Friday 9th November, 2012
Addictive Behaviours !!!
Hi
Coddlers and Cuckcoo clocks.......
Do you have addictive behaviours???? I know that H does! I can tell you a little story, when some friends showed Harry an egg coddler who had never seen one before. Now in case you don't know an egg coddler is made of good china and usually with some pretty picture on the outside and comes complete with a screw on metal lid and handle. These coddlers were used in times past to cook eggs. If you were lucky enough to find one that still has a box and recipes included, then you will read, that you need to lightly grease the inside of the coddler and crack in your egg. At this point you could add finely chopped onion, bacon or salt and pepper, do up the lid and immerse in boiling water and cook like boiled eggs, all in a coddler. Now Harry just had to have one but when he discovered that there were many patterns, well, one became 50 and the collection sits still on top of the fridge, all 50. Then there were the clocks and all types, just had to have a grandfather clock, followed by all manner of others including a cuckoo clock of which lately, the daily ritual is to wind the cuckoo up by pulling the chains. I hope that he isn't going to start winding up all the others as our home will be chiming like a house full of clocks.
I have to admit to my own addiction.... having to have some of every plant and if I get one then I usually try to get one or some of every cultivar. Personally I have a soft spot for English Lavender; they would have to be my favourite type and I have managed to find a few pink and white English types and quite a few of the smaller growing forms. Foveaux Storm is a dwarf with really dark flowers and Munstead has more of that grey blue flower
Is it French, English or Spanish Lavender?
The name Lavender is pretty close to its genus name and with just a few letters different you get Lavendula. There are quite a few common names bandied around for the different species of Lavender of which English is one, then there is French Lavender and Spanish Lavender. English Lavender is what I always think of being true lavender and has the classic flower on the end of tall stems. These flowers are really fragrant and in some cultivars used for extracting the essential oil of lavender, they are also excellent for drying as died cut flowers or even used in pot pouri and pillow sachets . Now English tend to flower once but for a reasonable length of time. The bush itself is an attractive grey, has good compact form that responds to a light trim after flowering. From memory there are a couple of species being Angustifolia and Spica and dwarf forms have nana attached after their name.
Spanish lavender are what I call the rabbit eared type and they have the rabbit ear ear kind of arrangement out the top of their flowers and I always think of these as being really pretty garden type shrubs. They come in many hues of lavender to purple colours and are nearly always in flower. So much in flower that some can never take the plunge to cut them back to keep them nice and shrubby. They often get around 70cm to 100 cm high.
The third main type is the French or Dentata, which of course is named for its dentate leaves which incidentally are very fragrant, especially when crushed or bruised when brushing past the plant. This type of lavender is also nearly always in bloom and is quite a popular form for making hedges.
All Lavender have the same growing conditions in common and that is sun, sun, sun and more sun with good free draining soils.. They all benefit from being trimmed after flowering but don't cut them back so hard into just brown wood as that older wood may not regenerate. Trim back just above the old brown wood leaving some of the newer fresh wood. Always resist trimming them back late in the autumn as they don't have time to regrow before the winter especially in our Waikato winters that tend to be damp and foggy which Lavenders dislike.
Rose watch
Your roses should almost be in full flush now and just looking gorgeous, well I know the ones in the garden centre are. Dead heading the blooms will keep them looking nice in the garden. I haven't sprayed the roses for some weeks now and thats because the weather has settled down into generally being sunny and much drier. If your roses are looking good don't worry about spraying them unless there becomes a need ie Aphids or black spot which are the next two pesky problems that happen at this time of year or if we are going to get rain. Now if you see black spot or aphids then give them a couple or three close sprays ie two days apart to nail the problem and then go back to no spraying. Watch out for aphids as they can populate really fast and one spray alone will probably not deal to them all. At this time of year you should be using
Shield or Super Shield and its a good idea to use one for a bit and then change to the other. In another couple of weeks your roses will probably start to finish flowering and if you are like me and like a full on show then its time to cut them back and not too differently from winter. Many make the mistake of deadheading the flower but you really need to remove the spent flower stem by cutting of approx 2 to3 leaves or buds up from where it starts. After pruning the finished flowers, I refeed the roses and in seven weeks time they will be in full flush again.
Something a bit different for the plantaholic
Stenocarpus Sinuatus or Queensland Firewheel tree, Now this is a plant that I don't know a whole lot about, so delved into good ole Google and found that its a tree thats found as part of the Australian rain forest and belongs to the Protea family. Its also cousin to the Macadamia and our very own Rewa Rewa. Flowers are spectacular being bright red and not looking like a flower in the conventional manner. Apparently quite a tough tree to grow and tolerant of light frosts to boot. I think that I will have to find a spot in our garden for such a plant.
Oenothera Missouriensis, a perennial with quite a mouthful of a name but we will all find Evening Primrose far easier, a hardy perennial with gorgeous yellow flowers. Likes poor soils and a dry habit and lots of sun
Orthrosanthus multiflorus, dont know if this one has a common name but if you are into blue flowers this is a goodie. Belongs to the iris family and is hardy. Google came up with: Zero fuss, tough, long lived & good looking year around, you never have to worry over this evergreen member of the Iris family. I've grown it for 10 years.
Cosmos Hot Chocolate. Another goodie and whilst not flamboyant in colour reminds one of the colour of chocolate and, as its name suggests, smells deliciously of chocolate.
CHRISTMAS is looming.......... Dare I go there?
I have to put the ideas out there cause there will be some that want to plant up some pots and give them for Xmas. We still have wirebaskets with pots in them the that will look really cool planted with herbs or colour. Tuck vouchers away in your mind as we have them as well and they make really great gifts to give your gardening family and mates.
Lemon and Passion fruit slice Its up there in the
Whats cooking under sweets. I was a tad later getting it there than I thought. There are a few more steps to making it than what I normally undertake but worth the effort and the calories. LOL
The days have become quite warm so you may need to keep an eye on the watering especially of newly planted annuals and plants but its great growing weather and there is rain forecast for monday.
The weeks just keep rolling in to one and I can hardly keep up, everything is growing so fast. I have now put in four rows of spuds, zucchinis, pumpkins, cucumbers and even tomatoes. Our leafy patch is looking awesome and now we are right into salads every night and on sammys. Whatever your're up to for the weekend, take and have fun.
Cheers, Lloyd and Harry and the team
Make it a Wairere weekend where gardening's not a drag
