The Forest of Tranquility - Ourimbah, NSW

Despite having lived on the Central Coast for half a dozen years, previously I had not ventured to the Forest of Tranquility.

Located at Ourimbah on the Central Coast of New South Wales, the Forest of Tranquility was established in 1985.

Although many of the facilities have not been updated recently, the rainforest retains a natural feel and provides a quiet sanctuary for bush walkers.

A number of pergolas are available for hire for group functions, which apparently can cater for up to 300 people, although I am not sure how the 2 toilets would cope if these pergolas were at full capacity.

Leeches were also a major problem on the walk; with them dropping from overhanging branches and climbing up from the leaf litter on the ground onto shoes before making their way to any available flesh.

I took my (senior citizen) mother with me. Although the trail wasn't excessively difficult, it did present some challenges for Mum, despite her being quite fit, primarily because of recent rain making some of the stepping rocks a little slippery.  The addition of a few judiciously placed hand rails might be helpful.

All this being said, nature lovers should not be deterred. Allow a couple of hours to fully appreciate this unique Sydney rainforest, pack a pair of sturdy shoes and a bottle of water and go for it!

I believe the pictures speak for themselves.

Ours is a Sunburnt Country

The Heat Wave Begins

Thursday

As I start this post, much of Australia is sweltering. Adelaide is expecting 46C today, that's around 115F! Melbourne has been gripped by 40 degree temps for the past few days, with the overnight lows being only down to around 34C, culminating in 44C today, so I am guessing the Southerners are all pretty grumpy and sleep deprived at the moment, you just can't sleep when it's that hot.

This is serious heat and the southern heatwave is making its way up to New South Wales.

We live approximately 25 km north-west of Sydney, as the crow flies, and therefore well away from the coast. We are very fortunate in that we are amongst many strips of nature reserves that do seem to keep the temperatures down by a couple of degrees.

Today is one of those days when the hot concrete burns the soles of my bare feet as I walk outside, the concrete that is hot enough to fry an egg; it is one of those days when the water inside the garden hose left sitting in the sun is almost hot enough to make a cup of tea.

The tumeric plant is showing signs of heat distress. It's now curled most of its leaves to reduce exposure.

The delicate red new growth on the rose bushes is drooping,. Everything looks hot.

We have a small market garden umbrella which I've put up to provide some sun protection for a few of my potted roses and I've fill the birdbath ready for any hot and thirsty visitors. A pair or Rainbow Lorikeets (right) cool off.

Most summers we will get a dozen or so days that hit around the 38 degree mark (100F) and our gardens aren't knocked around too much, a good watering in the cool of the evening and they bounce back, but once the temperature hits 40C, or more, things start to bake. Serious damage is done, leaves are crisped and buds frizzle and the leaves that aren't reduced to tinder, are "sunburnt" a mottled yellow colour.

 In anticipation of the increased temps due here in a couple of days, I have been attempting to "heatproof" my garden. In the cool of the evening I've been madly watering my northern garden, trying to get enough moisture deep down into the soil so I can spread a thick layer of sugar cane mulch across its surface and hopefully help to provide some kind of barrier against the searing days ahead of us.

 

 

 

 

Friday

Before mulching my northern garden, I shaped the earth around my shrubs to form a dished "moat" around each plant to compensate for the slight slope of this garden.  As I aim the hose nozzle at the trunk of each shrub, water pools around the base of the plant, hopefully seeping deep down to keep the root system cool and moist until the worst of the day has passed.

My lilac Crepe Myrtle is abuzz with early morning worker bees, darting from flower to flower, collecting nectar to take back to their families.

The Geisha Girls (Durantas) also have their share of apiarian workers making the rounds of their sweetly shaped purple blossoms. Overnight, the spent Geisha Girl flowers have fallen like confetti onto the carpet of new mulch beneath.

As the air warms, the sound of cicadas chirping becomes louder, they seem to thrive on this heat.

The umbrella is up once more. Potted plants have been moved to deeper shade. Outside, all has been done that can be, time to close all the blinds and shutters inside and start up the air con.

Saturday

 

It's now 6pm and the hot westerly breeze has dropped a little, although the temp is still in the low 30s. Sunset is still a couple of hours away and the sun is still quite high on the western horizon.

A cool change is expected to move through in the early hours of tomorrow morning. Hopefully some much needed rain will follow in its wake.

But for now, time to assess damage sustained. Although I am sure we experienced less than the predicted 40C, a nearby suburb did register 39.

A quick walk around shows a couple of annual salvias haven't made it. The white Crepe Myrtle is drooping much more than the pink or the lilac coloured ones, but this white one has always been more vulnerable to heat stress than her coloured sisters.

The hydrangeas have also taken some damage, many now with burnt leaves.

My "Endless Summer" "Blushing Bride", as the name suggests, a pure white flowered cultivar, is drooping badly, not unlike the drooping from the white crepe myrtle. Endless Summers flower on both new and old wood so with "Blushing Bride" it is also often a case of the new wood drooping under the weight of the flower heads as well as her being a little overheated.

Pretty much everything is dry and will need attention. I set up a couple of sprinklers to make my job a little easier and hand water the rest.

The roses are holding their own, but appear thirsty. I have decided that their need for water outweighs the potential black spot threat, which is always present in January. I liberally water these babies, trying to focus the water spray onto the ground near their crowns and minimise contact with foliage.

7.30pm and the sun is sinking down below the tree line, creating a fiery glow in the western sky.

8.45pm - time for a very late dinner. I sit in the portico and enjoy my meal and the sounds of the evening. A tree frog chirps thanks for the shower from the sprinkler and as night falls, the cicadas' trills gradually fade.








In the quiet of the night I sit and reflect. Yes, I believe we're also the lucky country!

Remembering Our Past Through Our Gardens

Many of my earliest memories are related in some way to a person from my past and their garden. I think this is possibly because gardens engage so many of our senses.

We may remember the visual beauty and the contrast of colours; the sound the wind rustling leaves and branches and of the many small creatures who live and visit there; the varied textures of the foliage and flowers; the taste of new grown vegies; or, the strongest for me, the many and varied flower fragrances.

Small things take us back in time. I don’t really remember Aunty Vi but I do remember discovering the gorgeous freesias that grew beside the path up to her front door, lured by the heavenly scent that drifted around them, then the thrill of being allowed to pick a small bunch to take home. I think I was 3 or 4 at the time.

Similarly, of the grandmother who passed away when I was quite young, my strongest memories of her are the fragrance of the Daphne Odora that grew outside the Granny Flat where my grandparents lived for a while. From what I have heard, this was possibly one of her few gardening successes. It grew tall and strong and was covered in sweetly scented, delicate little flowers, beautiful little flowers that I picked on one occasion to use for a floral tribute for a small sparrow that passed away in our yard.  OK, maybe I over-picked, I think my mother’s description was “stripped bare”, but I guess it grew again!




My other grandparents created a beautiful garden where ever they lived. My memories are of a birdbath feature with a lush garden bed set behind as a backdrop, often containing snap dragons, English daisies, pansies and other annuals. My practical grandfather grew vegies and I can still see the young beans ripe and ready for picking and remember eating them later for dinner. My nanna was more into decorative plants and usually found a place for a Chinese Lantern bush in each of her gardens.

I think Nanna is best known, though, for her luxurious Maidenhair ferns. She had an old double concrete washing tub simply crammed with these ferns, indeed they grew like weeds. She said her recipe for success was simple. Give them a cup of water every day and cut them right back at Christmas time every year.

They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery and of this I am shamelessly guilty. I have my own Daphne Odora (pictured above), a birdbath (below) graces my rose garden and the pink heads of my Chinese Lantern flowers dance gracefully in the breeze (pictured right).

I have a pot of old fashioned freesias that return to greet me every spring and although I’ve tried some of the new hybrid varieties, they fail to produce the same fragrance that is part and parcel with the old fashioned freesia.

 

In pride of place are a couple of pots of Maidenhair ferns, the daughters of a pot of ferns given to me long ago when Nanna divided her original washing tub ferns. I am still amazed that I have managed to keep these alive for so long, more than 25 years! Mine don't fill a large double washing tub, I guess I've downsized a little. No, I haven’t given them a cup of water every day. Luckily water-well pots were invented or I may not have had any ferns left to write about.


Although some of our special people are no longer with us, we can continue to think of them as we tend those plants that evoke the garden memories from our past.



Post Script:

This summer I divided my maidenhair ferns in much the same way as Nanna always did. I was delighted to be able to give a pot each to my mother and two aunts, who now also have a descendent from their mother's maidenhair ferns. It is a great feeling to be able to share your garden with others, and as you can see from the pic below, my own garden has not been diminished in any way by this.

February 2013 - my Maidenhair ferns

Mobile Gardens

 
It's amazing how quickly some herbs can run amok and take over an entire bed. I have radically culled the herb garden many times, only to have it regrow in what seemed like less time than it took me to cut it all back and when I cut through the jungle I also found the more rampant herbs had overpowered the smaller and less strong kinds and they had disappeared. I figured there had to be a better solution.



Challenge accepted!!

So I started thinking about how to best contain some of these more invasive, but none-the-less important herbs and worked out that if I planted them in large half barrels that would place some restriction on how big they could grow.

 

 

The only problem was that these were quite heavy once filled with soil and plants so I popped each of  them on top of a cheap set of wheels. (About $10 each from Big W.)





Now I have a mobile herb garden and can easily move the half barrels around to suit the seasons, in full sun in winter and with more shade in summer.

I can also move them around when doing a tidy up or to make more space for entertaining, and, being raised off the ground they drain well and are easily hosed under. 

Half barrels on wheels would also be idea for anyone with restricted garden space, such as patios, balconies and courtyard gardens.

 

Garden Warfare - Human V Bronze Orange (Stink) Bugs

Towards the top of my "garden hate" list are the Bronze Orange Bugs (also known as Stink Bugs). These can be bronze in colour or black as are the ones in my garden.

Not only do these obnoxious little bugs chew and suck all the goodness out of the new citrus growth causing it to wither and die, they also have an annoying habit of squirting smelly streams of citric acid in your general direction.

Previously I have tried hosing them off the branches but this wasn't as successful as I had hoped, they soon returned to resume their leaf munching.

So today was the day I declared war on these bugs and, armed with gloves, an old pair of kitchen tongs (not sure I'd want to use them in the kitchen again), a plastic bag and eye protection, I set off to remove each and every one from my two citrus trees.

I had procrastinated for ages, not relishing the task of handling these nasty little critters but the tongs certainly made a difference. I can see now that I should have done this job a month or so ago while they were still juveniles, before so much damage had been done to my citrus trees.



Be sure to adequately cover yourself, particularly your eyes, when removing these bugs as the smelly liquid they squirt is quite caustic.

Creating Special Places and Spaces

All too often we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life and our garden is mostly enjoyed by others so it's important to create special areas where we can sit and enjoy some outside time, lunch or a latte and appreciate our gardening endeavours.

This can be anything you want it to be, from a full sized outdoor setting for 8 or more to a humble bench set into a garden bed.

In my northern garden, at the point closest to the "Cubby Garden", we have now placed a metal garden bench seat with an overhead arch. At either side I have planted a Chinese Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum Jasminoides). In time hopefully these climbers will grow up the trellised sides to join forces and form a fragrant canopy.
   







In the height of summer the garden bench receives mid to late afternoon shade from a very tall gum tree, making this a pleasant place to sit and reflect, perhaps with a glass of cold white wine, or champagne, and a friend.

It's Cool for Cats

Whilst most felines are contented with a diet of wickie treats and Snappy Tom, ours are not.

We live under the supervision of two Ragdoll Cats who have made their position quite clear. They demand a certain amount of greenery in their diet and are determined to get it, one way or another.

Many's the time we've returned home to find Dianthus cuttings unceremoniously removed from water or pulled out of their propagating pot and thrown on the floor in protest of us not having any tasty green things available for them

They love nothing better than to trawl around the garden, chomping on blades of grass at will but unfortunately not everything that grows in the garden is safe for moggie munching. Cat grass (Ductylis glomerata), on the other hand, is perfectly suited to feline consumption and in fact is also a good source of vitamins and minerals. Cat grass assists with digestion and the removal of hairballs.

Ours are such voracious eaters of Cat Grass that we usually have at least 2 pots on the go so we can rotate and rest the pots and we've even begun planting our own pots from seeds!

The picture above shows a new pot, the pic to the right shows the same pot just 30 minutes later!

Two or More for the Price of One - Propagating Euphorbia Lipstick

Late last summer a small, bright pink flowered succulent, Euphorbia Lipstick, found its way into my trolley during a visit to our local nursery. Autumn, winter, spring,  summer, this eye-catching plant has not been without a flower. Growing to a maximum height of one metre, this is a lovely compact plant that has done particularly well for me in Sydney.

So I started thinking, wondering how hard it would be to take some cuttings and have even more of these wonderful plants with their stunning hot pink flowers and glossy leaves; so sun-hardy and almost welcoming neglect, although in winter they prefer to remain a little on the dry side.





As a child, my first propagating effort was carnations. I was allowed to plant some offshoots pulled from the stems of a bunch of cut flowers after the flowers had started to wither. I stuck these tiny branches into small, disposable plastic drinking cups filled with soil from the garden. Almost miraculously many of these cuttings took. I’m not sure how, I was quite young at the time and can’t imagine I would have remember to water them regularly, perhaps we had good rainfall.

Anyway, time to consult the leading authority in all things - GOOGLE - to find out how to take cuttings from an Euphorbia. A summary of the advice is as follows:

Ensure you are wearing gloves at all time when handling Euphorbias to protect your hands from the thorns and also from the sap.

Take an old serrated knife and carefully cut away the lower offshoots from the plant, or take a cutting from the top of the plant if there are no offshoots on your plant (this sounded a little harsh). Wash off all the milky, white sap that bleeds from the cut pieces and allow the cut ends to dry thoroughly. Then place in a pot filled with a commercial propagating mix and enclose each pot in a plastic bag and seal the bag.

In addition to the above I  also dipped each cut end into a root promoting hormone gel before placing into the potting mix. I'm not sure whether this was strictly necessary but I thought it may increase my success rate.

 

My plants were ready for potting up approximately 5-8 week later and I was thrilled. It was a relatively simple process and I achieved a 100% strike rate.

A couple of my new plants.