tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51977255769887379922024-03-12T16:07:25.599-07:00The Garden at Possum CreekMusings in a country garden in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges, just outside MelbourneJill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.comBlogger247125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-48776477640583262112019-07-19T13:54:00.001-07:002019-07-19T13:54:33.686-07:00In the Pink (& Purple)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CYC1JxBSdo0/XTIsE6ydi5I/AAAAAAAACtk/tKMgGsgRPdkJhG7IsR30xSsws6zlUdcPACLcBGAs/s1600/100_1056.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1203" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CYC1JxBSdo0/XTIsE6ydi5I/AAAAAAAACtk/tKMgGsgRPdkJhG7IsR30xSsws6zlUdcPACLcBGAs/s640/100_1056.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was at my garden club last week, and pricked up my ears
when I heard someone mention poppies. (I Love Poppies.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was a rainy day and so it was good weather, I heard,
to sow poppy seeds, particularly the lovely Shirley poppies, named for the
place they arose. Annual plants, a form of Flander's (or Field) poppies, and
oh-so-charming. I'll toss some seeds over the mulch in my pink-and-silver bed
and press down, hoping it's not too darn cold for them. (They produce masses of
seeds so I collect some each year - if they've germinated and grown.)</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iYvL72lhGdU/XTIsEumzh7I/AAAAAAAACts/Ru_M8hnvmWMU_7FLGtISZ5PEtkX9sSsmwCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN1334_Purple_Cauliflower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1369" data-original-width="1600" height="546" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iYvL72lhGdU/XTIsEumzh7I/AAAAAAAACts/Ru_M8hnvmWMU_7FLGtISZ5PEtkX9sSsmwCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN1334_Purple_Cauliflower.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The Shirley poppy strain (below) was developed</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">
from 1880 onwards by the Reverend William Wilkes, vicar of the parish of
Shirley in England. Wilkes found a variant of the red field Flander's poppy
(<i>Papaver rhoeus</i>) (last pic) that had a narrow white border around the petals, in a
corner of his garden adjoining arable fields. By careful selection over 20+
years he developed a strain of poppies ranging from white, pink and pale lilac.
(<i>Papaver rhoeus</i> are ruderal (they grow on waste ground) and segetal (they
grow in cornfields) so seeing them popping up around the Forum in Rome in late spring
some years ago was magical. They filled some corn fields near Monet's garden (at
Giverny) in France, too, and we sat, eating our picnic lunch, surrounded by
them in May.)</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8ZcLFOu-btA/XTIsEOnYHFI/AAAAAAAACtw/hd0krbi4MSMLMXG9aaCqfdAJrSKxhLemgCEwYBhgL/s1600/100_1104_Shirley_Poppy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1583" data-original-width="1600" height="632" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8ZcLFOu-btA/XTIsEOnYHFI/AAAAAAAACtw/hd0krbi4MSMLMXG9aaCqfdAJrSKxhLemgCEwYBhgL/s640/100_1104_Shirley_Poppy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I look around the winter garden and I see some pink: the
lovely little myrtaceous flowers of two thryptomenes, some small cerise <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cyclamen coum</i> and the candy-pink of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bergenia</i>. A few pink and plum hellebores
are starting to peep out.</span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There's some pink - almost purple in the potager, too.
What were bought as purple broccoli have developed into another brassica,
cauliflowers with heads rather cerise-mauve, probably `Sicily Purple' (second pic). I
wouldn't have bought these, because I've never had success with cauliflower, which
are usually, for me, adorned with copious caterpillars and little greens
critters and even soft rot. Oddly, my broccoli have never succumbed to any of
these (yet). But I'm pleased to have this lovely little success with a new
plant, and I'm just waiting to see if it's as delicious as it is striking. And,
importantly, do the florets keep their colour when cooked? One way to find out!</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DQW7frNsfIE/XTIsFDruSvI/AAAAAAAACt0/DDxvVs3KLDwmgE-KxweOa_cyNCgNYodnQCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_6073.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="576" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DQW7frNsfIE/XTIsFDruSvI/AAAAAAAACt0/DDxvVs3KLDwmgE-KxweOa_cyNCgNYodnQCEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_6073.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Later...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So my pink-purple cauliflower changes to green when
cooked, just like the (unrelated) purple peas and beans. Florets roasted with
green and chartreuse broccoli (`Romanesco'), topped with grated parmesan cheese,
made an...interesting side dish. But I'm chatting with a friend who mentions
purple potatoes; potatoes with flesh of purple which cooks to a nice mauve. (She
didn't know the type (maybe `Purple Peruvian', `Purple Majesty' or
`Vitilette'), so I'm thinking of searching for one of these - and the more
purple, the better.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We already have a potato bed, in an old corrugated iron tank,
filled with kipfler potatoes. Maybe we need another potato bed...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout
Victoria. (<a href="http://www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-86764842877211659762019-04-19T15:03:00.001-07:002019-04-19T15:03:38.849-07:00Sowing Carrot (and Other) Seeds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kTZ4dk5uiEo/XLpDQEynkYI/AAAAAAAACsE/DbwOYnsO6hYpjBXVlv5Z0eoNa5qbM8foQCLcBGAs/s1600/Trachemene2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="695" data-original-width="733" height="606" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kTZ4dk5uiEo/XLpDQEynkYI/AAAAAAAACsE/DbwOYnsO6hYpjBXVlv5Z0eoNa5qbM8foQCLcBGAs/s640/Trachemene2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I gave a talk about seeds the other day. (Please don't
yawn, dear reader!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Seeds are amazing - look at how they can detect gravity,
for example (to push the shoot up and the roots downwards). And detect diurnal
temperature fluctuations (so they don't germinate when too deep); when I was
studying horticulture many years ago, a fellow student told me about gardeners
digging up an area of lawn for a new garden bed - just where there'd been a
flower bed 100 years earlier - in the Malmsbury Botanic Garden. Lo and behold,
seeds, buried too deep until now, germinated; and staff could see the genus and
species of what plants had been grown there (but as hybrids, so possibly not
the same colour) so long ago. It seems like a little bit of magic, doesn't it?</span></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qkflvka27Co/XLpDOyjU5iI/AAAAAAAACsU/hFBs688Hr6M2NU_ODQvJ7iTfUkiPO-MtwCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN0579_Carrot_seed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qkflvka27Co/XLpDOyjU5iI/AAAAAAAACsU/hFBs688Hr6M2NU_ODQvJ7iTfUkiPO-MtwCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN0579_Carrot_seed.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fortuitously, I gave the talk - by chance - in mid-April,
right after some good rain, and while the soil is still warm, so I could say
`plants seeds now'! (And keep well watered - the rain hasn't penetrated the
soil that far yet.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">(Planting cold-weather plants and veg (not warm-weather
veg: tomatoes, pumpkins,zucchini), except celery seeds which dislike warm soil
and are better planted in May in Melbourne; probably in April in the highest
reaches of my beloved Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, like Olinda and Mt
Dandenong.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I moved my little hens recently from one veg garden bed
to another, and planted the newly manured bed (thank you girls) with winter
vegetables earlier than usual. The broccoli, kale and leek seedlings are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>doing so much better than when I pop them
into cold soil - usually in May - which makes them just sit there, sulking, not
growing roots or top growth (and who can blame them?).</span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mUZIFU0-lAg/XLpDQf8MMAI/AAAAAAAACsU/PvJ571AuuzAZtPXSp5afxTQqaNkA82wkQCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN5363.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="727" data-original-width="918" height="506" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mUZIFU0-lAg/XLpDQf8MMAI/AAAAAAAACsU/PvJ571AuuzAZtPXSp5afxTQqaNkA82wkQCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN5363.JPG" width="640" /></a>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Recently I had to pull out a few overgrown veg from a bed
with, among other vegetables, purple carrot seedlings. (As seedling-bought
plants they have suffered a brief lack of water at one point (maybe at the
nursery) and so they bolted, producing pretty umbels of flowers - which I
rather liked. (This is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Trachymene,</i>
top, with an umbrella-like head, rather similar to a Queen Anne's Lace carrot flower
umbel, from the same family, <span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Apiaceae or Umbelliferae.</span>) I love
collecting home-grown seeds from old plants, like kale, and these carrots, that
have gone to seed, and if I sow immediately, there's a very high germination
rate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So I sowed some carrot seed and kept some seeds for
later. I picked some browned seed heads and popped some in a bowl, labelled, in
the house to dry before storing in a cool, dry, dark place; some I scattered in
the veg patch and had a wonderful germination rate (above)with too many seedlings too
close. I need to move some (on a cool day) and thin them, too. I find this
happens with leeks, too.</span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OXlhfnSZV1s/XLpDPzsutvI/AAAAAAAACsU/RSBDUA6_oo80tRmwseNTD1UQsKr00C8BgCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN0161.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OXlhfnSZV1s/XLpDPzsutvI/AAAAAAAACsU/RSBDUA6_oo80tRmwseNTD1UQsKr00C8BgCEwYBhgL/s400/DSCN0161.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After my talk a lovely
gentleman said he'd been told to plant seeds twice the depth of their length.
Surely that was in my talk, I thought? But no, when I shortened my talk
(keeping in flower pollinators (like my old echidna in the garden (above), moving bidgee-widgee
(<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Acaena</i>) seed balls or burrs (<span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">which attach itself to
animal fur or feathers aiding dispersal</span>) passively), and when to plant
most seeds (autumn, to give the plant a chance to settle in before our hot, dry
summer (not spring as they say in the ubiquitous English books and magazines),
germination inhibitors, and even NPK ratios for feeding plants), yep, I'd left
that out. Oops. (I'd discussed planting the seeds not too deeply, so that the
energy reserve lasts until the first leaf can unfurl and start receiving light
from the sun to become the energy source. But not: `<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">in general, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">seeds should be planted at
a depth of two times the width of the seed. </span>For example,
if you have a seed that's about 1mm wide, it should be planted about
2mm deep'. But for poppy seeds, I said, scatter over mulch, press in lightly
and, of course, water in well. Peas and beans - larger seeds - have a larger
energy source, so are planted more deeply.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It's back in now, in case I
give the talk to another garden club!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And I'm outside planting seeds
myself: yellow peas, broad beans with crimson flowers, black pansies, golden
chard. Just like when I was three, I'm getting so much satisfaction and joy
from the subsequent little seedlings, many from home-collected seed.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout
Victoria. (<a href="http://www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9aJ-NXxHbak/XLpDOZy0lFI/AAAAAAAACsM/B9_3I9gXfQMNc2AOH90guoZ0k8m4EMulQCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN0762_Seeds_The_Garden_at_Possum_Creek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="1024" height="368" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9aJ-NXxHbak/XLpDOZy0lFI/AAAAAAAACsM/B9_3I9gXfQMNc2AOH90guoZ0k8m4EMulQCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN0762_Seeds_The_Garden_at_Possum_Creek.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></span> </div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-59282577879081892092019-02-26T18:10:00.000-08:002019-02-26T18:10:19.920-08:00White Bulbs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--zjSMYLR1-w/XHXwtNGJhRI/AAAAAAAACrQ/xbIQoUVvDUQHVyzjGLHZCAaXIIszPEc-gCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN5315_Galtonia_candicans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="576" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--zjSMYLR1-w/XHXwtNGJhRI/AAAAAAAACrQ/xbIQoUVvDUQHVyzjGLHZCAaXIIszPEc-gCLcBGAs/s640/DSCN5315_Galtonia_candicans.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I
have a garden bed in whites, greens and a little grey. Oh, and a pale pink <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thryptomene,</i> giving a bit of body, and
catmint with softest mauve flowers in spring. All I had planned here was pretty
much cool colours to separate the pink rose garden, around my circle of grass
(rather brown just now), from a bed with some yellow barrenworts (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Epimedium</i>) down the hill a little.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Being
a hot, dry spot, it's been ideal for some spring bulbs and a few lovely white
bearded iris - with great silvery sword-like foliage - from my sister.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Late
spring brought on a swathe of sweet dwarf gladioli ('The Bride', below); finally I
have enough to make a splash, which you need in a country garden. (I think just
one of this or that, if small, looks spotty in a large garden. Trees are
different, of course.) They're just where visitors - or us in the kitchen - can
see the oh-so-pretty display, which is very welcome.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Flowering
now, in summer, we have tall cape hyacinths (<em>Galtonia candicans, </em>top) lending bridal purity to this bed. Almost
literally - these pretty bells were in my sister's January wedding posy, or so
Mum used to say.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7FDY8oAVbjI/XHXws82rstI/AAAAAAAACrY/Di6LErpITpUt7nMRF6rBpOCTiMC895-9gCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN9476_Gladiolus_The_Bride.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="735" data-original-width="1024" height="457" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7FDY8oAVbjI/XHXws82rstI/AAAAAAAACrY/Di6LErpITpUt7nMRF6rBpOCTiMC895-9gCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN9476_Gladiolus_The_Bride.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I've
recently added the white form of the trailing convolvulus; it's rather hard
grey leaves (colour-wise) adding another shade to the bed; I expect blooms in
spring.</span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It
feels like the garden is coming together, with this area showy now, then
another area having interest later, and so on. The wandering wallabies have
been excluded from the garden for what, 6 years now? And the growth is a lovely
thing to behold - with the garden giving me joy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">(We
still see the munching marsupials most days, nibbling just outside the gates.
They can disappear silently, or eye you up and down, then resume their meal.
The other day I reached the garden gate, then noticed, a metre away, a mumma
wallaby with tiny joey. I snatched my hand off the gate and did an about turn,
smartly. Glancing back, she seemed pretty nonchalant...and my shadehouse did
not get a water that day. Not a problem!)</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Gardens,
those areas of nature <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i>
contrivance, can give so much pleasure.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And joy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout
Victoria. (<a href="http://www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></div>
</span>Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-4228378159950603312019-01-18T10:36:00.001-08:002019-01-18T10:36:43.935-08:00Snowflakes and Moonlight<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FE7Rnop5NqQ/XEIawiuHpZI/AAAAAAAACqg/ipFfy-56M9A09YcHWRtof9tklixqtFHxwCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN8044%2B_Lilium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1318" data-original-width="1364" height="617" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FE7Rnop5NqQ/XEIawiuHpZI/AAAAAAAACqg/ipFfy-56M9A09YcHWRtof9tklixqtFHxwCLcBGAs/s640/DSCN8044%2B_Lilium.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I'm sitting in my living room looking out through a
south-facing window.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sometimes the colours outside are yellow and blue (roses,
iris) but right now they are peaceful and calming - in the colours of ice and
moonlight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Flowers of double oak-leaf hydrangea (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hydrangea quercifolia</i> `Snowflake', below) have pure
white florets emerging from soft green buds, in cone-shaped bunches - double
flowers and oh-so-pretty. The panicles are a long, long way away from the old, big
mop head type hydrangeas that aren't...subtle. These oak-leaf hydrangeas have
been flowering for a month or 2 now and barely needed a haircut. Looking closer
at the flowers, you see a little soft apple-green, too; exquisite! I love the
autumn foliage too: a few red leaves, but most leaves kept on, green, through
the winter months.</span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q02EYXsBRWw/XEIawYbqUOI/AAAAAAAACqo/f8KO9bmxSEgQ1M9YciJ8PHElMtQC3pDMwCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN0305_Hydrangea_quercifolia_Snowflake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="918" data-original-width="1280" height="457" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q02EYXsBRWw/XEIawYbqUOI/AAAAAAAACqo/f8KO9bmxSEgQ1M9YciJ8PHElMtQC3pDMwCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN0305_Hydrangea_quercifolia_Snowflake.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Tall lilies (probably <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lilium
auratum</i> hybrids, top), have opened large blooms of soft primrose; I love them. In
morning sun, they've not gotten sunburnt like some other lilies in the garden
and they're tolerating the hot weather well (nearly 40°C the other day). These,
the packet said, were about a metre high. Imagine my dismay when they didn't
fit into the planned garden scheme but poked their heads up high, swaying over
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anemone sylvestris</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Trollius</i>, enjoying the view. But...I can
enjoy them from my window, and when the flowers are over, I'll cut them down to
about a metre high or less. They still flower each year with this treatment -
perhaps with less flowers, but then, luckily, I don't like them top-heavy,
falling over, with huge bunches of flowers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">However, there's only 2 plants. So maybe in winter I'll
dig up the bulbs and pull off a few scales (modified leaves, like the rings in
an onion) to make more plants. (This way of propagating isn't just cheaper; it
leads to swathes of identical plants, for great effects and the less-is-more design
principle: not too many types of flowers.) In my country garden I need several
of each type of plant to avoid spottiness and to create great garden pictures.</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4mSV4_bFg5g/XEIawsERnyI/AAAAAAAACqw/2jel8zcTMPIksONVk-a7DsRSO_Tgak4ngCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN0302_Phygelius_%2Baequalis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="841" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4mSV4_bFg5g/XEIawsERnyI/AAAAAAAACqw/2jel8zcTMPIksONVk-a7DsRSO_Tgak4ngCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN0302_Phygelius_%2Baequalis.jpg" width="523" /></a>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Lemon cape fuchsia (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Phygelius
aequalis</i>, above), further back, is nearly 2m high and spreading; moreover its
blooms bring in the honeyeaters. I'm quite ambivalent about this plant; I don't
like the woodiness - especially in winter, after it's had a trim. It's starting
to spread, too. I often consider removing it but then I think about its mid-green
foliage in the warm months (it doesn't seem to burn and needs not a skerrick of
water), and most of all, its bird-attracting qualities (in summer, too!). This
lemon-flowering species is so much prettier than its salmon cousins, and its
colour is delicate - a good thing now, while the subshub is covered in flowers.
I like luring honeyeaters near the windows (with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Salvias</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Correas</i>, and this
cape fuchsia) along with the little birds that come to the birdbaths. All I can
do is cut back the cape fuchsia hard in winter, pull out suckers, and - enjoy
it now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And I am.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at<strong> </strong></span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><strong>Jill
Weatherhead Garden Design</strong></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> who lives in the Dandenong
Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria.
(<a href="http://www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-69129387959997563672018-11-29T10:16:00.001-08:002018-11-29T10:16:30.899-08:00Spring Flowers...and a Strange Season<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9UAv1J3-9LY/XAAos9d18OI/AAAAAAAACpg/ogcBtCRYHGo9CsKHbsfFH9odQVfgZPbmQCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN5951_Paeony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1076" height="608" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9UAv1J3-9LY/XAAos9d18OI/AAAAAAAACpg/ogcBtCRYHGo9CsKHbsfFH9odQVfgZPbmQCLcBGAs/s640/DSCN5951_Paeony.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What
a strange year it's been in Melbourne: autumn and winter droughts, little rain
in early spring, now torrents in late spring (no complaints from me). Our lime
tree nearly died and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Garrya</i>
`James Roof' looks haggard (and it refused to flower in winter; I sympathised
with this strike; better no flowers but a plant surviving, particularly a good
3m high evergreen shrub. This <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Garrya</i>
somewhat blocks the view of the henhouse from the house, so it's arguably the
most important plant in the garden (at least until the shrubs planted to screen
the sheds have grown another metre or 2).</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Yes,
I should have watered them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fHXoRZUPp5o/XAAoueJQPMI/AAAAAAAACqI/4elP3dAyPb0F5NkLu5AYHUGZnJgmecdZQCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_5272_Clematis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1501" data-original-width="1600" height="600" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fHXoRZUPp5o/XAAoueJQPMI/AAAAAAAACqI/4elP3dAyPb0F5NkLu5AYHUGZnJgmecdZQCEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_5272_Clematis.jpg" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But the spring flowers are so lovely this year:
masses of bluebells, bugle and a few paeonies (top) one minute, glorious species
gladioli (mainly petite The Bride...nearly a species) and fragrant English
roses (such as `Molineux', last pic) the next. </span>Clematis (above), too, one or 2 up a birdhouse pole and
others including `Prince Charles' climbing a large shrub (or `thrown up a tree'
as the Brits say) (I love the soft blue of this one even as my sister teases
me, an Australian republican (in a non-US way) about its inclusion in the
garden). Meanwhile little purple iris dotted all along the front path
beautifully matched our purple gate.</span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3UmpKFnek0k/XAAouJ_E76I/AAAAAAAACqA/evxdHZ7HjiwiPdnxpcbXlhsQsseBK9MlACEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN6282_Pandorea_pandorana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1549" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3UmpKFnek0k/XAAouJ_E76I/AAAAAAAACqA/evxdHZ7HjiwiPdnxpcbXlhsQsseBK9MlACEwYBhgL/s400/DSCN6282_Pandorea_pandorana.jpg" width="386" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And in the bush? Recently, myriads of pandorea (wonga
vine, <em>P. pandorana, </em>above) flowers, and
masses of exquisite clematis (starry <em>C.
aristata, </em>below) blooms, both climbing up gum trees, conferred lacy white smocks
and sometimes bonnets too. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4VBeAb2m7D4/XAAotGFYXGI/AAAAAAAACp8/DIt_9PjfhIcMVA4LrQt_aGrpvbL7wOhPQCEwYBhgL/s1600/Clematis_aristata.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1347" data-original-width="1600" height="537" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4VBeAb2m7D4/XAAotGFYXGI/AAAAAAAACp8/DIt_9PjfhIcMVA4LrQt_aGrpvbL7wOhPQCEwYBhgL/s640/Clematis_aristata.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Were
they flowering so prolifically because of the green drought?</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ygHKx5buCEI/XAAouD4DFxI/AAAAAAAACqA/e_oCYKYkIdgf_xb1Auj3kROtblJShCeBgCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8243_Clematis_aristata.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ygHKx5buCEI/XAAouD4DFxI/AAAAAAAACqA/e_oCYKYkIdgf_xb1Auj3kROtblJShCeBgCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN8243_Clematis_aristata.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">These native climbers are over now, but we have
a lovely surprise by our gate (where there's some remnant bush): a grass tree
(below) which has flowered once before, has sent up 4 showy spikes of white
florets...that smell like semen. Yes, really. </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Xanthorrea australis</i>, the eastern species with a subterranean trunk, unlike the remarkable ones found west of Melbourne across to Western Australia, each with its grassy clump atop a dramatic, above-ground black trunk.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YugQ3BuoDCE/XAAotDe4wOI/AAAAAAAACqI/Lf2zd47d_ZwNgG_a69Yt-WFeOMaSjOXqACEwYBhgL/s1600/20181122_163825_Xanthorrea_australis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YugQ3BuoDCE/XAAotDe4wOI/AAAAAAAACqI/Lf2zd47d_ZwNgG_a69Yt-WFeOMaSjOXqACEwYBhgL/s640/20181122_163825_Xanthorrea_australis.jpg" width="480" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So...did
the drought cause this floriforescence (if that's a word)? I think so. </span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I'm
enjoying the show...so much.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria.
(<a href="http://www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-llzbJhRyjSc/XAAovHJzNHI/AAAAAAAACqE/f_1nAz0rEo4Xru8-CufdBsQJpMnq036sACEwYBhgL/s1600/P1040801_Rosa_Molineux.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1197" height="546" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-llzbJhRyjSc/XAAovHJzNHI/AAAAAAAACqE/f_1nAz0rEo4Xru8-CufdBsQJpMnq036sACEwYBhgL/s640/P1040801_Rosa_Molineux.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></span></div>
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Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-34834187067745618142018-10-17T17:23:00.001-07:002018-10-17T17:23:51.440-07:00Spring, Glorious Spring<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sA_q01mxz1M/W8fRJbmDvSI/AAAAAAAACn4/J6wRyPeExdsSCgbncQ6mt-b7h_HfEAVpQCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN4321_Sanguinaria_canadensis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="824" height="372" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sA_q01mxz1M/W8fRJbmDvSI/AAAAAAAACn4/J6wRyPeExdsSCgbncQ6mt-b7h_HfEAVpQCLcBGAs/s400/DSCN4321_Sanguinaria_canadensis.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">How
I love this time of year - for the profusion of flowers <u>and</u> the soft
sunshine. Well, and rain today, which is a Very Good Thing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Melbourne's
springs are spectacular and, at 170m altitude, we're not too different.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This
week's joy has been a trio in the raspberry and silver bed. About 5 clumps of
Queen of the Night tulips have opened their blackberry petals; an evergreen
cranesbill is attired in pink-purple little blooms (a variety of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Geranium phaeum</i>, possibly `Alec's Pink');
and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anthriscus</i> `Ravenswing' is opening
dainty Queen Anne's Lace flowers above plum foliage (below).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nR6NT-9InjA/W8fRMKxxBRI/AAAAAAAACoM/UksgIBIgjCMBc49BhOKrB-rz1rGgWmzagCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN9234_Plum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1248" height="524" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nR6NT-9InjA/W8fRMKxxBRI/AAAAAAAACoM/UksgIBIgjCMBc49BhOKrB-rz1rGgWmzagCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN9234_Plum.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In
another part of the garden, further from the house, dazzlingly white lacecap
flowers have opened on a favourite shrub, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Viburnum
plicatum</i> `Mariesii', a paragon growing slowly in poor soil and never
watered (last pic). Nearby, Spanish bluebells, yes, a bit weedy, are tying in with the
lovely azure flowers of large bugle, Ajuga `Jungle Beauty' (below). I like these blues
together but I should add some white or, better yet, lemon to make this picture
sing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8JoQML9t5EI/W8fRMHQn1JI/AAAAAAAACoQ/CkfxLrgXRSwGCEn9mmjDtSYtijAMe4BagCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN9237_Blues.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="938" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8JoQML9t5EI/W8fRMHQn1JI/AAAAAAAACoQ/CkfxLrgXRSwGCEn9mmjDtSYtijAMe4BagCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN9237_Blues.jpg" width="586" /></a>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And
so many perennials are popping their heads up, cautiously: `is winter really
over?' they seem to be asking. A lovely perennial from the cool forests of
eastern North America is bloodroot (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sanginaria
canadensis</i>, top) with pristine snowy flowers over handsome, slightly glaucous oak-leaves
which last until late autumn. Like many perennials, it's pretty easy to divide (be
careful to avoid the poisonous orange latex or juice) to create more clumps
and, to my great surprise, a piece I planted last year (which promptly died
down in objection to my dry-ish, unwatered garden) has risen like Lazarus with
both flowers and leaves.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How
can I go on holiday now, I ask J, and miss all this bliss?</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria.
(<a href="http://www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-39630380484525884822018-09-22T12:46:00.001-07:002018-09-22T12:46:40.347-07:00Cool Coloured Edible Flowers <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--WjQDkmEyug/W6aYRHBNgLI/AAAAAAAACnI/rYanUitg4no0SDoJ9AlUr6JnNNeOPNX1wCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN6745.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1079" data-original-width="1600" height="430" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--WjQDkmEyug/W6aYRHBNgLI/AAAAAAAACnI/rYanUitg4no0SDoJ9AlUr6JnNNeOPNX1wCLcBGAs/s640/DSCN6745.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Heart's
Ease (above) is what my English mum, gardener and botanist, called those pretty, small <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Viola</i> known here in Australia as Johnny
Jump Ups. Also known as wild pansy, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Viola
tricola</i> is a sweet, hardy annual but rather fond of self-sowing with
abandon, otherwise I'd grow it - the lovely dark purple form grown in the
1970's without too much yellow (or other colours) as well. Just pick to add to
salads or decorate cakes; the flowers can be eaten whole. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rh_qvnzQXNg/W6aYSWYbyWI/AAAAAAAACnk/8W0995rkeFIeQGMFYQUwfLI3QJ4HXJKLQCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN9122%2Bpansy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1395" data-original-width="1600" height="558" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rh_qvnzQXNg/W6aYSWYbyWI/AAAAAAAACnk/8W0995rkeFIeQGMFYQUwfLI3QJ4HXJKLQCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN9122%2Bpansy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Larger
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Viola </i>- pansies (above) - in all the colours
of the rainbow (bar true blue or bright red) just don't self-sow as much, if at
all. So I can grow them in my edible patch which is a hop, skip and a (Johnny)
jump from lovely bushland. We're lucky enough to live amongst the gums and the
wattles and many wild orchids, so we try to be responsible.</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
it's so much fun to add lemon pansies to a gold chard bed, and black ones
amongst Tuscan kale and purple broccoli. (The yellow crucifer kale flowers are
probably edible...I'll keep you posted.) Pansies are large flowers so perhaps
use sparingly.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B_OxqxUbwFI/W6aYPyhuJ9I/AAAAAAAACnk/dEsIrcGJtogVSDD3VqjgJBWPHyFYhtm6wCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180920_142609.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1056" data-original-width="1174" height="572" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B_OxqxUbwFI/W6aYPyhuJ9I/AAAAAAAACnk/dEsIrcGJtogVSDD3VqjgJBWPHyFYhtm6wCEwYBhgL/s640/20180920_142609.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Lavender
flowers (above) can be eaten too; just pull apart the clustered blooms and sprinkle
onto chocolate cake....mmm. The tiny flowers can be added to drinks too, but in
moderation - they have a strong floral flavour. I like having lavenders in the
veg patch; not just pretty and edible plants, they attract bees too.</span></span></span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XBtFVm4YdwA/W6aYSF68_JI/AAAAAAAACng/sbQd42OS2jcdP0jHKLJjsHC2QFrCBiRFwCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8991.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1583" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XBtFVm4YdwA/W6aYSF68_JI/AAAAAAAACng/sbQd42OS2jcdP0jHKLJjsHC2QFrCBiRFwCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN8991.JPG" width="632" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Bergamot,
or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Monarda didyma</i>, is sometimes known
as bee balm and has pretty pink or red flowers in summer, occasionally mauve.
Pull off the petals then add to cakes, drinks and salads. I haven't tried the
young leaves but these are said to be edible too and when dried can make a
herbal tea.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3nC_gD7KdUo/W6aYPx1ihyI/AAAAAAAACnY/OdZP6G7BlLMQhZRWfZlC6wq4T81Qb-MrACEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN2430.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1503" data-original-width="1600" height="600" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3nC_gD7KdUo/W6aYPx1ihyI/AAAAAAAACnY/OdZP6G7BlLMQhZRWfZlC6wq4T81Qb-MrACEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN2430.JPG" width="640" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Borage
is well known for its edible flowers. The starry sky-blue flowers can,
famously, be frozen into ice cubes and, yes, added to drinks. Like lemon, lime
and bitters. Mmm. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Borago officionalis</i>
is an annual herb and (sadly for me) flings seeds around generously. But if you
grow it, then salads will look pretty with a sprinkling of these pretty blooms,
or use a couple of sprigs to decorate cheese platters.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IB5Y20Nalyw/W6aYRVqTM8I/AAAAAAAACnc/3ZiCbtMZQoIgeUwSOQLsS04Nha243VzhwCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8817.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1304" data-original-width="1600" height="520" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IB5Y20Nalyw/W6aYRVqTM8I/AAAAAAAACnc/3ZiCbtMZQoIgeUwSOQLsS04Nha243VzhwCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN8817.JPG" width="640" /></a>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Anise
Hyssop, or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Agastache</i>, a mint
relative, is a perennial with pink or lilac flowers in summer and autumn, which
attract butterflies. The mauve-flowering </span><i><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Agastache foeniculum</span></i><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> has edible flowers
(and the soft, anise-scented leaves are said to be used as a seasoning, as
a tea and in potpourri</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">). <span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pull off the tubular petals
and scatter in salads or in drinks for a dash of colour and mildly liquorice
flavour. This perennial is handy as it blooms after many other herbs have
declined, but I am not sure if the hybrids, like this pink variety `Sangria' (above) are
edible too. Munchers beware!</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UaxLGzHxI4o/W6aYPmxxhNI/AAAAAAAACng/ypNxH4A14tkeC3QZBVurhohcDh_QNcq7ACEwYBhgL/s1600/20180920_145124.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="772" data-original-width="872" height="566" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UaxLGzHxI4o/W6aYPmxxhNI/AAAAAAAACng/ypNxH4A14tkeC3QZBVurhohcDh_QNcq7ACEwYBhgL/s640/20180920_145124.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Lastly
English daisy (above), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bellis perennis</i>, a
small plant with sweet little flowers, white and pink-backed. I love seeing
this sweet perennial scattered through a lawn but as a fairly prolific
generator of new little plants, it, obviously, doesn't grow here at Possum
Creek. I enjoy it in the gardens of city friends who use the tiny petals (the
whole flower is edible, if bitter). But I'd use the whole flower on cakes;
they're just so pretty.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So
jazz up cakes, soups, drinks and especially salads with some of these
edible flowers. Some in moderation, but some, like Heart's Ease, can be
scattered densely and look oh-so-wonderful!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria.
(<a href="http://www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-74851624062953423912018-08-20T14:14:00.004-07:002018-08-20T14:14:59.207-07:00More (Petite) Bulbous Treasures of Late Winter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tCeSmefLmpU/W3stLK-CMbI/AAAAAAAACmM/Qh91fUCApvs75UnFBeq5emGpAZUkYHDHQCLcBGAs/s1600/20180814_140523_Crocus_tommasinianus_Pictus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="910" data-original-width="1245" height="467" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tCeSmefLmpU/W3stLK-CMbI/AAAAAAAACmM/Qh91fUCApvs75UnFBeq5emGpAZUkYHDHQCLcBGAs/s640/20180814_140523_Crocus_tommasinianus_Pictus.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Spring seems just around the corner, with more bulbous
treasures popping up
every day around the garden.<br />
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Narcissus `Dove Wings' (below) is fading; the cups (corollas)
opened bright lemon but a week later they're cream; still very pretty. <span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I love the look of these
sweet clumps and this little daff seems to be increasing nicely.</span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ps8jy39BUtc/W3stMWAjBUI/AAAAAAAACmk/ptqg9Ceyei09HJzY_yTtjN_rre3DMgd9wCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8889_Narcissus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="866" data-original-width="1280" height="432" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ps8jy39BUtc/W3stMWAjBUI/AAAAAAAACmk/ptqg9Ceyei09HJzY_yTtjN_rre3DMgd9wCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN8889_Narcissus.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Showing off are the lilac blooms of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Crocus tommasinianus</i> `Pictus', a hardy
corm (top). The flowers open<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
up in warmth, and in sunshine. I can't have put more than 3 corms in this
little pot so each is blooming superbly.</span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AlvvXj8_b7U/W3stLeW3M3I/AAAAAAAACmg/AGi3klp5u382YDIkzoz-Vq4iRdW1KadvwCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180814_131017_Hermodactylis_tuberosus_Iris_tuberosa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1030" height="596" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AlvvXj8_b7U/W3stLeW3M3I/AAAAAAAACmg/AGi3klp5u382YDIkzoz-Vq4iRdW1KadvwCEwYBhgL/s640/20180814_131017_Hermodactylis_tuberosus_Iris_tuberosa.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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For the first time I'm growing velvet-black and apple
green <i>Iris tuberosa (Hermodactylus
tuberosus</i>, Morning Widow Iris, Snake's Head, above), a tuberous perennial from the
Mediterranean, so it should do well here.</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e9JyNIzlC54/W3stLFTxwNI/AAAAAAAACmY/RDjj35tTmBo1EbnQWa_FmSrTCgUMEHzHgCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180723_140152_Pterostylis_nutans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1074" data-original-width="913" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e9JyNIzlC54/W3stLFTxwNI/AAAAAAAACmY/RDjj35tTmBo1EbnQWa_FmSrTCgUMEHzHgCEwYBhgL/s640/20180723_140152_Pterostylis_nutans.jpg" width="544" /></a></div>
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Greenhood orchids - tuberous perennials native to
south-eastern Australia - are still emerging. Nodding Greenhood Orchids (<i>Pterostylis nutans</i>, above) have a long
flowering season from late winter to late spring and dot many a bushland
reserve, so look out for these sweet harbingers of spring. I've also bought a
couple of tubes of Nodding Greenhood in the past, and they've filled up a nice
pot (now by the front door).</div>
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Many
of these treasures remind me of the wonderful Mr Harvey. Marcus, we miss you. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i>Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </i><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i>
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria.
(www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au)</i></div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-16491378774981701022018-08-03T16:44:00.000-07:002018-08-03T16:44:02.558-07:00Bulbous Treasures of Late Winter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wn1BLNUqNCA/W2TmTltKRNI/AAAAAAAAClc/he_ohEGn5I01nqnlVr4mr2FYn9gxkDYegCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8803_Narcissus_Spoirot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wn1BLNUqNCA/W2TmTltKRNI/AAAAAAAAClc/he_ohEGn5I01nqnlVr4mr2FYn9gxkDYegCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN8803_Narcissus_Spoirot.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">August has heralded in the first of the late winter/
early spring bulbous flowers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cyclamen coum</i>
(below) is a reliable little tuber with flowers all the way from cerise to white (often
with crimson blotches; the pure white form is uncommon). This cyclamen started
flowering a month ago, overlapping nicely with autumn-blooming <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">C. hederifolium</i>, the toughest, easiest
and most available of the genus. (Pictured with a pretty, silver-leaf form of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">C. hederifolium.</i>) Most of the genus are
from the Mediterranean area and relish Melbourne's heat (in summer-shade, that
is; and don't dry out the corm but keep it a tad moist in summer). I'll wait until
they are dormant and plant some of these tubers between other bulbs, including <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">C. hederifolium, </i>in drifts.</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kyF4rW65Mxg/W2TmUip-PiI/AAAAAAAACl0/4PYdRaFSWCouySPt-5Dn1DlBeFvR7yQDgCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8819_Cyclamen_coum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="867" data-original-width="1280" height="432" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kyF4rW65Mxg/W2TmUip-PiI/AAAAAAAACl0/4PYdRaFSWCouySPt-5Dn1DlBeFvR7yQDgCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN8819_Cyclamen_coum.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Rod Barwick at Glenbrook Nursery in Tasmania, has been
breeding <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Narcissus</i> for decades. This
hoop petticoat daffodil, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Narcissus</i>
`Spoirot' (top), is one of Rod's; lemon, flared `petticoat' (corolla), easy to grow,
flowers in winter...what's not to love? I must release it from this pot and
into the garden where it could increase into a wonderful clump. Maybe somewhere
between the back door and the hens, so that I can enjoy them every day.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SmZlw62EW24/W2TmU1mRorI/AAAAAAAACl0/CbfNOesY2bQANZeBcSXho6S2kDb1N6MHQCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8822_Galanthus_plicatus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="778" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SmZlw62EW24/W2TmU1mRorI/AAAAAAAACl0/CbfNOesY2bQANZeBcSXho6S2kDb1N6MHQCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN8822_Galanthus_plicatus.jpg" width="486" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Snowdrops (above) are very sweet, diminutive bulbs that are
multiplying slowly, even in pots. (I love the (green-blotched) pure white
flowers in little terracotta pots, particularly after an aged-looking patina
has developed on the pot.) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Galanthus
plicatus</i>, like most, is not from England (as many nurseries claim), nor is
it like the weedy, taller snowflake (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Leucojum</i>).
The specific epithet refers to the pleated, grey-green leaves. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">G. plicatus</i> hails from eastern Europe,
Turkey and the Caucasus; no wonder it's hardy and easy to grow here. (My mother
grew it too, in Emerald, so it can take quite a bit of winter-cold.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When our sweet resident wallaby wandered in - and ate -
the garden, I kept many treasures in my shade-house. My garden club, the Alpine
Garden Society (Victorian Chapter), sponsored UK botanist and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Galanthus</i> expert botanist John Grimshaw
to come and give us lectures a few years ago. He commented that surely
snowdrops wouldn't be grazed by my munching marsupials - no doubt from his
experience with deer and the like. Maybe we have more in common, and fewer
differences, than you would expect. Gingerly I brought my snowdrops out and, of
course, John was right. (The wallaby-proof fence helps protect all my plants
now, anyhow.) Now any <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Galanthus</i> in
plastic pots are popped in the ground - but I'll keep some in terracotta pots
so that I can bring them to the front door area in winter.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yQFSQFcXi9I/W2TmTuBJy-I/AAAAAAAAClw/HN6ep1mWp-4j6QgDVve83S6q9BUQ11a9ACEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8813_Crocus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="790" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yQFSQFcXi9I/W2TmTuBJy-I/AAAAAAAAClw/HN6ep1mWp-4j6QgDVve83S6q9BUQ11a9ACEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN8813_Crocus.jpg" width="492" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Winter crocus (above) are blooming in one of my troughs, but
after what, 10 years?, I've misplaced the label. It's odd, isn't it, how we
like to know the names of our plants, instead of purely enjoying the show.
(Although I don't want to buy the same one again...)</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_1cJb0GBT58/W2TmTbM8bBI/AAAAAAAAClw/I4DfJbDumiQDT9ZRjpk_pVNiPskKvGCcgCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8815_Tecophilaea_cyanocrocus_Leichtinii.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_1cJb0GBT58/W2TmTbM8bBI/AAAAAAAAClw/I4DfJbDumiQDT9ZRjpk_pVNiPskKvGCcgCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN8815_Tecophilaea_cyanocrocus_Leichtinii.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My home-made troughs that look (I hope) like stone, are
home to many little gems. This week one of my favourite bulbs flowered amongst
the saxifrages: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tecophilaea cyanocrocus</i>
`Leichtinii' (above) or pale blue `crocus'. The pure blue is hard to comprehend; so few
flowers are true blue, let alone sky-blue. (Most have a touch of purple.) It's
a lovely little cup or crocus-shaped flower, too. The species is an
extraordinary deep blue - rare and expensive, I'm afraid - and delicious to
snails!</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All these bulbs are petite, which I love; fabulous harbingers
of spring which are so welcome.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria.
(<a href="http://www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-46444419565429063762018-07-20T14:49:00.001-07:002018-07-20T14:49:07.327-07:00A Modern Meadow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-in1bHnYiSZU/W1JVM2xaK2I/AAAAAAAACkw/Tuh2TLghB0MyXU5PQRk8b-Bf6oTCLk3lACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_7194_Meadow_Great_Dixter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="878" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-in1bHnYiSZU/W1JVM2xaK2I/AAAAAAAACkw/Tuh2TLghB0MyXU5PQRk8b-Bf6oTCLk3lACLcBGAs/s640/IMG_7194_Meadow_Great_Dixter.jpg" width="548" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
have a perennial garden bed in silver, green and flowers in all colours of the
summer fruits - strawberry, raspberry to cherry and blackberry. Palest pink
perennials to plum-black tulips, all in a bed given structure with 5 green spheres,
that is to say, vegetable balls, all in a row.<o:p></o:p></span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">About
a year ago I was thinking about adding grasses for a meadow-like effect (above, the meadow at Great Dixter, Sussex) and consulted
he-who-works-in-conservation. Would kangaroo grass (<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><em>Themeda, </em></span>below) pass the
(conservation/non-weedy) test? It would. Would kangaroo grass be tall enough, upright
and defining, adding a definite new element? We'll see. It took us a while
to visit our local indigenous nursery (the wonderful Birdsland) and choose
about 6 plants in little tubes. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Will
it make an Australian meadow? Probably not; there's so many exotics: bulbs,
perennials...although at least my green spheres are of one of the new dwarf
native rosemary (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Westringea</i>) cultivars.</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But
could I make myself plant the grasses randomly? Well, no.</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Four
went in, in pairs, parallel to the path, between the central 3 balls. I waited
a week and then popped in the last 2, nearer the path, forming equilateral
triangles with the other pairs.</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Have
I mentioned this to J, a lover of the informal? Noooo.</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let's
keep it our secret.</span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vm8_A4MsqCU/W1JVNLFcpcI/AAAAAAAACk8/Ri5hXW7GEw0lfRwUEsQxDM1Au59ctMcDwCEwYBhgL/s1600/KangarooGrass%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="798" data-original-width="767" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vm8_A4MsqCU/W1JVNLFcpcI/AAAAAAAACk8/Ri5hXW7GEw0lfRwUEsQxDM1Au59ctMcDwCEwYBhgL/s640/KangarooGrass%2B2.jpg" width="614" /></a></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria.
(<a href="http://www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-17652540697507183002018-07-12T15:47:00.001-07:002018-07-12T15:47:46.277-07:00Winter Clematis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L_OlrGXZSnk/W0fYu4VPT_I/AAAAAAAACkQ/iSey6D1lEtg6mFP72YWqe6y_KpQc5x7hgCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN8745_Clematis_cirrhosa_Lansdowne_Gem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="628" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L_OlrGXZSnk/W0fYu4VPT_I/AAAAAAAACkQ/iSey6D1lEtg6mFP72YWqe6y_KpQc5x7hgCLcBGAs/s640/DSCN8745_Clematis_cirrhosa_Lansdowne_Gem.jpg" width="523" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One of the gems of the winter garden is Early
Virgin's-Bower or Fern-leaf Clematis (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Clematis
cirrhosa</i>) and its varieties, all delicate-looking <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but hardy evergreen climbers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As always, I love the petite flowers: dangling bells in
the prettiest shape (rather than the huge, spring-flowering <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">C. jackmanii</i> hybrids). (See blog post
12th June 2012 for other winter-flowering clematis.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Two stand out for me: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Clematis
cirrhosa</i> `Wisley Cream' and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">C</i>.
`Lansdowne Gem' (above).</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">C.</i> `Lansdowne
Gem' was my favourite for a long time, with burgundy insides to the campanile
blooms. I have one `thrown up a tree' as they say in the UK; planted (with
little care, to be honest) next to a 25-year-old deciduous tree, a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Robinia</i>; it's now romping up with
abandon and flowering enthusiastically where I can see the bells from a kitchen
window. I like this combination: white wisteria-like flowers in spring; yellow
autumn leaves, and winter clematis blooms on a climber so dainty that the tree's
spring flowers are not obscured. When it's grown taller, the effect will be
very pretty as you walk along the nearby path, look up, and see the burgundy
interiors easily. (A bit like growing hellebores, with their nodding flowers,
along a bank by a path.)</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-45Ktd-pekzg/W0fYu-IBlqI/AAAAAAAACkU/J40Nfq3jWgoQt5oYSt1H6NwYFNqEYZaVgCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8690_Clematis_cirrhosa_Wisley_Cream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="691" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-45Ktd-pekzg/W0fYu-IBlqI/AAAAAAAACkU/J40Nfq3jWgoQt5oYSt1H6NwYFNqEYZaVgCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN8690_Clematis_cirrhosa_Wisley_Cream.jpg" width="575" /></a>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Clematis cirrhosa</i>
`Wisley Cream' (above) became, I believe, available in Australia much more recently. The
blooms are a clean, palest apple-green; it flowers profusely, and although the
bells are petite, I can see this climber - some distance away - from my kitchen
window. Planted at the base of the post of my ornamental (rather than practical)
`birdhouse' (a birthday present from J some years ago, (see below); bought at Salamanca
Market in Hobart; the rose mallow (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lavatera</i>)
pictured didn't make it through the millennial drought), it's climbing the post
slowly but surely - one of the successes in my unwatered garden after this
shockingly dry autumn. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised about a plant (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Clematis cirrhosa</i>) from the Mediterranean
doing so well, but I still feel like applauding.<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">(Clematis need a trellis for climbing - they are not
self-clinging - but use twining leaf stalks to aid their upward growth. So there's
some garden twine, behind the post, for this plant to cling to; and occasionally
I pop some twine around the growing stems, and attach to the support, to teach
the recalcitrant climber what vertical means! Hopefully it will cover the post
in time, although a new nearby fragrant olive (or false holly, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Osmanthus</i>) - a slow-growing evergreen
shrub with amazing fragrance - will also soften the look of the post, or hide
its base, at least. Maybe the garden needs a couple more <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Osmanthus</i> (different species to lengthen the flowering season
considerably) in front of the post. Hmmm.)</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-og6h0pOSJyI/W0fYu6vVL5I/AAAAAAAACkY/Ig8vnEXlfc0xt46ric2ynlkMODTeLZ2MgCEwYBhgL/s1600/birdhouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="529" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-og6h0pOSJyI/W0fYu6vVL5I/AAAAAAAACkY/Ig8vnEXlfc0xt46ric2ynlkMODTeLZ2MgCEwYBhgL/s1600/birdhouse.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A snow-white variety called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Clematis cirrhosa </i>`Jingle Bells' (named for its English time of
flowering rather than its colour) is particularly lovely. There's a couple of good
Australian mail-order clematis nurseries (Alameda Homestead, Clematis Cottage) so
I'll keep my eye on their digital catalogues, hoping that they've imported -
and grown - this exquisite plant. The bridal blooms contrast with the dark
green foliage wonderfully.<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Another cultivar, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">C</i>.
`Freckles', has been available for a long time, but the pink dots inside the flower
just don't do it for me - maybe it's the slightly dirty-looking cream on the
outside of the bell. My mother grew this one outside Dad's studio, and my
sister grows it too (due to taste? Sentimentality? But not ignorance - I've
told her about the two I like best!). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">C</i>.
`Freckles' looks quite similar to the wild growing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Clematis cirrhosa</i> var<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
balearica, </i>also spotted within, and named for its home in the Balearic
Islands. The latter, like most of the varieties here - has a gentle fragrance.<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Clematis cirrhosa</i>
has dark green, ferny foliage, so if screening is your aim, add more clematis
to the garden, choosing ones for flowers almost year-round.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But
it's the winter flowers that are so welcome, and hold a special place in my
heart.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria.
(<a href="http://www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></div>
</span></div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-60749081402567494562018-06-29T12:38:00.001-07:002018-06-29T12:38:52.545-07:00Tree Marigold<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZUZzFpUk10g/WzaIPiR2SkI/AAAAAAAACjk/bfu4auY8I7Q7601KY_v0DHtNnPrB4b7RgCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN8729_Tagetes_lemonii.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="880" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZUZzFpUk10g/WzaIPiR2SkI/AAAAAAAACjk/bfu4auY8I7Q7601KY_v0DHtNnPrB4b7RgCLcBGAs/s640/DSCN8729_Tagetes_lemonii.jpg" width="550" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
found a little plant in a nursery the other day, covered in pretty blooms
(which is pretty impressive these cool mornings; 1°C two mornings ago; brrr).
`It flowers all year' said the nurseryman, `although it needs an annual haircut
to stop it getting leggy'. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">David Glenn writes that it is a `<span style="letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">terrific plant for colour and fragrance in the
depths of winter</span>'. It </span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">tolerates light frosts without damage, I'm told, and</span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> it's drought-tolerant, too.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What
is this floriferous paragon you ask? It's tree marigold (above, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tagetes lemmonii</i>) , Mountain Marigold or Mexican Mary's Gold. And
gold it is: a bright amber, not quite orange and not pure yellow.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I'd
actually planted one in my yellow edible patch a little while ago, and then
been surprised that my little hens didn't eat it to death or scratch it up when
I moved them onto that bed. The deliciously scented leaves are not to their
taste and let's face it, if they don't eat it, it's probably inedible to humans,
too...a pity, I'd started thinking about making a tea from the fragrant leaves.
(Will anyone be my guinea pig?) But like other marigolds, the pretty flowers
are edible, I'm told (pick them early in the day), and wouldn't these petite
blooms look great in a salad?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So
I've moved my tree marigold (which it tolerated well) from what's now become a
purple bed (purple peas and purple carrots, `red' kale and black...), and
tossed it into the end of the yellow bed (behind the wigwams for butter beans
or, just now, yellow peas) and popped another three in there too. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">They
will reach around 1.5m high and about the same across.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-deoXjj84fk4/WzaIPvt2BII/AAAAAAAACj0/Jff7JEJJB5k44y9XBRuwjrxt0fcYwlv_gCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180620_143051_Won_Bok.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="952" data-original-width="1024" height="595" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-deoXjj84fk4/WzaIPvt2BII/AAAAAAAACj0/Jff7JEJJB5k44y9XBRuwjrxt0fcYwlv_gCEwYBhgL/s640/20180620_143051_Won_Bok.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So...I'm
going to let them flower madly through the relatively dull days of winter...and
maybe trim them in spring when there's so much else happening in the garden.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I
love this effortless way to make the veg garden, as you walk along the path, go
from cream to lemon, yellow to gold.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Along
the path edge, adding to the colour scheme perfectly, are pansies and I'm
trying snapdragons too. Low <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>chamomile is
planted between the bluestone pavers: with little poached egg daisy flowers in
spring over soft green, aromatic, rather delicate-looking leaves. (This herb <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">can</i> have a `soothing' tea made from the
foliage.) It's lawn chamomile, so it'll take a bit of walking on, though I'll
avoid that as much as I can.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Some
soft green Chinese cabbages like Won Bok (above, growing well from their mid-autumn
planting, while the soil still had some warmth) look just right behind the path
edging of edible flowers (I chop it up for a stir fry, see below) and there's some golden
chard, too.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
my tree marigold? </span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Folklore has it that marigolds repel
a number of insects; and the flowers can be used in salads, cakes, and teas.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">much</i>
more important: h</span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ow
wonderful to know that there are some perennials (subshrubs, really) that are
permanent in the edible patch - not just the lavenders and globe artichokes. So...the
veg garden is getting more and more pretty.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">How
good is that?<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span></span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria.
(<a href="http://www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ou17VoIKO-g/WzaIPsIMA6I/AAAAAAAACjs/L6KXByy34NkZOyixmVk8DPO_OnEWtt81ACEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8743_Won_Bok..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="818" data-original-width="1280" height="408" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ou17VoIKO-g/WzaIPsIMA6I/AAAAAAAACjs/L6KXByy34NkZOyixmVk8DPO_OnEWtt81ACEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN8743_Won_Bok..jpg" width="640" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i> </span></span></div>
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Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-62073878895267029922018-06-07T19:06:00.003-07:002018-06-07T19:06:27.250-07:00Crazy, Confused Culinary Patch - and Compost. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JfX2YCR3ZjA/WxnhMHy57vI/AAAAAAAACjE/TkTwSEick9sFzKls_Bzg1DJjUEh5W9YzQCEwYBhgL/s1600/P1040765_Compost_Bin_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="696" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JfX2YCR3ZjA/WxnhMHy57vI/AAAAAAAACjE/TkTwSEick9sFzKls_Bzg1DJjUEh5W9YzQCEwYBhgL/s640/P1040765_Compost_Bin_3.jpg" width="580" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Of course it's me, not the veg garden, that's completely
confused.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">You see, it's the colours, and while they give me joy,
they also require thought. You know, yellow beans along with chartreuse
broccoli, gold-stalked chard (below) and yellow pansies (actually lemon pansies, then
yellow, then gold, as your eye travels along the path). Or lemon <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nasturtium</i> with edible flowers and
leaves, great in salads. For instance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The problem is that every so often we move our little
hens along from one patch to another - great in theory, and great for adding
good loam and nutrients to the soil.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But.</span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-98wB_6JqeUI/WxnhLmkdGUI/AAAAAAAACjA/WTeYWlt4Tvsmo_wBga_rfYroVKqNvt0_gCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN5330_Gold_Chard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="619" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-98wB_6JqeUI/WxnhLmkdGUI/AAAAAAAACjA/WTeYWlt4Tvsmo_wBga_rfYroVKqNvt0_gCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN5330_Gold_Chard.jpg" width="514" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Once you've made something approximating `pretty', it's
hard to see it destroyed - even by happy scratchers with names - who even produce
eggs; valuable creatures. (`Happy' sounds terribly like anthropomorphising but
when our girls rush out the door when it's opened in the morning, and scratch
for insects all day, make happy noises of excitement periodically, and are hard
to coax back into the large (permanent) hen run in late afternoon, then it's
hard<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to not see them as enjoying
themselves.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I'm partially keeping the features - the ones that hide
my compost bins. Yes, there's 7 bins (not enough, actually) spread through the
5 veg beds; plastic (useful, above) but ugly. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">(A note on composting. Years ago we read about how to
nearly fill the bin, then add a layer of soil, about 10cm (4 inches) thick or a bit
more if you have it. Water the contents, then add, not the plastic lid, but
wire mesh atop which lets in the rain; then ignore for a while. Works a treat!
Good compost is the reward in a couple of months, longer in the cool months.)</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TP0KMDOVvvA/WxnhMCzXOLI/AAAAAAAACjI/js0_PG-rGI4USBeOMLXbItzQNcvApl4ywCEwYBhgL/s1600/P1130088_Globe_Artichoke_The_Garden_at_Possum_Creek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="823" height="372" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TP0KMDOVvvA/WxnhMCzXOLI/AAAAAAAACjI/js0_PG-rGI4USBeOMLXbItzQNcvApl4ywCEwYBhgL/s400/P1130088_Globe_Artichoke_The_Garden_at_Possum_Creek.jpg" width="400" /></a>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So...I am hiding my ugly compost bins with the glorious,
silver leaves of globe artichoke (above; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stevia</i>,
tried twice (in one bed), does <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not </i>like
our winters) and, as you enter the patch, a white or blue, usually dwarf,
lavender is stationed on each side, as sentinels. Or curry plant (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Helichrysum italicum</i> - which hens like
to nibble a little), with little gold button-like blooms, in the yellow patch.
How to keep them? Just a few old bricks are placed around the feet, to stop enthusiastic
scratching. As I've found out recently, it works - hurrah! Now I'm leaving the
bricks <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in situ</i> after the girls have
been moved to another patch, and covering the bricks with mulch - and it all seems
to be falling into place nicely. Now to work out the pansies (or other edible
flowers - that's the rule). Plant in pots, remove the pots later and trim the
stems, hard?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As Eccles said, `thinks'.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria.
(<a href="http://www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-18718696874016398222018-05-25T14:22:00.000-07:002018-05-25T14:22:44.963-07:00J's Birthday: The Garden Celebrates!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--Z1vqblHUNc/Wwh8GNDdJLI/AAAAAAAACiI/SZA9L2X-TM0dU4OUQeuEEl-vJ7vPwMlqgCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN8678_Tree_Dahlias.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="991" data-original-width="1280" height="492" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--Z1vqblHUNc/Wwh8GNDdJLI/AAAAAAAACiI/SZA9L2X-TM0dU4OUQeuEEl-vJ7vPwMlqgCLcBGAs/s640/DSCN8678_Tree_Dahlias.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Every
year the garden lights up lilac candles atop giant stalks. Always, reliably,
from mid-May onwards, so by today it's dramatic & spectacular, a ring of
tree dahlias (above) 6m across and about 4 or 5m high. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now,
I say that this is the garden wishing J a Happy Birthday. But J is an indigenous-plant-loving
man...so he doesn't agree. More shy chocolate lilies than hydrangeas; or dainty
climbing apple-berry (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Billardiera
scandens</i>) over...roses.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It's
not just that, with my bad eyesight, I can see roses from the kitchen window;
it's also trying to create a garden that's photogenic (I can dream). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R1KvpiLBQZo/Wwh8LKplNtI/AAAAAAAACiQ/XLPoGcOacIMQRxo-cgXUERxgRTo-jNaHQCLcBGAs/s1600/Billardiera.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R1KvpiLBQZo/Wwh8LKplNtI/AAAAAAAACiQ/XLPoGcOacIMQRxo-cgXUERxgRTo-jNaHQCLcBGAs/s640/Billardiera.JPG" width="480" /></a>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I'm
fond of apple berry, (obliquely & literally, above) actually. There's the palest green
flowers, hanging, dainty, tubular with elegant flaring tips, rather like tiny
tutus. They provide nectar for many petite avian visitors. Green,
sausage-shaped fruit are edible, and we must try them. We have a plant of this
shy climber on the wiry orchard fence, slowly greening up about 2m of fence. One
of those rare climbers that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">don't</i>
take a mile when given an inch! I'm tempted to call it by another of its common
names, apple dumplings, which shows its roots as a traditional bush tucker
plant: when purple, the fruit can be eaten raw, I'm told; but if picked green they
require roasting.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But
I also like the Latin moniker, named for French botanist Jacques Labillardiére,
who published the first (Western) flora of Australian plants, between 1804 and
1807.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Being
a white person who grew up in the 1970's, it seems surprising that Joseph Banks
(who named Botany Bay), who sailed on James Cook's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Endeavour </i>expedition (1768 - 1771) wasn't the first botanist to
publish an Australian flora. But Banks was notorious for collecting, but not
cataloguing, the masses of plant material he...amassed. (Of course I was taught
that Cook `discovered' Australia, ignoring 60 thousand years of local inhabitants,
with the oldest living culture. That, thankfully, has changed.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ocx6wBA0UB4/Wwh8J4wg2UI/AAAAAAAACiY/BVjaJGLYCbQADAkaxtOhuqVJkwpzHfsmACEwYBhgL/s1600/Diplarrena.moraea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1581" data-original-width="1600" height="632" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ocx6wBA0UB4/Wwh8J4wg2UI/AAAAAAAACiY/BVjaJGLYCbQADAkaxtOhuqVJkwpzHfsmACEwYBhgL/s640/Diplarrena.moraea.jpg" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">No,
it was Labillardiére who published the first work, including exquisite prints
of Australian plants. Whatever you think of dismantling books, it has been done,
and I have been a lucky beneficiary. From one (hopefully, a late edition) is a
print that J gave me for my 30th birthday; and it's of one of my - our - favourite
indigenous plants, butterfly flag (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Diplarrena
moraea</i>, above). It's not just that it's a pretty, white irid (iris relation); it's
not just that the flowers hover like butterflies nearly 1m above the ground in
spring; it's also that when we bought our piece of heaven (5ha/ 13 acres of
bushland on the edge of Melbourne), butterfly flag, along with pink trigger
plants, were prolific and flowering in the grassland below where we'd build our
cottage. That area is now orchard-and-septic and most of these wildflowers are
long gone. But I love a meadow, and flowers amongst the fruit trees, too. We
Must grow some of these sweet spring bloomers from seed collected on our
`block' and plant them in the orchard.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This
is a planting scheme we are both passionate about!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria.
(<a href="http://www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></div>
<br /></div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-68505245896612567222018-05-18T10:34:00.002-07:002018-05-18T10:34:08.528-07:00Autumn Trees<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Wkqc_XYprI0/Wv8NPfB57KI/AAAAAAAACh4/HTEQ-DCWUZUMesf7MJRcI4fI82b3rg9igCLcBGAs/s1600/Sandstone_Kookaburra_Jill_Weatherhead_Garden_Design.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="558" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Wkqc_XYprI0/Wv8NPfB57KI/AAAAAAAACh4/HTEQ-DCWUZUMesf7MJRcI4fI82b3rg9igCLcBGAs/s1600/Sandstone_Kookaburra_Jill_Weatherhead_Garden_Design.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A friend asked me about `small trees with red foliage in
autumn'.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I pointed out my dogwood just outside, a small tree
aflame - although with quite a few green leaves amongst the rather drooping
branches of bonfire-red (below). Some garden designers might `tut' at this lack of commitment
by the tree, but I think (and hope) that the show will last longer, which is
fine. A naturalistic look, too, which I like.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I didn't get a chance to show him a spring photo of the
dogwood flowering. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cornus</i> `Eddie's
White Wonder' is one of the best of the genus, with large bracts around the
insignificant flowers, pure white and prolific (above). Autumn began dry but my dogwood
is as fiery as usual; and I'm in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges so a
tree that colours up well here is a gem.</span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ed0LBNzS2IM/Wv8NPrz2q7I/AAAAAAAACh0/gqD-GKE2jXgXl5qtIIIZU8mKyJt6DBcwgCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8671_Cornus_Eddies_White_Wonder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="955" data-original-width="1280" height="476" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ed0LBNzS2IM/Wv8NPrz2q7I/AAAAAAAACh0/gqD-GKE2jXgXl5qtIIIZU8mKyJt6DBcwgCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN8671_Cornus_Eddies_White_Wonder.jpg" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It's good to wander the garden season by season and think
how to better the plot. Autumn tints are a joy as the nights cool and I'm
reminded that plants which hold onto the autumn leaves for a long time are
special. One such is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Enkianthus</i>, a
shrub not often seen, and I've been wanting for, oh, a couple of decades. I
need to search it out and squeeze one into the garden! Somewhere near the house
so I can enjoy the sealing-wax-red on rainy days; and enjoy the flowers in
spring, too. </span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">New deciduous trees could be planted to the west of the
house or a seat so that I can enjoy the effect of the neon sun behind, backlighting
the jewel leaves.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For my friend I suggested that I make a list of trees: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Acer</i> (of course!), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fothergilla, </i>one of the medium-size crepe myrtles, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nyssa</i> and many more. I'd plant them all
in my plot if J agreed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But that's another story.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria.
(<a href="http://www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-89440737958187860672018-05-12T14:30:00.001-07:002018-05-12T14:30:29.834-07:00Five Seasons<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k9AxQRi4V-Q/WvdbeyGiWSI/AAAAAAAAChU/VMNNvl421m4II9UMfU2LOoW4tKJSnSdNgCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN8617_Sedum_in_autumn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="981" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k9AxQRi4V-Q/WvdbeyGiWSI/AAAAAAAAChU/VMNNvl421m4II9UMfU2LOoW4tKJSnSdNgCLcBGAs/s400/DSCN8617_Sedum_in_autumn.jpg" width="382" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">`Five Seasons, the Gardens of
Piet Oedouf', is a film I saw yesterday. (It's playing at Belgrave Cinema
today, too.)</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A venerable designer in the Dutch wave or New Perennial
movement, Oedouf designs gardens with a<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> matrix of grasses with perennials in, often, blocks as opposed to
naturalistic meadows. Tall perennials must have good structure and features,
like attractive seedheads, so that the winter months have subtle beauty with
texture in tones of brown and grey. The perennials and tall grasses are mown
down in late winter.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Oudolf
began his garden style in the 1980s when he and his wife Anja opened their
nursery, in Holland. His early work with perennials consisted of block-type
groupings based on structure and texture. More recently Oudolf's gardens have developed
into a more naturalistic look, often using blends of species, with the `change
in style...described as a shift from a painter's perspective to one informed by
ecology'. Oedouf is probably best known for designing the plant matrix on New
York's The High Line (2006), the ex-train line converted to a long raised
garden, high up in the city.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Oedouf's work reminds me of <span style="color: #282828; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wolfgang Oehme
& </span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">James van
Sweden who began a somewhat similar love affair with tall grasses and
perennials in the late 1970's. Inspired by American prairies, their </span><span style="color: #282828; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">the `New American Garden</span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">' style developed as a reaction to the anodyne lawns to be
found in much of the US, and the ubiquitous box edging and roses.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></span> </div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I left the cinema and ran into a gardening acquaintance. `Are you going to change your garden?' he cried, moved more than me by the cinematic experience, which had lovingly lingered on the brown stalks of hibernating perennials, directing our gaze to the subtle beauty of Oedouf's plants. (Successfully - I challenge anyone seeing this film to not be moved by grasses with delicate cobwebs, perennials rimmed with frost and seedheads touched by snow.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Well, no. But I feel so much better about the untrimmed Sedum (above; see post 17th March also) which have been bugging me. I loved my pale pink ones through much of the garden but I didn't think that the flowers retained their soft pink for long enough. They turned pink-red for a short time (and I really dislike pink and red together (and detest the similar salmon; we're all so different!) in the garden) then deep brown - all too soon. Was this plant worth it?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<o:p></o:p></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2QKPHTpBsWM/Wvdbe8630MI/AAAAAAAAChQ/mrhhix3BOMw-RFt3ULVZgTWRb3OPWgv8wCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_7194_Meadow_Great_Dixter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="878" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2QKPHTpBsWM/Wvdbe8630MI/AAAAAAAAChQ/mrhhix3BOMw-RFt3ULVZgTWRb3OPWgv8wCEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_7194_Meadow_Great_Dixter.jpg" width="548" /></a>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Moreover
- I'd planned to trim the perennials before today's Mother's Day visit from
in-laws (who have a neat and tidy garden-and-house aesthetic). A few untidy
perennials (like sprawling obedient plant (</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Physostegia</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">; </span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">if only it was!)) and old
belladonna lily stalks got tidied up; good. But I haven't started on the sedum
nor the tall stalks of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Drymis maritima</i>
(Syn <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Urginea</i>) (although I've cut down
a few of the latter to collect seeds).</span><span style="color: #282828; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Snow is very rare and we don't get much frost here in
Selby. Will the perennial seedheads, deteriorating over winter, look silly or
beautiful? (The eye of the beholder - just J and me - is fine.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I'm reminded of the gorgeous meadow you see as you enter
Great Dixter (UK; above) where owner Christopher Lloyd overheard visitors
exclaim that they weren't paying to enter the garden because `he hadn't even
mown his lawns'! (Maybe I need to escort visitors around the garden and explain
the new strategy.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Professor James Hitchmough (my favourite lecturer at Burnley
long ago) grows meadows of annuals in the UK with skill. (And remember the
sweep of annuals, including sunflowers, near Fed Square, so beloved of
Melbournians a couple of years ago?)</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Oedouf's gardens are less naturalistic than Lloyd's
meadows, and less subtle with large sweeps of high grasses and tall perennials;
a different aesthetic and quite different result.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">An aesthetic that doesn't rely on flowers (alone).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Brilliant.</span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria.
(<a href="http://www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-8835201372335680892018-05-10T11:21:00.000-07:002018-05-10T11:21:59.774-07:00Late Autumn Bulbs & Seeds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KzBIcDAeEJE/WvSLajKebJI/AAAAAAAACgg/w1Se1dT2EBYEz9ocbdZzaopEhIugR74yQCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN8605_Crocus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="995" data-original-width="1280" height="310" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KzBIcDAeEJE/WvSLajKebJI/AAAAAAAACgg/w1Se1dT2EBYEz9ocbdZzaopEhIugR74yQCLcBGAs/s400/DSCN8605_Crocus.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">April departed, leaving us reeling with a meagre 16mm of
rain (down two thirds) after a hot summer, dry in the latter half. And now - glorious rain. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0-wZw1bfWIA/WvSLb5StRLI/AAAAAAAACg4/6Zol-4YK2_IZrWUrnbRqjdG9_XmQw7YigCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8646_Cyclamen_hederifolium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1018" data-original-width="1280" height="317" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0-wZw1bfWIA/WvSLb5StRLI/AAAAAAAACg4/6Zol-4YK2_IZrWUrnbRqjdG9_XmQw7YigCEwYBhgL/s400/DSCN8646_Cyclamen_hederifolium.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Despite the dry start to the season, some autumn bulbs are growing well: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cyclamen hederifolium</i> (above)and some crocus (top);
while the nerines (pink, red, white (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">N.
flexuosa alba</i>, below)) still have that magic touch - from Mum's green
thumb. Nerines have never flowered well here, despite a sunny spot and letting
the bulbs crowd together near the surface - but the ones rescued from her
garden (we left most behind for the new owners) are still, after 2 years,
somehow, doing much better than ones I've grown for a decade or two. I'm not
sure how this is happening, but I'm sure as heck not complaining.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6sqmvX6A2N0/WvSLagn2lgI/AAAAAAAACg0/RFITxTHRb-sML8xzIqPcD8lzKVS0MaaZgCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8639_Nerine_white.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="919" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6sqmvX6A2N0/WvSLagn2lgI/AAAAAAAACg0/RFITxTHRb-sML8xzIqPcD8lzKVS0MaaZgCEwYBhgL/s400/DSCN8639_Nerine_white.jpg" width="358" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">What seems unique this year is the prodigious production
of fat, round seeds on the belladonna lilies (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amaryllis belladonna</i>) and blood lily (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Haemanthus coccineus</i>, last pic), both in the Amaryllidaceae family. Has
anyone noticed that deep pink belladonna lilies produce deep pink seeds, darker
than usual? </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I8w5XzQLtd8/WvSLcYlJIPI/AAAAAAAACg4/PxTMveFyrTgjdpxVonhFoksO4UTJyttvACEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN9130_Amaryllis_belladonna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1106" height="370" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I8w5XzQLtd8/WvSLcYlJIPI/AAAAAAAACg4/PxTMveFyrTgjdpxVonhFoksO4UTJyttvACEwYBhgL/s400/DSCN9130_Amaryllis_belladonna.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And yesterday the Mexican tree dahlia flowers started to
peep out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Game of
Thrones</i> tragics like to say: `Winter is Coming'.</span></div>
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1GsCqGDRYbc/WvSLatz9O8I/AAAAAAAACgw/qzNys9taCWQt7NOtWMZvnE575hP8wEkagCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8604_Haemanthus_Seeds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1010" data-original-width="1280" height="315" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1GsCqGDRYbc/WvSLatz9O8I/AAAAAAAACgw/qzNys9taCWQt7NOtWMZvnE575hP8wEkagCEwYBhgL/s400/DSCN8604_Haemanthus_Seeds.jpg" width="400" /></a>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria.
(<a href="http://www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-66885128574988950492018-04-17T22:06:00.001-07:002018-04-17T22:06:46.261-07:00Autumn, Vegetables and a New Hydrangea.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xbJ7NeVVUpY/WtbQd9fXH2I/AAAAAAAACf4/TzCwtulSjTUZnAwqidwz76yM4r6_Lf22gCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN8329_Tomatoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1274" height="321" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xbJ7NeVVUpY/WtbQd9fXH2I/AAAAAAAACf4/TzCwtulSjTUZnAwqidwz76yM4r6_Lf22gCLcBGAs/s400/DSCN8329_Tomatoes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Autumn has swept in with gusty, decisive coolness in what
one comedian has called Melbourne's (famously) bipolar weather, and the sudden
cold winds have transformed the edible patch overnight. A friend reminds me
that only last week we had 25 degrees at 6<span style="font-size: 8pt;">AM </span>yet
it is almost winter now - well, relatively - with house fires lit, coats piled
on and the mercury dropping to 4.5 degrees - seriously cold - this morning.<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Summer gave us loads of cherry tomatoes, our best year
yet (the (likely) key? We remembered to water well nearly every day, with a
timer, this summer). How can all those ruby droplets vanish overnight? - birds?
All that's left are tiny jade pear-shaped fruit. (Do we net next year?)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The zucchini plants have fallen into a limp mess a month
early, and beans - missed ones - are drying, deep amethyst pods, all over the
tripods.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All this is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">good</i>;
it gives me space to plant some winter veg in mid-autumn. The cold-tolerant
vegetables need a month or two, ideally, to get their roots get down well, into
the soil before the really cool weather hits. They don't normally get it: I
can't bear to pull out productive veg until late autumn; and then plant winter
veg that sit miserably small all through the cold months.</span></div>
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</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U_Gsmj7PQFM/WtbQd6euIMI/AAAAAAAACgA/oA6xm6z4qVsU4IVzwZcp49aLTPW5D7LsQCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8589_Lucy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="748" data-original-width="1024" height="466" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U_Gsmj7PQFM/WtbQd6euIMI/AAAAAAAACgA/oA6xm6z4qVsU4IVzwZcp49aLTPW5D7LsQCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN8589_Lucy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So after a hot, dry February and March - so, so dry - some
gum trees are dying along with one or 2 shrubs in the garden, although the
garden isn't looking as miserable as you'd expect. A tiny dollop from the hose
(from tank water) occasionally really has made a difference.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And then this sudden heavy rain of the last couple of
days: a lifeline to shrubs sitting in parched soil, barely breathing as they
longed for happy times. I don't know who or which is happier about the glorious
rain: me or the thirsty plants.<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So I look out and see the late autumn garden: subtle
salvias (with Lucy, our fabulous bird-like, silvery creation by artist Daniel
Jenkins; turning with the winds, above), the summer vegetables saying adieu and
the dwarf, round lilly pillies covered in fresh green shoots.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Enormous <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hydrangea
paniculata</i> has flowers dulled to soft apple-green and pale rose in those
elegant panicles (a long way from the mop-head varieties). So tall (3m or so)
that they give me a little shade on hot mornings when I'm potting up near the
back door (and I'm starting to plant <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Epimedium
</i>and cyclamen at their feet). </span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bNKs5wqdwtY/WtbQdpSOiHI/AAAAAAAACgE/vHGhfQG6JrsfkKEJc0wjqnq3xLNi_4i_wCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180412_104958_Hydrangea_paniculata_Sundae_Fraise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="373" height="363" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bNKs5wqdwtY/WtbQdpSOiHI/AAAAAAAACgE/vHGhfQG6JrsfkKEJc0wjqnq3xLNi_4i_wCEwYBhgL/s400/20180412_104958_Hydrangea_paniculata_Sundae_Fraise.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A new variety, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">H.
paniculata</i> `Sundae Fraise' (above) is flowering now, with panicles of white
blooms turning, yes, a soft strawberry pink. Best of all, it only reaches 1.2m
high and spreads the same. (I'll plant it when the rain has really soaked into
the ground.) The late blooms are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">very</i>
welcome.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the same time I found, at last (I'd seen it in a
friend's garden), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Laurus</i> `Baby Bay',
a truly dwarf Bay tree (or shrub) to 1m high; not the `dwarf bay tree' you
often see, which reaches 3m - a very different prospect. Let alone the species
bay tree (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Laurus nobilus</i> (the first
Latin name I learnt!), meaning `noble') which reaches 7 or 8m - too big for
most suburban gardens. Recent history has gardeners placing bay trees in herb
or vegetable gardens only to replace them every 10 years. I prefer a permanent
solution!</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My new bay will be perfect in a pot, hopefully producing
a good sphere if I trim it well. If I had a formal herb garden, then this
shrub, planted in a large handsome pot, would be perfect for the centre, where
the paths meet.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our herbs are near the back door - great for dashing out
while cooking - but our garden is probably too sloping for a formal herb
garden. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As J dislikes formality so much, I must tell him how he
dodged a bullet on that one!</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria.
(<a href="http://www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-26724800945641301482018-03-29T13:52:00.001-07:002018-03-29T13:52:11.357-07:00Dahlias and MIFGS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DIdmZsi-yr4/Wr1QzgKk46I/AAAAAAAACe8/pNg-ivGBY8gytR6kj74t3ov5ifhvprUmwCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN8318_Dahlia_Mystic_Illusion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1424" data-original-width="1364" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DIdmZsi-yr4/Wr1QzgKk46I/AAAAAAAACe8/pNg-ivGBY8gytR6kj74t3ov5ifhvprUmwCLcBGAs/s400/DSCN8318_Dahlia_Mystic_Illusion.jpg" width="382" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My sister and I are going to MIFGS this week - the annual
flower show in Melbourne - where we buy bulbs, chat, and admire/discuss the
show gardens.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This year S is looking at Dahlias: medium height,
`self-supporting' ones, like she's seen in my garden; she's over having to
stake tall ones and plans to pull hers out.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We both love the dusky leaves of the Mystic series and of,
almost ubiquitous, `Bishop of Llandaff' with red flowers over that almost-black
foliage: stunning.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5jMajooQdeI/Wr1Qz9Ek8HI/AAAAAAAACfE/PVtz2EOKc8YU8m2QVHbwUa63_nRRLNFNACEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8315_Dahlia_Mystic_Illusion%2Bb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1456" data-original-width="1092" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5jMajooQdeI/Wr1Qz9Ek8HI/AAAAAAAACfE/PVtz2EOKc8YU8m2QVHbwUa63_nRRLNFNACEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN8315_Dahlia_Mystic_Illusion%2Bb.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I've been watering my potted Dahlias but neglecting those
in the dry garden - a mistake, as it turns out.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">S said she'd be looking at dahlias at the show and I
remembered those that I bought last year: pink `Mystic Dreamer' (see post
17/3/18). I search the silver-and-raspberry-colour garden and find 2 little
shoots from what were 2 good-size tubers. Well, I don't need to buy more, but
look after what I have.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dahlias hail from Mexico (it's the national flower) where
there's summer rainfall; of course they need watering in summer! I think I've
been spoilt by my dwarf, single dahlias (white, below, and yellow) which I can ignore for long periods of
time - even leaving some tubers in the ground over winter some years.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But my gorgeous ` Mystic
Dreamer', a plant that has very pretty single flowers and is self-supporting,
needs cosseting. I'll feed the 2 tubers when we get some good rain, and I'll
try to water them well until then. And maybe I should have fertilised them in
spring.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In gardening, we keep learning, don't we? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And that's just fine.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design </b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of
Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria </i>(</span><a href="http://www.jillweatherheadgardendesign.com.au/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">www.jillweatherheaddesign.com.au</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">)<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5iByyPqfvzI/Wr1QztRs6CI/AAAAAAAACfA/I2A8_FBVmTsZAuxXi_meqQGej2iwXBRMgCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN5550_Dwarf_White%2BDahlia.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1583" data-original-width="1474" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5iByyPqfvzI/Wr1QztRs6CI/AAAAAAAACfA/I2A8_FBVmTsZAuxXi_meqQGej2iwXBRMgCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN5550_Dwarf_White%2BDahlia.JPG" width="593" /></a></div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-20184286303913265042018-03-16T10:39:00.002-07:002018-03-16T10:39:50.409-07:00A Challenge and an Opportunity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mRwTTdsHWqo/Wqv_CCxIqJI/AAAAAAAACeg/Y9ihoncv7EAssSuLePg14oS6hz9lBSNigCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN8320_Sedum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="948" data-original-width="1280" height="474" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mRwTTdsHWqo/Wqv_CCxIqJI/AAAAAAAACeg/Y9ihoncv7EAssSuLePg14oS6hz9lBSNigCLcBGAs/s640/DSCN8320_Sedum.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On a cool morning you'll often find me watering - by hand
- the big pots of dahlias, hostas and (smaller) cyclamen around the front door
(Dixter Midi, if you will).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We have tank water only so we need to be careful doling
out the rations...and we've just had the driest month for 27 years; and a hot
dry summer despite a La Nina system.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Last year when I watered I rebelled against the chore but
for some reason, this year, as I irrigate I'm thinking about the garden with an
eye on losses and looking at holes in the plant matrix as good places to pop
in, say, a few tulips here (under a tough ground cover), some nice perennials
there. But always, always, the question: how to make the garden or planting mix
look better this time next year. Yes, I know: drought-tolerant plantings. Very.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Interestingly, some recently-moved Ajuga was wilting just
when our electricity was off this week (after that gusty day, so hard on the
garden) and water hard to access. I was able to dribble a little on the plant -
hardly any! - but magically the Ajuga unfurled from its misery and looked
around with a wan smile.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Speaking of drought-hardy plants (and flowering now, when
it's still so hot and dry), recent visitors pointed out `Cauliflower Plant', a
moniker new to me, for flowering Sedum (above, with tall Drimia maritima); and completely appropriate when the
flowers are still in bud. Yes, it needs cutting back in late autumn. Yes, it
looks insignificant in winter (when hellebores are doing their floral thing, so
no problem there). But I love the freshness each year of perennials, usually in
spring, but in this case, in summer-autumn.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have a very attractive soft pink form of Sedum, which ages to pale pink-red, in that
less-is-more phenomenon that happens when you slowly multiply lots of plants
from just one original plant (so less types of plants through the garden). It's
very satisfying (and cheap!) and as I've moved pieces about, it helps give the
garden unity.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A friend offered me some Sedum a while ago; from memory, probably a
colour closer to red than pink. Would it suit the garden, if kept away from the
others (in fact near the sheds, so it would be far from the hose)? And in time,
a big group of just that one, showy and enlivening the rather sorry, late
summer garden. A stronger colour would work well in this part of the garden,
too.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I need to ask myself around for a coffee while his Sedum
is blooming, and eye off the plant, to see how much I like it. No garden is big
enough for a plant you really don't like. Even a fantastically drought-hardy
one that flowers when all else is dry, dry, dry.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I guess...</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout
Victoria. (<a href="http://www.jillweatherheadgardendesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheadgardendesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-61922812053411208962018-02-09T11:28:00.000-08:002018-02-09T11:28:01.072-08:00Mid-Summer Madness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SKOgDZvVLqU/Wn305QnarXI/AAAAAAAACd0/Fi16osd2a3A4yd8JHBofdVQZ-VIKuPgYwCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN8166_Perennial_Hibiscus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SKOgDZvVLqU/Wn305QnarXI/AAAAAAAACd0/Fi16osd2a3A4yd8JHBofdVQZ-VIKuPgYwCLcBGAs/s640/DSCN8166_Perennial_Hibiscus.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Summertime. It's hot. And last night the temperature was
about 34°C until 3AM...in Melbourne, anyway.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">(`Only' 27°C in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges
where I hang up my sunhat and gum boots.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We're on tank water only and I'm trying to hand water my rather
dry garden and keep plants alive, not - so not - lush, full and (sigh) green.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So any plant that thumbs its (hypothetical) nose at the
heat, and says hurrah with a flourish in January and February, has to be worth
noting. And there's a few that are glorious just now.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ad6bNMuzj-Y/Wn305Wy5LwI/AAAAAAAACdw/7BPDNLpEdRMRPCZ2l9zPgk_JuXfEtJpBACEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8147_Clematis.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1087" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ad6bNMuzj-Y/Wn305Wy5LwI/AAAAAAAACdw/7BPDNLpEdRMRPCZ2l9zPgk_JuXfEtJpBACEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN8147_Clematis.JPG" width="434" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A purple clematis (above) covered in regal flowers; a tall
drought-tolerant bulb, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Drimia maritima</i>
(Syn. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Urginea, </i>Sea Squill) with
flower spikes reminiscent of white fireworks (I count the spikes with
incredulity: 13 so far); perennial hibiscus (top, probably <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">H. moscheutos</i>) with large blooms of a pink-red that's somewhat like
pale crimson (I said somewhat); it's a piece from my mother's plant, dug up in
winter while dormant, now reaching a dramatic 2.5m height and calling out `I'm
here'! Crinum bulbs continue opening large satin bells of palest pink, waist-high
in semi-shade; and Cape hyacinths (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Galtonia
candicans</i>) with spires of bridal bells (literally; Mum used to say that my
sister's wedding bouquet - in January - included these pretty flowers. Did Mum
make it? I wish I'd asked) in day-long sunshine. Stalks with heads of perfumed trumpets:
pink and white belladonna lilies or naked ladies, rising, leaf-free, from (it
seems) scorched earth. Huge heads of double white blooms emerging from green
buds on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hydrangea quercifolia</i>
`Snowflake' are weighing down the branches. Dusky-leaf Dahlias (`Bishop of
Llandaff', fire-engine-red, and, in a lovely copper pot from my mother's garden,
sunny `Mystic Illusion') may require lots of irrigation in the hot months -
they are from summer-rainfall Mexico, after all - but they are multiplying in
their huge pots and adding colour just by the front door. (I have so many pots
here that it's starting to remind me of this feature at justly-famous UK garden
Great Dixter. (I don't dare say, for a moment, that my pots are of the same
calibre!, but they - I hope - add to a welcoming atmosphere.). Dahlia `Mystic
Dreamer' (below) in cherry and strawberry ice-cream colours over mahogany foliage is
planted in the garden - which is usually preferable for plants - but these are
going backwards. More water required! (High-Summer-water-needing plants might
sound crazy to have - but these flower for months, and these dahlias have some
terrific qualities: sweetly shaped blooms, not dinner plate-sized nor
anemone-style, of which I am not fond; and a height - around 60cm (`Mystic
Dreamer') to 1m or so (`Bishop of Llandaff' & Mystic Illusion') - that
doesn't need staking but stands tall, erect and oh-so-handsome. But I have 3
types of Dusky-leaf Dahlias, all very distinct in colour, and therefore needing
different places in the garden; and 2 dwarf ones, a sweet yellow, and one pure
white, all carefully labelled. I must not buy any more! - or the garden will
look unplanned and over-stuffed with plants (or more so), with a crazy mix of
colours.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Even tiny autumn cyclamen (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">C. hederifolium</i>) has white or rosy-lilac flowers appearing while a
couple of my summer-flowering, evergreen lace-patterned-leaves <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">C. purpurescens</i> are simply gorgeous!
Tiny autumn snowflakes (from my sister) have popped up and given a wink, too. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Did I cause this seemingly early phenomenon by watering
(a bit)?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There's some lovely sight in almost every corner of the
garden - and I haven't counted salvias or lemon <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Phygelius</i>, alive with honeyeaters, amongst the floral show. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We've had the odd extra rain shower, particularly during spring,
which must be enormously beneficial for the garden - although not the lawn,
which is turning Australian-summer-brown. (Less mowing is the silver lining.)
When we have rain, I almost do that (probably) Australian thing: go out and
dance in the rain. (Sorry about your party or wedding - but I am getting life
blood for my garden. I can't help but rejoice. Besides, with every good
downpour, the danger of bushfire recedes further to the future).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ck4OIYgqrw4/Wn305ybxgQI/AAAAAAAACd8/8ULh90JTVSIZNqiNTN1qKpQlpW4p7d9TQCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN5988_Dahlia_Mystic_Dreamer.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1038" data-original-width="1405" height="472" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ck4OIYgqrw4/Wn305ybxgQI/AAAAAAAACd8/8ULh90JTVSIZNqiNTN1qKpQlpW4p7d9TQCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN5988_Dahlia_Mystic_Dreamer.JPG" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Usually it' so dry in summer until the autumn rains come,
that the garden can look terribly dry, even barren. But it's not as bad this
summer. And so many plants are flowering just now; yes, I do like flowers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So I'm wandering the garden, thinking: Is this the best
summer ever?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I think so.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout
Victoria. (<a href="http://www.jillweatherheadgardendesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheadgardendesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-41436081908231279402018-01-24T10:51:00.001-08:002018-01-24T10:51:49.344-08:00Red-leaf Radicchio<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UxmrCr6EXCk/WmjSL2oQy3I/AAAAAAAACdQ/85S8cA6vYZIhaYqpH-qqCSNvQu3gjVOhgCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN8137_Red_Radicchio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="990" data-original-width="1330" height="297" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UxmrCr6EXCk/WmjSL2oQy3I/AAAAAAAACdQ/85S8cA6vYZIhaYqpH-qqCSNvQu3gjVOhgCLcBGAs/s400/DSCN8137_Red_Radicchio.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">What's not to love about a red-leaved radicchio (or
Italian chicory), lettuce-like in shape, size and use? I've had four in one of
my big pots near the back door, for simplicity when collecting a few leaves at
dinner time.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Not surprisingly, the plants bolted when the hot weather
really began, but were nicely upright - and I thought I'd collect seeds - until
they started flopping over the path in a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">very</i>
undignified manner. They've now been tidied up. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Luckily there's more in the edible patch, where I'm happy
for the plants to flower away, and where I'm less troubled by a bit of drunken
falling over. I'm determined to collect seeds! (Blue flowers in the
orange-and-red veg plot. Oh well. They <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">are
</i>pretty.)</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZZfRatVWMCs/WmjSL_ytM7I/AAAAAAAACdM/6mZdTNOSKcQOKTdah7KhBwTBQZyJP8H_ACEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8043_Radichio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZZfRatVWMCs/WmjSL_ytM7I/AAAAAAAACdM/6mZdTNOSKcQOKTdah7KhBwTBQZyJP8H_ACEwYBhgL/s400/DSCN8043_Radichio.jpg" width="300" /></a>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But for a little while we had, atop stems a metre high,
unexpected, sweet flowers of sky blue just like the blooms of its brother, green-leaved
chicory (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cichorium intybus</i>, that so-called
coffee replacement (bar humbug) in times of <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">deprivation</span>). Who knew they were related? (I
knew that chicory has blue flowers, but didn't know that it was closely
related to the red-leaved radicchio, so different in colour and shape.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So I pulled out the errant radicchio, and topped up the
potting mix in the large pot. I added lettuce seed, covered lightly, and
watered well...especially during the hot days we've had (up to 41 degrees here,
with northerly winds) and shaded them a little with bracken stalks.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A5bdUCYygCQ/WmjSMbaf0VI/AAAAAAAACdY/GjcGGJBYueoGii8fUEJ9QljkrAoSyqYLQCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN7738.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1426" data-original-width="1569" height="362" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A5bdUCYygCQ/WmjSMbaf0VI/AAAAAAAACdY/GjcGGJBYueoGii8fUEJ9QljkrAoSyqYLQCEwYBhgL/s400/DSCN7738.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Often I have a bit of fun with my sowing...as you can
see. Within the 2 round pots (the other two are square) are water-well pots, hidden when the lettuce
grows.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Thankfully, these 4 pots, near the back door, only
receive morning sun, hot as that is.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Planting lettuce seed in January might sound crazy, but I
am an optimist!</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill
Weatherhead Garden Design</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> who lives in the Dandenong
Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria.
(<a href="http://www.jillweatherheadgardendesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheadgardendesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></div>
</div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-60166432690284938632018-01-12T11:58:00.003-08:002018-01-12T11:58:48.038-08:00Some Hardy Perennials<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Mn5VnQ1oCRQ/WlkRmltT9bI/AAAAAAAACcs/_2tDRuXXM9U1az5_XB95PNgJHgVIFEO2gCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN8044%2B_Lilium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1318" data-original-width="1364" height="386" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Mn5VnQ1oCRQ/WlkRmltT9bI/AAAAAAAACcs/_2tDRuXXM9U1az5_XB95PNgJHgVIFEO2gCLcBGAs/s400/DSCN8044%2B_Lilium.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Both garden and I wilted on the recent oven-like 42°C
day.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Well, most of the garden. Some plants are extraordinarily
resilient, taking heat & dry soil with aplomb. (Here we have tank water
only...so the garden gets almost zero watering...in a Mediterranean climate.)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Blue salvia (probably <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Salvia
chamaedryoides </i>`Marine Blue', pictured above), is holding up well, and should
flower right through the warm months (up until late autumn), like the rest of
its tribe. Both the salvia and the nearby <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Phygelius</i>
are looking at me, saying, superciliously, `What Heat?' - and both attract
myriads of birds seeking nectar. (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Phygelius
</i>might be a bit messy to have near the house, but the constant avian
activity that we can see through our windows makes it worth the pain.)</span><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MPQE09vlGWk/WlkRmn2sSeI/AAAAAAAACco/f0b5cQib4pc90RImckUgORJ4t6jTOr4bQCEwYBhgL/s1600/Bloodroot_Sanguinaria_canadensis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1191" height="548" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MPQE09vlGWk/WlkRmn2sSeI/AAAAAAAACco/f0b5cQib4pc90RImckUgORJ4t6jTOr4bQCEwYBhgL/s640/Bloodroot_Sanguinaria_canadensis.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Bloodroot (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sanguinaria
canadensis</i>, above) is surprisingly happy in pots - these <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">are</i> kept watered - and I'm looking at
them afresh. I'm preparing a talk on poppies and, to my surprise, bloodroot is
in the handsome poppy family. Every single species in <span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-size: 5.5pt;">Papaveraceae</span> seems to have the prettiest of
flowers (and sometimes, as here, wonderful leaves)! Like all the other wealth
of poppies - which grow from the cold Arctic to the heat of South Africa -
bloodroot produces a fluid - latex - which contains alkaloids (interesting ones
in the opium poppy).</span></span></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Cut a stem and out comes the fluid, orange in this case
but fancifully named as blood-like.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Speaking of poppies, my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Papaver</i> `Lauren's Grape' (pictured in my last post) is setting seed and I've carefully cut off
three seeds heads, as they've ripened, with the ring of pores open to release -
it seems - thousands of tiny seeds from the pepper pot-like seed heads. Don't pick them green! - the seeds will not
be ready. I've only had the one variety growing so the next generation may
have, again, that wonderful purple.</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p>True lilies (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lilium</i>, top),
too, are flowering their heads off.<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
I love it when the garden gives you a truly
wonderful<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>surprise.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill
Weatherhead Garden Design</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> who lives in the Dandenong
Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria.
(www.jillweatherheadgardendesign.com.au)</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span>Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-30910261551804723032017-12-31T11:04:00.000-08:002017-12-31T11:04:20.707-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0bUiWE3-J20/WkkxV5XLoaI/AAAAAAAACcI/GbyAFTySgWgclzZUdbqnsxjQrjYNjtvbQCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN7827%2BPapaver%2BLaurens%2BGrape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1201" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0bUiWE3-J20/WkkxV5XLoaI/AAAAAAAACcI/GbyAFTySgWgclzZUdbqnsxjQrjYNjtvbQCLcBGAs/s640/DSCN7827%2BPapaver%2BLaurens%2BGrape.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A sweet friend has asked for more purple flowers, so I've
wandered the garden, camera in hand.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now this is a woman with a serious purple-loving
syndrome. (If she's only wearing one lilac or violet item I quiz her - only to
be assured that hidden clothes are purple too. I always make it clear that I believe
her and no, I do <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> need to see her
underwear.)</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cFypZgsUbPI/WkkxVoQo_hI/AAAAAAAACcE/088mO9YSmUoD5s4lcH3c5d899T-J7UPXgCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN7919%2BClematis%2Btripod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1396" data-original-width="1146" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cFypZgsUbPI/WkkxVoQo_hI/AAAAAAAACcE/088mO9YSmUoD5s4lcH3c5d899T-J7UPXgCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN7919%2BClematis%2Btripod.jpg" width="524" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Surprised, I find a few violet blooms - and foliage, too.
Splashes of purple have come with the heavy rain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Clematis are doing their spring-thing a bit late (above, no
complaints from me), pentstemons (last pic) have started their warm weather flowering, and
the saffron crocus pot has had its summer addition of opal basil (below). The tiny crocus
are in this pot so that they don't get lost in the hurly-burly of the garden, but
the pot looks too bare in summer...enter opal basil with its dark purple
leaves. (Pop a sprig of this basil into a bottle of vinegar and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">voilà</i>, you have a pink culinary treat or
present.) My purple basil is joined this year with cinnamon basil, new to me,
and with green leaves that, when crushed, have a basil fragrance with, after a
few seconds, a strong hint of cinnamon. </span></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VOQAGjVcJYM/WkkxVC5lNuI/AAAAAAAACcA/0vrQxlQgzYceSv0LQ__FUfRealGdmhoNwCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN7907%2Bopal%2Bbasil%2Band%2Bcinnamon%2Bbasil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="657" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VOQAGjVcJYM/WkkxVC5lNuI/AAAAAAAACcA/0vrQxlQgzYceSv0LQ__FUfRealGdmhoNwCEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN7907%2Bopal%2Bbasil%2Band%2Bcinnamon%2Bbasil.jpg" width="545" /></a>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I'm also enjoying the last of my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Papaver</i> `Lauren's Grape' (top), a tall and stately plant with flowers of
fairly deep purple in that wonderful poppy shape that's so pretty and elegant,
and beloved for this reason. I am preparing a talk on poppies and dang, I love
the poppies with their delicate petals, particularly when the plant is single
(4 petals), not double (8 or more). And, boy, I Love the effect and contrast
with my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Papaver</i> `Lauren's Grape' amid
loads of silver foliage (mostly Plume poppy (how apt!), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Macleaya cordata</i>). An effect to repeat, as I watch the poppy seedpods
for ripeness, to collect before the fine seeds are tossed out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">(Speaking of poppies, several years ago, we saw carpets
of red Flanders poppies (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Papaver rhoeus</i>,
or Corn Poppy) in France; a feast for the eyes...and I forget that it's a
symbol of death (& rebirth) and WW1, and simply enjoyed the scene for its
colour, effect and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">joie de vivre</i> - and
also rejoice that this flower seemed plentiful, as various meadow species round
the globe are pushed to the edge by farming and housing.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Poppy seeds are tiny, and a friend tells me to scatter
the seed over mulch (rather than shallow burying) in autumn, to get good
germination rates - and sow thinly. Certainly planting seeds <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in situ</i> is usually far more successful
than transplanting plants or seedlings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Great advice for autumn!</span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout
Victoria. (<a href="http://www.jillweatherheadgardendesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheadgardendesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5197725576988737992.post-65317165552086378592017-12-20T19:03:00.001-08:002017-12-20T19:03:28.833-08:00Southern Summer Solstice and looking back at a Strange Spring.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hx_4bgJj1oM/WjsibnvIFHI/AAAAAAAACbk/ihI6hBw16xIR9HdaXBrQFQB1o4FrL5E1wCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN3875_Kookaburra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1326" data-original-width="1284" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hx_4bgJj1oM/WjsibnvIFHI/AAAAAAAACbk/ihI6hBw16xIR9HdaXBrQFQB1o4FrL5E1wCLcBGAs/s400/DSCN3875_Kookaburra.jpg" width="385" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">`Solstice' (Latin: `<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">solstitium</i>')
means `sun stopping' (and changing) as we celebrate the longest day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For the English, summer starts on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">21st </i>June unlike us in Australia who consider the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">first day</i> of December to be the
beginning of serious heat; sun, surf and beaches; Christmas and summer
holidays.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But I'd like to look backwards today, and think about the
odd spring we've had.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It's been an extraordinary spring; every plant singing
and so many birds and animals doing their spring thing in overdrive, from honey
eaters (along with the usual suspects) collecting spider webs from under the
veranda roof for making their nests (I've never see this before - usually they
are `just' supping nectar from the correas and salvias, constantly) to
wallabies boxing, and J's<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>straw hat used
again, by scrub wrens for nesting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We have a new resident: a kookaburra has decided -
rightly - that the garden at Possum Creek is full of food (like the skinks we
love) and magpies strut the little lawn. Both have such character and purpose.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Wood ducks spend a day or two at our dam before marching
on, ducklings following closely behind. Also called maned geese, they are
handsome and prolific (not rare, anyhow) so I don't worry about them (will dogs
get to them? Foxes?) but can just enjoy these frequent visits.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our resident wallaby has her usual joey, head just out, both
grazing grass and indigenous herbs.</span></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DHlU8SGKlCY/WjsicwSJP7I/AAAAAAAACb0/0gRg3nS4Lzcsin5S4FXlwaZc9OHcM9doACEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN7733%2BFreddie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1037" data-original-width="1364" height="486" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DHlU8SGKlCY/WjsicwSJP7I/AAAAAAAACb0/0gRg3nS4Lzcsin5S4FXlwaZc9OHcM9doACEwYBhgL/s640/DSCN7733%2BFreddie.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And what's spring without some new chicks? Yes, Freddie
(above) got clucky <em>again</em> and, after an egg-free winter, we decided to add to our
half-dozen strong flock of bantams. Does she think that she's a clever hen, just sitting
on one egg for 2 days before 2 chicks, 3 days old, miraculously appear under
her at night? And do the other hens think `Her again? - not fair'!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It may sound like I'm <span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">anthropomorphalising terribly, but Freddie seems happy being
a mumma (and it snaps her out of her broodiness) and the chicks seem much
happier, or more settled. Under a hot light they wanted to dive under each
other's wings; now they have big wings to shield them - the natural way of
things (and - who knows? More comforting). They also cheeped, it seemed, in
distress more; now any sharp cries (`I'm cold') make Freddie sit down and fluff
up her eiderdown so the chicks can dive under at once. Such a good mumma.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now
we have to figure out good names for the cute chicks. (How the heck do parents
of real children get through this thorny problem?)</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our
silver chick is developing fluffy slippers and the other's new coat is a
rusty-rufus colour - so Fluffy and Rusty they are becoming. I love ridiculous
names for the hens, so cat and dog names are not only tickling the funny bone
gently, but also the 2 who arrived together have similar - or similarly absurd
- names.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YwcH4jdnrQM/WjsibzP9A4I/AAAAAAAACb0/fbuCf8mQBRs4lDzXZYboVLQTYHPfCeg3ACEwYBhgL/s1600/Acacia_verticillata.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1201" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YwcH4jdnrQM/WjsibzP9A4I/AAAAAAAACb0/fbuCf8mQBRs4lDzXZYboVLQTYHPfCeg3ACEwYBhgL/s640/Acacia_verticillata.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The
flower power this spring has been stunning, both flowers in the garden and
blooms of wild plants in the bushland, on our property and around my area in
the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne. Wattles, tea trees (see first pic)...covered,
prolifically, in flowers (now or earlier).</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But
why - The `dry' winter? The cool spring with it's odd hot days?</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I
always like an explanation for weird events in the natural world but here I
think I'm going to just sit back and enjoy the show - enormously.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</div>
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead is
horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jill Weatherhead Garden Design</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout
Victoria. (<a href="http://www.jillweatherheadgardendesign.com.au/">www.jillweatherheadgardendesign.com.au</a>)</span></i></span></div>
Jill Weatherheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11647107245467480518noreply@blogger.com0