January is for... out with the old, in with the new!

Now is a great time to celebrate the achievements of the last year, finish off old jobs, start some new jobs and make some new plans!

Back in September's post, I mentioned that the old ugly carport was being removed ( http://hunterharvest.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/september-is-for-celebrating-in-style.html ). We managed this month to finally finish up the new 'carport garden', with the last poles coming out, and the last plants going in. Before planting, we built up the centre beds with good quality soil from the landscape yard to help with drainage and to improve the compacted soil that was the floor of the carport.

The removal of the carport left quite a big opening at the back fence, which is now a large space facing into our neighbours' yard. Thankfully, we know a thing or two about living screens, and planted some fast-growing large shrubs that will give us some privacy (eventually) and provide a nice green background. This area is also designed to be bird attracting, and so the plants were carefully chosen for their habitat and food value. Think nectar-rich flowers, dense or prickly foliage, tasty seeds or flowers to attract insects. To maximise this, there is a lot of variety and little repetition, except for the clumps of groundcovers. To avoid looking too 'hodge-podge' there is a colour scheme of purples and whites, with a couple of pinks, blues and yellows here and there and some interesting foliage for year-round interest. The mix is all native plants, and consists mostly of Grevilleas, Melaleucas, Banksias, Acacias and Callistemon, with plenty of little surprises thrown in. We are hoping to build a pergola and BBQ area on the concrete slab, so I've planted some edible natives like midyim berries, ruby saltbush, muntries and mint bush along that edge for easy access.

Prostanthera cryptandroides (mintbush)

In the back corner we have marked a spot for a garden seat (there's a special one at a local nursery that we're putting money in a jar for) and the middle section of the beds are all low-growing shrubs and groundcovers, 1-1.5 m high so that we can sit in the chair and look over the garden towards the house and pool.

There is also a stepping stone path to the seat made from sandstone offcuts and some home-made mosaic pavers. I love mosaic and have mostly made pots in the past, but the pavers are great fun and not so time-consuming!

A nice thick layer of forest mulch will keep the weeds down and the soil moist, so eventually I won't need to water it much, if at all.

They are already looking better every day and the butterflies have started to visit the little native daisies, I'm so excited to see it all grow and watch the birds playing around instead of the neighbours and their dogs... they will probably appreciate it too!

I have a few favourites among the plants that I'd like to introduce:

Homoranthus decumbens

 

This gorgeous blue-green shrub grows horizontally and forms little cream flowers along the branches like icing on a cake. The colour is fantastic, and insects love the flowers when they come out in spring.

 

Acacia cultriformis

 

 This quirky wattle forms a dense shrub with these interesting wing-shaped phyllodes. The prickly foliage will help to shelter wrens and finches that may want to nest there when the garden is more established.

 

Melaleuca nesophila

A large shrub with fluffy flowers that start out bright purple and fade to almost white, so that there are a number of different shades at one time. I wrote an article about these as part of my internship, you can see it here:
http://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/interns-2012/melaleuca-nesophila.html
Obviously I still have a soft spot for them!


This week Matt also managed to pull up the mashy-pea-green carpet in the lounge room, the surprise layer of lino underneath, and the funky layer of 1955 newspaper underneath that. Some of the ads and stories are so funny, I might have to make a collage to hang on the wall for a bit of vintage style and a nod to the house's history.

Eventually we will sand and polish the boards, but for now I'm just happy for the old carpet to be gone. There is only one small patch remaining, we are slowly making progress!

If anyone is interested in a comprehensive list of what's in the garden, knock yourself out:
Acacia amblygona
Acacia cultriformis
Actinotus helianthi
Austromyrtis dulcis
Banksia integrifolia
Banksia spinulosa 'Honeypots'
Brachycome multifida Blue, White and Break 'o' day
Bursaria spinosa
Callistemon 'Wilderness White'
Calothamnus granitica
Enchylaena tomemtosa
Eucalyptus caesia
Eucalypus macrocarpa
Grevillea 'Fruit Box'
Grevillea rosmarinifolia 'Lutea'
Grevillea 'Pink Surprise'
Guichenotia macrantha
Hakea sericea
Hardenbergia violacea
Homoranthus decumbens
Kennedia nigricans
Kunzea pomifera
Leptospermum 'Lipstick'
Leptospermum sp.
Melaleuca decussata
Melaleuca nesophila
Melaleuca thymifolia
Myoporum parvifolium
Poa labillardieri
Prostanthera cryptandroides
Thryptomene saxicola
Verticordia plumosa
Wahlenbergia gloriosa
Westringia 'Smokie'

 

 

 

March is for... getting a move on

March...left, right. Left, right. The weather is cooling, but there's no time to rest! Don't be fooled by the slowing of growth, it's time for action! Any evergreen plants are best to get in the ground or transplant now before it gets cold, while the deciduous plants can wait until winter. Fertilising plants now will give you a last burst of growth, and you can give shrubs a light trim that will keep them in shape until spring. Also, if you're anything like me, the spring bulb catalogues are irresistable at the moment, and so of course my little order arrived a few weeks ago. I'm not going to promise to stop there, the Collectors' Plant Fair is on next month, after all. But as usual my Dutch blood is pumping at the photos of blousy tulips and dainty snowdrops... unfortunately they can be pretty tricky to grow where I am. I have succeeded with tulips in the past, just by popping them in the fridge for a few weeks before planting. They were fabulous! But somewhere along the line they were left behind in one of the gardens I have had the pleasure of dipping my hands into. I'm sure they are in good company- I have managed to bring with me through 6 moves some red nerines from my Mum's garden, and some purple callas and pink storm lilies I bought as a teenager. There is no doubt in my mind that some of these treasures will have been overlooked in the frantic retrieval that occurs when I move house, and I hope they live on to surprise and delight new housemates. Part of the excitement for me is their invisibility during the colder months, and the first bright hint of green spikes pushing their way through the ground to welcome the spring warmth. Sometimes I've been sensible enough to put my bulbs in pots, and so my jonquils, freesias, mini daffodils, bluebells and iris have arrived safely, and some of these I planted in the front garden to brighten it up. Those still in pots will be moveable displays when their time to shine comes along.

So, what did I order?! In the catalogues there were so many bulbs I hadn't come across before, it was quite difficult to choose! I wrote a wish list, and then a shortlist. And I was still over the budget Matt gave me... Luckily (or not... I'm choosing to be an optimist) the early birds had got the worm, and I missed out on a few of the rarer bulbs. This thankfully narrowed my list somewhat and I ended up deciding on muscari 'Mount Hood'; a lovely little grape hyacinth with dark blue at the bottom and white on top, striped squill; which are similar to bluebells if they were paler blue with white stripes, and Lachenalia mutabilis... which are so unusual that a description escapes me. This picture from the Garden Express website should help:

And now comes the fun part, deciding where to plant them. The front garden will probably be best, as it is really dedicated to flowers and designed to pretty the house up. A couple of the local girls have taken to pinching my roses though, and it would break my heart to see these babies disappear! I will probably just risk it and trust that there will be enough to go around... I do like to think that they enjoy the flowers and will hopefully be inspired to grow their own someday.












And on that note, here is an update of the rose bed at the very front of the yard, and the new bed we built along the front of the house. The roses have filled out and the little bloomers added colour in the gaps. I was lucky enough to pick my first rose bouquet for the kitchen, which I didn't expect in the first year!



















The new bed along the house and verandah was filled with shrubs with purple or white flowers, and under 2m in size. There are a couple of different gardenias, as their fragrance and elegance earned them a fair amount of space (especially under the bedroom window). We  kept the existing maybush since it fits with the colour scheme, and I love the rounded weeping shape. The hibiscus was not so lucky, although its abundant flowers had awarded it a stay of execution until now. I have been around long enough to know that a hibiscus in summer is at its peak, and that in winter it will look pretty scrappy. And the red flowers were never really my style... then recently I started noticing tibouchinas flowering in the streets and finally had a better option! So we picked up a 'Jazzie' variety that will grow to about 1.5m and have stunning purple flowers. Much better!

Tibouchina 'Jazzie'

We have also planted a jasmine to climb over the verandah rail for cover and fragrance, a 'Cherry Pie' heliotrope to attract butterflies and add a rich vanilla scent, and some natives to attract birds; a Leptospermum 'Cardwell' and a gorgeous silky Erempohila that is my baby- it is so wonderfully soft to touch. A mauve dwarf crepe myrtle filled the last gap, and we then laid a timber edge and mulched the whole bed with fine woodchips to keep the moisture in and the weeds out. It should fill out nicely over the next year.

When we first moved in I planted a little apricot tree in the middle of the front lawn, in front of the bedroom window. Because it is deciduous, it will shade the room from the hot western sun in summer and let the sun in to keep it warm in winter. And apricots fresh off the tree are truly a different experience to shop-bought, the jammy flavour and soft flesh is divine. I can't wait to see it fruit! After planting I put a few rocks around in a circle and planted the old nerines inside it, and now they are looking a treat! as Autumn flowering bulbs, they serve as a reminder and encouragement to hurry up and get the spring bulbs in the ground so they can begin to work their magic!



The giant allium, 'Prins Claus' crocus and chequered lily will just have to wait until next year, hopefully I can get them in my hot little hands before they sell out next time!