As we go careering headlong into another season of silliness it’s reassuring to know that life in the garden just keeps on keeping on.
Warm weather and plenty of rain means that plants are growing fast and that includes the weeds [they always seem to grow much faster than anything else]. One of our main jobs at the moment is controlling the weeds by pulling them out or by spraying them with herbicide. As the weather heats up and dries out, some weeds do slow down a bit but for now it’s a real battle.
We are also doing a bit of planting of more heat tolerant species. Another task is dead heading flowers as various spring flowerings come to an end.
Stage 2 of the Australian Garden is coming along well with truckloads of plants making their way from the nursery to be planted in their specific spots in the garden.
Even though we’re moving from spring into summer, there is still plenty of colour in the Australian Garden. The various Kangaroo Paws are putting on a spectacular show throughout the Australian Garden as is Chrysocephalum apiculatum ‘Golden Buttons’ which grows well in full sun and will spread to around 1m. In autumn, when new growth shows at the base of the plant, the older foliage can be cut back quite hard to keep them from getting open and sparse. You can see a stunning display of this everlasting Daisy in the North Line of the Red Sand Garden as you enter the Australian Garden.
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me - a row of Golden Buttons
My favourite for the moment is Prostanthera lasianthos ‘Kallista Pink’. This bushy shrub can get up to 4 or 5m high and 3m wide. It prefers reasonable drainage and will tolerate sun or some shade and as the name suggests, it has beautiful deep pink flowers in profusion right about now. Prune to shape after flowering finishes.
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me - Kallista Pink Flowers
In the Future Garden you can see Corymbia ficifolia ‘Baby Orange’ which is a grafted Flowering Gum that gets to about 5m when fully grown. Baby Orange does best in full sun, tolerates most soil conditions and is just starting to display masses of bright orange flowers
...and a Baby Orange Corymbia Tree!
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In your home garden
As the weather warms up, the plants that you planted in your home garden this spring may need a little extra water. Until plants are established and have spread roots into the surrounding soil they can be vulnerable to drying out quite quickly as temperatures rise and rainfall reduces.
Also very important to remember for this month – give the BBQ a bit of a workout and enjoy some time outside in the garden.
See you next year!
