Autumn Roses

Spring is quite exciting, we experience the thrill of seeing new growth where before there was mostly just bare brown stems, however, in Sydney, all too often we experience a hot spell that really knocks our roses around, followed by summer so more heat, humidity and black spot. Then autumn is a relief. It brings warm days, cooler nights and it seems that our roses are now able to give us their best show. The plants have had six months to put on lots of new growth, the stems have strengthened and are better able to carry the weight of the blooms and the buds are able to take their time and open at leisure; they are bigger, brighter and last much longer.

Perhaps this is why autumn is my favourite season.

Standard Portmeirion

Love Potion

Love Potion

Neptune

Mister Lincoln

Smooth Silver Moon

Smooth Climbing Splendour

Niphetos

Niphetos

Rosette Delizy

L'Amour

L'Amour

 L'Amour

Perfume Perfection

Perfume Perfection

Ebb Tide

Ebb Tide

Ebb Tide

Brilliant Pink Iceberg

Princess de Monaco

Princess de Monaco

  Blueberry Hill

Blueberry Hill

Baronne Edmond de Rothschild

Baronne Edmond de Rothschild

Baronne Edmond de Rothschild

Heaven Scent

Patio Iceberg

One Garden Leads to Another

When we first built our garden, we used a number of old rail sleepers to fill the gaps under the fence, gaps that were just large enough for a sleek feline to slip through.

Because our area has a strong reputation for infestations of of termites and white ants, we thought the first step should be to remove these now old and fairly rotted sleepers and replace them with thin concrete blocks. A huge thank you to my husband and son who provided the muscle.

All pruned and looking very bare

The sleeper clean up done, it was now time to assess the current vegetation to establish what needed to be removed/pruned.

To be removed was an old Hakea (which I could not remember ever having flowered), a random native ground cover that had turned feral and a very nasty patch of onion weed.

To be pruned were two Lilac (Syringa) trees, two Geisha Girls (Durantas) and a small apple tree which had been bought as a triple grafted variety (Granny Smith, Delicious and Jonathon) and has now, I think reverted back to just a Granny Smith, a number of Chinese Lanterns that had multiplied from the original bush and were looking quite leggy. Post pruning it all looked so very bare and I felt a very long way away from my goal of making the fences disappear.

Geisha Girl (Duranta)

The Geisha Girls (left) were both pruned heavily, back to fence height and the Lilacs have been substantially tidied up. The Chinese Lanterns have been reduced back to two strong plants and all dead branches have been removed.

Magnolia - The Fairy

 In the middle is a small Magnolia, The Fairy, which is possibly the only plant that required no attention at all. It had been planted in recent years and showed quite an exquisite form with its delicate foliage and graceful pink flowers.

t

Magnolia - The Fairy

I decided to increase the size of the garden by moving the sandstone rocks that form the garden border further out and removing grass as required.

Now the garden is ready for some new additions.

At either end of this garden I have planted a white Strelitzia, (more commonly known as Bird of Paradise), two plants I have placed towards the back of the garden, to give them plenty of room, as they will in time grow to a height of around 6 to 10 metres, a lesson I learned from my Brown Laurel and Japanese Maple trees which almost seem to hug each other in the "Cubby" (eastern) corner of this garden bed.

My Northern Garden, after 4 months

The first flower on my Persian Silk Tree

With the northern garden enlarged there was now room for many more small to medium sized shrubs and I've added a Persian Silk Tree (Albizia),

Buddleja Pink Profusion

 


A couple of Buddlejas (Buddleja Joan & Buddleja Pink Profusion), a couple of medium sized Gardenias (Gardenia Magnifica), a tall growing Pelargonium,
(Pelargonium cucullatum)

Buddleja Joan

Deutzia Magicien

A Deutzia Magicien (left), and a couple of Hebes.










Most of the flowers are in purple or white tones with the occasional splash of pink.

I'd like to say I planned it that way, but the reality is I've just planted things I liked, that I hoped would do well in this garden.  Despite having added copious amounts of compost, manure and other organic matter, the soil quality in this garden remains quite poor and I have planted each new addition in a large pocket of commercial garden soil. When planting I've created a kind of moat around each plant to compensate for the slight slope of the garden and assist with water retention. I've tried to plant shrubs that will be relatively drought tolerant but I will need to ensure they receive adequate moisture until they have become established.

A thick coating of mulch has been added and for now, after 6 months, this garden is complete. We've received a fair amount of rain over the past couple of weeks and the sad brown grass has greened up significantly.  Although many of the new plants have grown a lot in this time, I still feel that I am looking at the "before" photos!

The recent rain has encouraged the Murraya bushes to flower and they're almost covered in fragrant blossoms.

Fabulous Fuchsias - the Graceful Garden Dancers (Confessions of a [Former] Fuchsia Snob)

My husband and I, and our family, have lived in a number of houses, in different states of Australia and the homes that have felt happiest for me are those where I have been surrounded by loads and loads of greenery.

In 1989 we moved to the Adelaide Hills, a simply fantastic place for green-lovers to live.

Our house was set on a half acre block in the leafy suburb of Crafers. The house was relatively new and the first owners had (over) planted the garden with Australian Natives. In the two years we lived there I started a rose garden.

The winters were cold there and it often rained but it always felt cheerful because there was so much beautiful greenery to see outside in the garden and the wood fire kept our house cosy and warm; the only thing that was warmer was the kindness of our neighbours and the people we met there. This could have been a very challenging time as our son was only 6 weeks old when we moved to Adelaide, but the South Australians were so helpful and welcoming and instead it was a very happy couple of years for us.

The Adelaide Hills are vast and incredibly beautiful. At the time we lived there, driving around the back roads you could unexpectedly turn a corner and find you've reached the crest of a hill where you could look down upon all the fields and paddocks below and feel almost as if you were at the top of the world looking down on the 360 degree views below.

Our son was difficult to settle and a drive in the country was often the only way to persuade him to have at least an hour or so of sleep during the day, thus I had the opportunity to see so much more of the Hills region than I might have otherwise.

There were some really interesting places to go, such as the Onkaparinga Woollen Mills, which was still in operation at the time, where I bought a couple of  blankets that we still use today, the Bridgewater Mill, as well as some excellent vineyards and many lovely old buildings.

My favourite place was Weald View Gardens, in Ashton. Their nursery was set up under a large expanse of shade cloth with paths winding through raised garden beds filled with every imaginable colour, size, shape and style of fuchsia.

A lush border of Baby's Tears (Helxine) rimmed gardens of the more upright plants while coir baskets crammed with cascading blooms seemed to float ethereally in the air above. The experience can only be described as magical and it was here, in this wonderful fairyland, that my love affair with Fuchsias began.

I've scanned some photos from my last visit, taken with my old (film) camera. These pics really don't do justice to this wonderful place, as the camera didn't cope too well with the low light situation.

Wendys Beauty

When we first moved into our house in the Sydney Hills (2003) I attempted to grow fuchsias under the shelter of my front portico but as I watched those beautiful garden ballerinas struggle, I had to accept that perhaps these were not for Sydney gardens. I had a young family to take care of and soon after that returned to the workforce and so didn't have time for things that were too difficult.

18 months ago I thought I'd try fuchsias again and bought some rooted cuttings. I didn't hold much hope and so only bought two. Locating them once again on my front portico, the new fuchsias were doing OK and so I decided to invest in a lucky-dip collection, an additional four.

The plants continued to be OK, but didn't show any signs of  thriving as I well as I expected so I decided it was time to do some research on why they were leggy and not producing any flowers to speak of.

I think my problem was mostly related to the amount of sun/light they received. 

I don't have a shade house where the amount of sunlight can be controlled by the protection factor of the shade cloth above so I am experimenting with different locations in my garden, mostly under the shade of trees where they receive some but not too much sun. The hanging baskets look quite cute suspended by hooks from the overhead tree branches.  Keeping them in pots and hanging baskets allows them to be moved around as required, into deeper shade on very hot days and further out as the sun becomes less intense.

I used to think that double fuchsias were the only ones worth growing. If it wasn't all bouffant and fluffy I didn't want it in my garden. I didn't care that the single ones were easier to grow and I was horrified that the lucky dip pack I bought contained not only single varieties, but also one with only tiny flowers and yellow foliage, Fuchsia Aurea (YUCK!) and Brian C Morrison, a triphylla (as if I wanted one of those)! So I very reluctantly potted them up as they grew bigger, because it was the right thing to do. I guess I was a Fuchsia Snob.

It seems like these two fuchsias have pulled out all the stops to impress me and change my mind. And it's worked. Of my original half dozen, Aurea and Brian C Morrison have performed the best and have won me over. Both have been flowering constantly since late spring and are not showing any signs of ceasing any time soon. Aurea's yellow foliage is no longer just yellow, it now is tinged with delightful lime green and her dainty little flowers cascade gently over the sides of her basket.

Fuchsia Aurea

Not only does Brian C Morrison have particularly interesting flowers, the leaves are massive and veined in dark red.

Brian C Morrison

Brian C Morrison

Blue Frills

Heidi Ann

Weald View Minuet

Fuchsias are incredibly easy to strike from cuttings. Knowing that each plant has a life of about two years, cuttings can be taken each year to ensure an ongoing supply of each plant. Accidental breakages are really new cuttings^.

Fuchsias only flower on new growth so it is important to trim dead wood regularly.

In a world where so many plants are terribly toxic to cats, fuchsias shine out as cat-friendly plants so they can be planted anywhere they like to grow in the back garden, where our felines love to roam.

My plants don't look anywhere near as good as those at Weald View Garden, and possibly never will, but that's OK. They are the experts and this is what they do. Regardless, ever the optimist,  I have high hopes for the autumn and next spring.

Its over twenty years since we last visited Weald View Gardens and this is one place to which I would love to return some day. I'm not sure that it will be the same, for things rarely are, but I am hopeful that some of the magic will remain. I've found the website of Weald View Gardens and I'm very happy that they are still there. I'd also love to take some new pictures, with a smart digital camera that does all the hard work for me!


^ NB: Plants should only be propagated for personal use as may varieties are covered by laws that prohibit commercial production.