Dominated by large trees on a medium sized property, my garden is very shaded. With no “full sun” areas I have to plant shade and partial shade loving plants. I love shrubs and flowers including camellias and azaleas but Roses and Irises are my favourite and getting these to thrive is a challenge …
Apart from the one plant that has mildew, I’m really happy to report that my Lavender Plants are coming along. They have grown a bit taller and slightly bushier in the past month probably because of the great sunny weather we have been having.
I’ve sprayed the mildew affected plant against fungal diseases and need to repeat that every seven days, three times.
We will see what happens to it. Happy gardening.
The plants in my back garden are really coming along very nicely. It gives me so much pleasure now to go and spend time there. Even the lawn is coming along, despite all the shade. I thought I would slowly start photographing the individual plants I have in my garden and explain why they were chosen. As you can see on these two photos, the ground cover we are using here is Lamium “beacon silver” and Plectranthus madagascariensis.
I really love how fresh and attractive the Lamium looks, especially in contrast with the foliage of the darker green plants. It has light green variegated leaves with white / very light green. It is excellent as a filler plant in shaded areas and it looks particularly attractive in the back garden against the darker green leaves of the Camellias and Plectranthus ‘Mona Lavender’. I’m really loving this plant … I think its my new favourite ground cover. It needs to be controlled a bit, but is not as invasive as other ground covers I’ve known and responds beautifully to being nipped back, growing bushy and quickly! So far, its been totally pest free in my garden.
Then you see the Acorus gramineus ‘Variegata’ right behind / amongst the Lamium. A great choice for a spiky texture in a mixed bed like this, I love these too. Also variegated, they apparently do produce little inconspicuous flowers (I haven’t seen any yet), but they are grown primarily for their attractive foliage. They too are pest free (so far), growing fairly quickly and giving me lots of pleasure!
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Happy Gardening
xxx
I was taking a walk around my garden to see what I could photograph for a blog post – and it walked right up to me – a Hadeda lunching on my earthworms! The amazing thing was that Hercules was walking with me and the Hadeda was completely unfazed by our very close presence and by being followed by us, me snapping away in the hope of getting at least one good photograph. The walkabout lasted for about ten minutes until we had followed her all the way from the back garden to the pond and then she decided she had had enough … either of us or of munching on earthworms, and she took flight.
I often see the Hadedas in my garden. I don’t actually like them much – they are usually in the garden in groups of two or three and they trample on the plants damaging them and mess all over the place (read: crap on the patio). And they are big birds so the mess they leave on the patio is large! Not little dove droppings, I’m talking about huge Hadeda droppings. So whilst they are not unwelcome (I love having birds in the garden), they are not exactly my favourite visitors – much like the loud noisy neighbours one tolerates once in a blue moon!
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For anyone interested and not familiar with the Hadeda here is some info I found on Wikipedia:
The Hadeda or Hadeda Ibis, Bostrychia hagedash, is a ibis found in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Hadeda is a large (up to 76 cm long), dark brown ibis with a white “moustache”, glossy greenish purple wings, a large black bill with a red stripe on the upper mandible, and blackish legs. It feeds mainly on earthworms, using its long scimitar-like bill to probe soft soil. It also eats larger insects, such as the Parktown Prawn, as well as spiders and small lizards. These birds also favour snails and will feed in garden beds around residential homes. It has a distinctively loud and recognisable haa-haa-haa-de-dah call that is often heard when the birds are flying or are startled, hence the name. More info about Hadeda here: Hadeda Ibis.
I’ve had a very busy working-weekend and unfortunately had no time to garden. I’ve got a “list” of things I need to do in the garden – from re-potting plants to seedlings that need to be planted – and no time to get to any of it. Hopefully I’ll be able to take a few hours tomorrow to get into my garden and see to all the chores.
For today I thought I would share two photographs of my new “happy place”. We never used this area much before we had the back garden redone because it was all such a mess. It’s slowly coming into its own now and sitting on the back patio and listening to the birds chirping and seeing my plants starting to flourish is very special.You can’t see much of the garden from these photos – what I want to show here is the restful ambiance of this space …
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On a visit to the famous Cellars-Hohenort in Constantia recently, I was totally enchanted by their gardens. The gardens at Cellars are acknowledged as one of the finest hotel gardens internationally and have been voted by Garden Design, a top American magazine, as one of the top 30 hotel gardens in the world. And a visit to Cellars-Hohenort reveals why …
We parked in the parking lot and walking up towards the Hotels’ main entrance you will find the most enchanting Rose Garden … all beautiful white roses with Star Jasmine everywhere! The scent of Jasmine fills the air and its got to be one of the most magical “walks to the hotel entrance” anywhere. I absolutely love it. Their gardens are extensive and incredibly beautiful. And I’m really very envious of what they have achieved there.
Compared to Cellars, my garden is just a little “wannabee”. We will never be featured in any fancy magazines or win awards, but that’s not why I garden. I garden for the sheer joy of watching things grow and the immense satisfaction I get from seeing the plants thrive. But oh I do so want to smell jasmine when I walk through my garden. So we have the lovely Star Jasmine planted everywhere in the hopes that one day, maybe next spring, the air will be filled with the sweet scent of jasmine, just like at Cellars.
So far so good … the Jasmine planted on the trellisses in the front garden are thriving and the new ones planted in December are growing at a rapid pace. They appear to be “easy” plants – at least for a novice like myself. I have yet to see a pest on one of them and every day they seem to be getting bigger and stronger and are constantly flowering. Very rewarding for a “brown-thumb” like myself!
One of these days I am going to lunch at Cellars-Hohenort again and will go armed with my camera (or with a photographer-buddy in tow) so we can share the beauty of the gardens at Cellars-Hohenort here on the blog.
Happy Gardening
xxx
Notes on Star Jasmine:
Common Name: Star jasmine
Genus: Trachelospermum
Species: jasminoides
Skill Level: Experienced
Exposure: Full sun, Partial shade
Hardiness: Half Hardy
Soil type: Well-drained/light
Height: 900cm
Star jasmine is a woody, evergreen climber with rich, dark green leaves which turn bronze in winter. From mid- to late summer, pure white, fragrant flowers are produced. It can be grown against a wall in milder climates or in a greenhouse or conservatory in areas prone to severe frosts. Grow in well-drained soil in full sun or partial shade with protection from cold, drying winds. If growing indoors, plant in loam-based potting compost in full light but not direct sun. Water freely and apply a balanced liquid fertiliser monthly during the growing season, and water sparingly in winter.
An “update” on our back garden I previously wrote about here. With the lovely weather we’ve been having the back garden seems to be flourishing. Agapanthus are flowering, the Plectranthus “Mona Lavender” is thriving, the Plectranthus madagascariensis (which I love!) is growing a bit out of control and I keep cutting it back, the dietes are growing well, Camellias are thriving and the two new trees have grown quite a bit …
I’m very happy with how things are looking. Even the new lawn is doing well. The aphids I’ve been working to get rid of seem to have packed up and left (for now) and the birds are having a merry time picking berries off the trees. Mostly I am enjoying the Agapanthus. I know they probably seem dead ordinary to most people – they seem to line the streets of Cape Town’s southern suburbs – I see them everywhere. But that’s fine with me because I really love them. Mine are Agapanthus africanus – Miniature blue. They are a rich, deep blue with gorgeous green leaves and look quite beautiful.
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The state of my lemon tree – it makes me so sad that my lemon tree is in such a poor state. Everything else in my garden appears to be doing well, the plants seem happy, all spouting new growth and some have new flowers. But the Lemon Tree …
As you can see she doesn’t look good. We’ve sprayed, we’ve mulched, we’ve fertilised … now we wait.
“Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet
But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.
Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet
But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat“.
Off to the nursery to get Nasturtiums …
* Chorus of “Lemon Tree” by Peter, Paul & Mary.
Photo I took of the doves in my garden. The doves gave me a great show today – they were doing the “wild thang”, and were very unfussed by Dexter and my presence and the camera. I love the birds in the garden – they wake me up every morning from about 5 am as they dart from tree to tree picking off the berries.
I also have starlings who visit our pond every day for a drink of water and a wash in the bird baths. Sometimes we have as many as six of them playing in the baths when its very hot. Unfortunately they are too fast for me to take photographs, but I will keep trying.
Hey Barbs, I found an amazing tip in this months issue of The Gardener which will help protect our Lemon Trees from aphids and scale. Here’s what they say … Sow Nasturtium or rue seeds at the base of fruit trees. Their presence appears to act as a deterrent to sap-sucking insects like aphids and scale. Concoctions brewed from the leaves of these plants are also used as organic sprays to deter these pests!
So I am going to buy Nasturtium seeds … they used to flourish in my garden, like a weed,along with the Ivy. We ripped them all out and I’m not mad about the idea of having a Nasturtium invasion again, but if I control their growth and just have them growing around the base of the lemon tree I think it could actually look quite attractive. What do you think? Worth a try if it keeps the nasties away!
And I know that some people put Nasturtiums in salads and use them in food preparation … so that fits in with you “edible” theme! I’ll get you some seeds when I go seed shopping this week.
I’m on a mission to get my pond sorted out this year. As you know, we inherited the fish pond when we bought the house – it had four gold fish and one Koi in it – no plants whatsoever and it’s not a great looking pond. There were hedges growing on either side of the pond that were so overgrown they were sort of growing into the pond and all in all – it was not my favourite thing in the garden. But I love the sound of the water trickling – the ponds is situated right outside my office – if I turn around I see it through my glass doors – in summer the doors are always open while I’m working and I hear the water trickling all day whilst I work. Its lovely – and this year I plan to make it beautiful.
The first think I did three years ago was to got a few pond plants. I got them from a guy who comes once a month tohelp me clean the pond. I never asked what they were and I still have no idea, but a few weeks back when I was at Ferndale (yes, again!), I found some water hyacinths. I bought two. They have a pond full of them and I actually had no idea what I was buying, they were not flowering, just green and looked attractive so I bought them. When I was there last week I walked past the pond and saw two of their Hyacinths in flower! They are really pretty flowers and now I am hoping mine will flower too. The flowers are upright, pale blue, as in this photograph. How lovely if I had flowers floating around in my pond …
A good friend of mine gave me Irises from the pond in his garden which I am busy potting and adding to my pond (I LOVE Irises) and Im busy re-potting the plants I have in there into fresh/bigger containers. I’ve been researching how to lay mosaic tiling … at the moment its just plain cement and the sides are blackened which looks very unattractive – so I want to lay blue mosaic tiles on the inside of the pond. So far I’ve researched and measured … thats as far as I’ve got. The research and planning continues … but first to sort out all the plants.
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