To garden and to write about gardening. The technology of the internet has seen the rise of the "blog", the web log. The temptation is to write more than to dig. Here are thoughts on an occasional basis from one who likes to garden, but who finds that the computer can take more time than is realized.
Autumn hints
The flowering of the Bella Donna Lilies, often called Naked Ladies, because their flowering stems emerge from the earth before the leaves appear, are a sure sign that Autumn is here.
The days are noticeably shorter. In fact as I write this we are at the equinox. We are looking out for rain with hope that some may fall and dampen the parched and dusty land.
We have picked the last of the peaches. These late varieties are not really cultivars but are probably seedlings, nonetheless they are very acceptable golden fruits that are delicious fresh or lightly poached for freezing and eating later in the depths of winter when summer is but a memory.
With the shorter days and the start of cooler nights we are starting to see leaf fall and some colour in the poplars as they turn to gold. To me this is one of the most attractive times of the year with mild days, little wind and cool nights.
The mellow season.
Summer fruits
For all the storms and tempests we have had this summer with its extremes of temperature, lightning starting bushfires all over the State and a cyclone to keep us on our toes, we have had some much-needed rain and, of course, the ripening of the summer fruits.
Nectarines and peaches have been the stars with plums as a very acceptable back up fruit. I say back up because the plum is particularly good when cooked in pies and in jams. It is often mixed with fruits such as mulberries, which are low in pectin, to make well-set jams. Speaking of mulberries, they were fruiting for nearly all of January. They are best eaten straight from the tree in the orchard. The young rooster and hens, which are let out into the orchard each morning, learnt very quickly about the delights of mulberries but left some for us.
The typical summer flowers of agapanthus and hydrangeas provide a cooling effect and when kept reasonably moist can form a valuable role as fire retardant plants in a firewise garden.
A very large Chinese Elm has grown even more over summer and is now scraping the roof. Not only is it not very good for the roof structure, it is too easy for it to be dropping leaves and small twigs into the gutters creating a fire hazard. Not good for summer!
Just last week we have had the Chinese Elm trimmed up and have removed overhanging branches as much as possible whilst still maintaining shade onto the house from the hot afternoon sun.
The photo, right, shows that the elm has been trimmed from the roof and reveals that the gutters do need cleaning to reduce the fire hazard. Photo taken in the middle of the day showing that we still have dappled shade, but there is better fire protection.
The elm, too, is a valuable component of a firewise garden in that it will provide a shield from radiant heat and a filter for embers should there be a bushfire in the vicinity.
In this part of the country a bushfire is quite likely over summer.
Summer: gardens and fires
Whilst most of us hope it won't happen to us, ie that a fire will burn our house and garden, there is always a chance on a hot, windy day that a fire will start in a paddock or in natural bushland and sweep down upon us.
The trigger to start a fire can be one of several: lightning strikes, a carelessly-lit campfire, a discarded butt, burning off to try to reduce fuel that gets away or variations on all of the preceding including arson, of course.
Whatever the trigger, the immediate surrounds of our houses can make a huge difference as to how well we, our house and our garden can survive.
Some plants burn much more readily than others, for example, many of the trees and shrubs of the South West forests of Western Australia are highly inflammable. They are well adapted to fire, indeed many germinate better with the aid of a bushfire.
Plants that are low in resins or oils, that have soft, large leaves containing moisture are not so flammable. Fruit trees, such as apple, plum, fig and peach are less likely to burn readily than a gum tree with the volatile eucalyptus oil in its leaves.
Below is photo showing John in our orchard with a non-inflammable plum to the left, in the process of cutting back a Red-flowering Gum, Corymbia ficifolia. This tree, with its inflammable leaves and dead branches, could burn if embers blew in from nearby bushland during a fire.
An orchard can act like a green firebreak if the plants chosen are unlikely to burn readily. In the centre background is a carob which is an evergreen, fire-retardant small tree.
Wildflower findings
Last Sunday as part of the Festival of Country Gardens we went to the Hester Forest, a few kms east of Bridgetown. The earlier flowering orchids such as donkey orchids and spider orchids had finished, but there were plenty of enamel and sun orchids. The forest had several distinctly different areas with different soil types and corresponding changes in vegetation.
An interesting plant that we came across was the Hooded Lily, Johnsonia lupulina, named because the flowers look rather like the flowers on the European Hop plant. Each of the flower heads is made up of many small lily-type flowers protected by the papery bracts which form an elongated shape with a rather fetching pink tip. We thought it would look very attractive in a garden setting, perhaps with many plants in a cluster or row. The occasional one would also look wonderful in a mixed bed of plants which is how it grows naturally in bushland anyway.
Summer taste
Suddenly the maximum temperature is in the high twenties. My thoughts turn to the need to check out the reticulation system as newly planted shrubs begin to wilt slightly.
The past few months have seen rainfall that is average or even better which after several winters with very low rainfall is a godsend. It has meant that the ground has had a good soaking and that many tanks and dams are full. Our tanks are all topped up and have been for months.
The wildlife, too, is recognizing the seasonal changes. A willy wagtail was chasing off a magpie this morning. Both birds have been foraging for food quite close to the house which suggests that they have young mouths to feed and are not to bothered by our presence.
Another appearance though not so welcome was sighting of a large dugite, sunning itself at the corner of the Open Shed just metres from our back steps. We instantly think of the dog and the danger to her. The snake ducked back under the shed when it saw me, but a few minutes later it was back out. It was a hot morning and I suspect it was seeking water. A little later it decided to move towards the poultry pens where there is water and in stretching itself out to travel, showed itself to be at least 1.5 metres long. Quite beautiful with its small head and amazing convoluting body, a dark olively, brown colour. Possibly just coming out of hibernation, hungry and with its venom at its most concentrated.
Joanna, (left, ouside Montaza Park) who is a Labrador/Golden Retriever cross, is a natural hunting dog and inquisitive. Not great if there are snakes about, we have already had one emergency visit to the Vet last summer, when we saw Joanna confronting a very large dugite. Fortunately, she was not bitten. Ah ... the quiet life of the country.
Spring gallops
Not only are there spring carnivals as the horse racing season progresses with plenty of galloping horses, so, too, do the gardens accelerate with their spring growth. Flower buds, leaf buds all are springing (sorry!) into action.
Montaza Park jasmine
Jasminum polyanthemum is a perfumed twining creeper with pretty perfumed flowers.
The poplar that was bare last week is now covered with fresh, young leaves, the Mediterranean Oak is now fully clothed and casting solid (almost too solid) shade.
Cherry blossom is out as are varieties of apples. And the roses, especially many of the older style varieties such as the Tea Roses, are full of blooms.
Climbers, such as the pretty jasmine, left, are trailing over fences and, if given a chance will climb into trees. It is best, for the tree's sake to keep climbers, like jasmine, under control as they can smother the tree. An annual prune in late summer is not a bad idea as it will keep the jasmine from wrecking other plants.
The central part of the South West of Western Australia has a warm temperate climate. In inland parts, and dependant on altitude, frosts may occur several times a winter, sufficiently cold in some years to adversely affect plants such as Jacarandas and kill geraniums.
Lilac at Montaza Park
The flowers and scent of lilac are a sign of spring.
Plants from colder climes that tolerate frost take the occasional cold morning in their stride and will do well. Apples and other similar fruits rely on the chill factor to fruit well.
Lilacs are good examples, that although from a colder climate, they will grow and bloom well in the inland South West especially if they have some protection from the hot afternoon summer sun.
Now to the gardening
At last, after what seems like months, but with most of the energy concentrated in the past fortnight the programme of the Festival of Country Gardens has been compiled by yours truly, ie Peta Townsing, who is the Festival coordinator till the end of this year and chair of Blackwood Country Gardens Inc which is the association that stages the Festival.
In the past five days the programme for the Festival has been organized into a brochure using such software as Quark Express, Adobe Illustrator (a bit mysterious), Photoshop (good fun) and the more mundane office software such as Exel for creating tables and then converting most of this to pdf.
The whole document is then converted from Quark into a pdf for sending to the Prepress people for creating film to send to the printers in the four colours used: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.
By the end of September we will be collecting 5000 copies of a DL sized brochure which will contain the main details of the Festival of Country Gardens for spring.
Meantime it is available as a low resolution form with a smaller file size that can be viewed on line and then printed if desired. This form comes as a "spread" as though the pages are opened out for easy printing on A4 sized sheets of paper.
Of course in the past couple of weeks we have had both warm weather and some rain which the weeds, knowing that I am busy, have been making the most of my not being amongst them and have grown exceeding well. So it will be out with the mower, the gardening gloves, the mulching, damp newspapers and the mini-pick to get on top of the weeds before they get on top of me!
Hope you enjoy the programme brochure and that there are not too many typos. There is an error on the map in finding the Equinox garden in Donnybrook - Google is not always accurate and that will be remedied on line at least.
The wisteria is out in the front garden of the Cottage. It seems a bit early, but maybe the warm days of recent weeks have brought on the flowering.
Happy gardening.
Spring energies
"Spring has sprung"
Warming sun, longer days then sudden squalls, blossom covering trees, becoming bedraggled - all these are typically characteristics of spring. Not at all like autumn which is much more mellow.
Perhaps the weather has something to do with the equinox and the equinoxial gales. In any case it is a busy time in the garden with much happening and lots to do.
From bare trees last week, the Simon's Poplars are springing into leaf and in a couple more days will be well covered and providing shade and shelter to passing or sheltering birds and other animals.
I have mixed feelings about the Simon's Poplars. They are reputed not to sucker, but as with all poplars they have an aggressive root system, and if roots are damaged new growth will spring from them. The roots will seek out water and will, I suspect, compete very successfully with other plants to the extent that any newcomers will be crowded out and will not succeed against the assertive poplar.
In fact, I am about to move several roses which even with a root barrier in place are no match against these poplars. The moral of this story is to be very careful about siting Simon's Poplars because not much else will get a look in if anywhere in the vicinity.
Simon's Poplars in mid May with most of their leaves fallen. Roses just inside the fence are not thriving with the fierce competition from the poplars' roots.
The gardening starts
Which is more complicated? Starting a blog or getting on top of the weeds as spring, or Djilba as the local aboriginal people call this season, when many plants begin a growth spurt in response to the extra sunshine, a good bit of rain and warmer tempertures.
I would say similarly difficult but in not quite the same way.