next to the garage door. I never liked that hebe, it doesn't get enough sun so it's leggy and never flowers. It's only good for catching the door when it opens too far.

The plectranthrus had a hard time of it before it was properly planted out. First a branch got snapped off overnight, I'm guessing one of the cats got to it. Then I started faffing about finding a good-sized rock or paver to put in the ground to keep the door from swinging into the plectranthus. But of course, before said rock was in place I went to get something from the garage without closing the door and it - as usual - sung open and into the newly-planted plectranthus, snapping off another branch. So it's a bit smaller than when I first bought it, but it should be fine. I'm told that once it settles in it should take off quickly and fill the space out nicely. The flowers will just be a nice bonus! Look at that foliage! The green really isn't as yellow as it looks in the photo but the purple-black really is that dark. It looks great near those little begonias. They're the same ones I planted last year but they survived the winter so I'm leaving them be.