Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

Six On Saturday – 5/11/2022

Gardening on the verge.

It’s still Saturday somewhere, right? I’m a little uncomfortable about chucking in an entry because the Six On Saturday gardening contributors are very friendly and chatty, and of course, I am too, but my blogging program is giving me all sorts of problems and hence my communications are sparse, which doesn’t seem fair. Apologies in advance. But I have a few shots of my current fancy which is my verge garden, and it was Saturday here just a few short hours ago, so here goes.

My bluebells (Wahlenbergia communis) have gone nuts this year. They are in their element here with other woodland and grassland plants. It helps that it has rained. A lot. There is a lot of yellow in the verge at this time of the year so the bluebells tone everything down.

I’ve been learning a lot about what is a local plant over the last year. For example, from my perspective (and it will be different for you depending on where you live), plants can be native to Australia, native to the broader region surrounding Canberra, local to Canberra and/or local to my part of Canberra. When I first bought these native leek lilies (Bulbine semibarbata), I wasn’t au fait with all these intricacies. These lilies are not native to Canberra but grow in the broader region. Still, they are doing okay. The flower is tiny and not in focus. I was in a hurry and was too distracted by the lovely hoary sunrays (native to my part of Canberra and elsewhere) behind them. The latter must be the cheeriest flower of all time.

As you can see, the other bulbine lilies have bigger flowers. I don’t know whether these are Bulbine bulbosa or Bulbine glauca. I have both and I swear I was going to remember which was which but now I can’t. The bulbosa likes moist conditions while the glauca is a bigger, tougher beast and can cope with dry woodland.

The clustered everlastings (Chrysocephalum semipapposum) have just started to flower. They look a bit spindly because this is their first year.

The verge is meant to be a miniature grassy woodland so grass is a big feature, or it will be when the grasses grow. For some reason, I got distracted again and bought a number of different grasses. I don’t know whether they will all mesh together but I will soon find out. Here is some wallaby grass (Rhytidosperma sp.). You never know what you might end up with when you buy a non-specified species, but I am really happy with these cuties. They are only about 30cm tall. I really like them.

It seems that I am one photo short on the verge so I will finish off with a photo of this beautiful nepenthes which lives in a pot on our laundry window. It is as big as it looks. It prefers dusty, cobwebbed windows. You wouldn’t clean your window if you had to move this plant, although looking at them up close now, I can see the window needs a good scrub.

Jim Stephens from Garden Ruminations is the new host of Six On Saturday, a weekly challenge of all (six) things gardening. Pop along to Jim’s blog to see what’s in bloom at his house and in the gardens of the other participants.

Anyway, I had better go to bed now as I am exhausted from working on a mystery project. Hint, hint, it is plant related.

Talk soon if I can get the comments and the likes working (that’s blog speak for the information of you, non-bloggers).

Take care, everyone, and happy gardening.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

Gardening SoS – 8/10/2022

I thought I might do some garden posts since, well, it cheers me up. Today I am making my second ever contribution to Six on Saturday, a weekly gardening get-together hosted by The Propagator. It has been a long time since my first post in May!

My new verge garden is looking a mess at the moment. Attractive features include rubble we dug out of the mud, mud splattered plants, and the bird cage and plastic containers protecting the vanilla lilies (Arthropodium milleflorum) from the marauding cockatoos. I understand that the tuber of the vanilla lily is a traditional bushtucker food. Aha! This got me thinking that perhaps I should go foraging for onion weed (Asphodelus fistulosus) which is another favourite of the cockatoos. They seem to know what is good eating. I discovered that yes, onion weed is edible. But I digress.


More pleasingly, the billy buttons (Craspedia variabilis) and the bulbine lilies (Bulbine glauca) are flowering ever so cheerily despite the spring rain.


Next we have the egg and bacon plant (Eutaxia obovata) and tucked in along side it is Craspedia variabilis once again. The former is a West Australian shrub but doing quite well in sunny (just joking) Canberra on the opposite side of the country. The colours are best described as garish but the insects like them.


I have also included hoary sunray (Leucochrysum albicans) seedlings in the verge plantings. All are recent plantings except for two that I nursed through winter trying not to OVER WATER them! They are water-wise plants and don’t like to be waterlogged. The hoary sunray is a threatened grassland species local to our area. They look spectacular en masse but even a single plant is enough to brighten your day. Aussies, do make sure you get seedlings from a reputable plant nursery. All native plants on public land in Canberra are protected.


Come with me while I nip into the backyard. Our Tumut grevillea (Grevillea wilkinsonii) is flowering. The Eastern spinebills have already been into it despite it being a tad mouldy. Apparently, the flowers smell like mice urine. The geographic distribution of this species is restricted to a few small populations near Tumut in the western foothills of the Snowy Mountains, and unsurprisingly, it too is an endangered species. It is now being cultivated commercially and it does well in Canberra which has a not too dissimilar climate to Tumut. Anyway, I thought it deserved a photo just in case it doesn’t survive this extended wet spell.


Finally, let’s take a brief stroll to the local park. Because it is normally much drier, we don’t often get to see common woodruff (Asperula conferta) spreading in such delightful abandon. A small area of ecological significance has been fenced off and we are excited to see what else might pop up in that area over time.


You have probably guessed that it has been wet, wet, wet here in Canberra, Australia. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Yes, we need a song because it is just that sweet little mystery that makes us try, try, try, try. Sing it with me, ladies and gentlemen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpTqiCza5z8


Happy gardening, everyone.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

Gardening SOS – 28 May 2022

I thought I might do some garden posts since, well, it cheers me up. Today I am making my first contribution to Six on Saturday, a weekly gardening get-together hosted by The Propagator.

1. As some readers will know, I have been taking advantage of our extended La Niña event to establish a new garden with plants native to Australia on the front verge. The plants are tiny and as yet there is very little form or colour to the garden to give it depth and interest. So I whacked up this old gate that I had lying around out the back and hung my mosaic on it for the kids to enjoy when they walked past. The gate will also provide a frame for the climber, Appleberry, Billardiera scandens (not shown), that I have planted in front of the gate.

2. I have also planted a variety of native grasses in the new garden, including barbed-wire grass (Cymbopogon refractus) pictured above. A friend told me that barbed-wire grass is beloved of blue wrens and red-browed finches. I’ve not seen red-browed finches in our suburb so barbed-wire grass might be a grass to plant in our nearby reserve once we get rid of some of the dreaded African love grass.

3. For the last few winters, the Australian National Botanic Gardens has been showing off Qualup Bells, Pimelea physodes. It grows in Western Australia. When I saw it at the local nursery, I couldn’t resist it and brought it home with me. This plant has been grafted making it possible to grow in Canberra (which is located in eastern Australia). Mine is planted in a pot. It is covered with buds that are poised to open (above). I can’t wait.

4. Speaking of pots, I took a cutting of the pink salvia, Salvia microphylla (above), growing out back. It is now established in this pot out front. The Eastern spinebills love it. Winter frosts will inevitably knock it back. When that happens, I hope the spinebills will be tempted by the Qualup Bells.

5. In the backyard, it is a shower of autumn leaves. This coral bark maple, Acer palmatum ‘Sango-kaku’ (above), has a few leaves that have not yet been washed away by today’s deluge. This tree was originally a rescue plant. We had to lop it as it did not have a central leader so it is unlikely to grow more than 3 or 4 metres. I really enjoy this tree, as do the little birds who swoop in to gather the fine sticky branches for nesting material.

6. And finally, a pink camellia (species unknown) peeks out from between the salvia and chocolate vine which are attempting to overwhelm it.

Happy gardening, everyone.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.