Friday 22nd August, 2014
Plant to cover is the secret!!!
Hi
Over the years I have decided that different plants evoke different emotions with people and I will own up to the fact that I'm no different.
Often people will come to me for advice for a plant for ... well one of those tricky positions and when I offer a solution they just shake their heads and say "
No... I just hate those." A really good example would have to be the humble
Agapanthus and a common response would be "
Oh! they're just motorway flowers..' Another classic would be conifers and I think that the generations of the 50 and 60s kinda spoilt our conifer reputations in their pursuit of low maintenance gardening.
To be fair the large
Agapanthus that we all know is now listed as a noxious weed and I wouldn't recommend them as they do seed rather promiscuously but rather the smaller growing ones that are mostly sterile. But both Conifers and the right
Agapanthus do definitely suit some more difficult and extreme positions for plants. Both are so suited to those hot dry gardens that get really high light and quite poor soils where other plants would struggle.
Now I am going to own up right here and now but I really like our dear old Aggies as our bank planting of them is just so easy to keep and always looks pretty cool - well I think so anyways. The bank is clay that was bought in to create the car park and faces east. The idea was to hold the bank and end up with a permanent grassy like look that is easy to keep. We planted to cover which means excludes the light which minimizes weed growth and spot spraying with roundup keeps it totally weed free. Streamliner Agapanthus don't succumb to roundup spray drift. The only other maintenance is our annual deadhead once a year after flowering as I don't like all those spent flowers hanging around otherwise the bank is almost no work. My excuse is that we have plenty of other things to do.
Now how to cover banks is quite a perennial question, no pun intended. There are plenty of other options that will do a fine job and the final choice will all down to personal taste. Personally I'm not all that keen on weed cloth as it prevents ground covers from layering down in the soil themselves and a natural eco system is interrupted. However I do believe that planting to cover will exclude weeds and once established will minimize maintenance.
If you love NZ flora then some of the ground cover coprosmas are pretty neat and
Acerosa Hawera is just awesome, very flat and very dense and just loves those hot sunny dry possies. Acerosa forms grow in the sand dunes at the beach. Contrast the Coprosma with some planting of Renga renga and the orange Carex testacea and you will end up with a show piece bank. If you are into some flowers, then consider our Aussie neighbours....... the Grevilleas and
Mount Tamboritha and
Drummer Boy are a couple of ground hugging classics. I cant leave out good ole Rosemary which also suits a sunny disposition and just to push some buttons, the conifer
Juniperus procumbens nana does a great job..
There are heaps of plants that will hug the ground, some really flat, others will undulate, small growers and those that cover huge areas. Pimelias , a nz native has bluish leaves and white flowers, Lithiodora with its intense blue flowers, the ground cover bottle brush, rocky rambler has stunning red flowers, there is something there for most places....
Spring is in the air and garden things to be done
Yesterday was a stunning day and I was lucky enough to spend some time in our garden and hopefully more time soon.. We are behind in getting our pruning done but I did manage to sort an old std crepuscule rose that has missed a couple of prunings and on our pergola, a fairly ancient climbing Moonlight that needed a whole heap of dead wood cut out. They both look a tad naked now but I'm sure that they are going to perform a whole lot better. The roses and all our apple trees all still need to be done, not to mention the fruit trees at Petes but if you haven't pruned then you must get it done now.
The next main chore in the garden is feeding and everything can be fed at this time, throw on the rose food, fruit trees and all citrus will benefit from being fed too. Sheep pellets, compost and mulch are all good things to use as well. You will get out of your garden what you put into it.
Watch out for those new leaves
I was asked the other day about continuing the use of Copper and if you don't have new leaves yet then it should be fine. If you do have new leaves then copper can be a tad harsh on them and I suggest to move to other sprays. Bravo seems to be quite good on downy mildew of roses and last year I had great success preventing curly leaf on our peaches and nectarines with Bravo. The secret to controlling these fungal infections is to spray a couple of times if you have a problem and to spray with the weather conditions. Dont forget well fed plants with a balanced diet of all types of ferts are less susceptible to infections.
Boronia megastigma Everyones favourite scent except for me as for some reason I cant just can't smell this one. Apparently its just gorgeous and I'm missing something special
Maples. Steve is a newbie to the team and he just love Maples and I have to agree with him. Famous for either amazing new spring foliage or stunning Autumns colours. Maples are cover all sizes from the small ones to the medium size and large trees. There is just about a Maple for all positions.
Potato Summer delight. Spuds are in now and last seasion Summer delight was a new selection. Check here for the full range.
Thuja Holmstrop. Similar to Thuja Smaragd these large grade plants are just a bargain. Grows as a column and awesome for creating landscape effect.
Winter Sweet. Harry found some more of these and have always been one of my favourite winter flowering plants and these scent I can smell and its beautiful. Hardy and easy to grow.
If you can't see me in the garden centre, hopefully it means that I'm in our garden as I have to get it up to scratch for the coming spring as there are a few garden rambles to come through. If its a nice day there is nothing I like better. The whole team is on this weekend so hopefully there will be garden time for me. However your placed for the weekend, I hope that its fun. Have a good one!!!
Have a great weekend!
Lloyd, Harry and the Wairere Team
Make it a Wairere weekend where even GNOMES know that gardening's not a drag.
