Author: Christine

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 …

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Christine's garden Miscellaneous

Trip to Ferndale

Clematis Nelly Moser

Armed with my camera, intent on taking photos and doing a proper review for the blog, I headed off to Ferndale Nurseries in Constantia this afternoon. But first I stopped off at Biggie Best because they are having a sale and I saw some nice pots there a few weeks ago … I bought two great pots. I couldn’t believe the prices – I wanted to get one and ended up getting two, plus some other nick-nacks (yes, another candle holder!). The reason for the pot-buying mission is that I’ve been looking at lots of photos lately of beautiful gardens and I notice that often they put a grouping of pots with different plants in them within a flower bed … and I think it looks beautiful, so I want to try that somewhere in my garden. I see they mix different pot types together and it looks good. I’m not sure I can get it right, but I have to try.

So with the two new pots in my car, I headed off to Ferndale and arrived at 3:40pm as they were closing the gates. They close at 3:50 on a Saturday apparantly (why not 3:30 or 4:00 – no, they close at 3:50). But the kind guy at the gate let me in, so I had all of ten minutes to grab a few things. So no “review” and no photographs of the nursery today. But I got my big sprayer (4 litres) which I will put to the test tomorrow. I also bought myself a few plants … I’ve been wanting a Clematis in my garden forever and bought a lovely one – it is Clematis “Nelly Moser”. (see pic).Also bought some pretty ground cover called Big Ben – hypoestes phyllostachya splash red – it’s got variegated leaves with red, I think it will add some interest at the back and it apparantly thrives in partial shade. Great for filling in some blank spaces I have at the back. I also bought two small Agapanthus “new blue”. I don’t know why – I have plently of Agapanthus in my garden but those two called me and said “buy me, buy me”, so they came home with me. They are a lighter blue than the ones I have so they are a bit different. I think these might go into one of the new pots.

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Clematis “Nelly Moser”

Clematis Nelly Moser The Nelly Moser Clematis is a flowering vine that can reach as much as 12 feet in length, with off-shoots from the main vine reaching out 3-4 feet. Best displayed on a trellis, arbor, or other climbing fixture, the blooms start in late September and can continue all summer long. Nelly Moser offers a starburst shaped bloom 5-7 inches across with white ruffled edges and pink-colored pedals that grow in profusion. [/one_half]

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Agapanthus “New Blue”

Agapanthus New Blue A midsized variety with leave forming a compact mound of 20-30cm. The flowers stand 40-60cm in height. The individual florets are much larger than most other agapanthus. This results in a very nice display of colour despite the individual heads having slightly fewer florets than some varieties. Tolerant of wide soil and water regime variations. Can be grown in full sun or light shade.[/one_half_last]

I hope to get these all in the ground tomorrow.

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Christine's garden Home page features Miscellaneous

Gifts from the Garden

Gifts from the Garden - Photograph © Barbara Mueller-Thiart

Gifts from the Garden - Photograph © Barbara Mueller-ThiartWhat a way to start the weekend … with a visit from one’s best buddy who arrives bearing a basket of gifts from her garden! Ah! Life really is good!

As you can see from the photograph, said basket looked almost too beautiful to unpack … but unpack it I did because it was so full of yummyness. Firstly, the big bunch of Lavender, from your garden – I put it in the vase-like bucket in my bathroom. The whole bathroom smells of lavender now and it looks just beautiful. Then the gorgeous roses picked from Barbie’s garden which are now in a vase on my dining room table, fresh Rosemary which we will use in cooking this week, although I’ve put one sprig into my Olive Oil decanter where it infuses the oil with a wonderful taste and aroma. Then of course the freshly laid eggs from Barbie’s “Girls”. I Love those eggs – the yolks are so yellow, the eggs taste a whole lot better than even the best free-range eggs one can buy at Woolies.

Then to start me off in my “veg-growing” career, I got a Tomato plant – its too gorgeous, I can’t wait to watch it grow. I’m keeping the seedlings to plant in my “veg-grower” when I get it. I’m just too nervous to plant it in the ground here where the “nasties” will get to them … I think my first foray into planting seeds should be in a controlled environment. So I will wait with that. The last little surprise package in the basket was a pack of Xylitol which I had yet to try – I rushed out this afternoon to buy a nice container to keep the Xylitol in … its the same as my salt container, just bigger. One of those glass ones with the snappy lid type thingy …

I felt totally spoilt by all the gifts … thanks my friend! You are one in a million!

xxxx

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Bugs & Pests Christine's garden

Bugs and things …

Bugs on Camellias

I spent the better part of last Sunday spraying all my plants that had any creepies on them with the organic insecticide I bought and I felt pretty proud of myself afterwards, believing I had rid my garden of all the “nasties”. The spray container I have only holds 1 litre of water which I then add the insecticide too, then pump and spray. With only one litre and many plants to spray, I was running backwards and forwards refilling the container to get all the plants affected done. After that I did some cutting back of plants (to make them bush) etc. etc. All in all it felt like I had worked pretty hard. I’ve been very busy with work this week and have had hardly any time to check on things so Dexter and I did a walkabout now – and I was well rewarded with lots of new leaves sprouting on some plants that got cut back, all the sprayed plants look bug free …

But then … it seems like they all packed up shop on the sprayed plants and moved to one of my Camellias! The whole plant is covered in these things and ants are feeding on them!

Here they are. I am assuming they are Aphids. Can you tell? (you can click on the photos to see the large versions). Whatever they are I think the Ludwigs spray should get rid of them too. Dang, I thought I was through with the spraying for a while …

[one_half]Bugs on Camellias
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[one_half_last]Bugs on Camellias[/one_half_last]

Tomorrow I am going to go get me one of these bug sprayer thingys… My specs? It must hold about 5 litres of fluid, be reasonably light and east to use! Going to zap those bugs once and for all!

Bug sprayer thingy!

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Design Miscellaneous

The Nogg Urban Chicken Coop

Nogg Chicken Coop

I just stumbled across this Urban Chicken Coop by Nogg and thought you might like this. If I was going to have chickens (would love to, but Dexter & Hercules … well, you know!) I would so get me one of these for them to live in. How cool and stylish is this?? The blurb goes … A stylish & sculptural piece of garden furniture with breakfast thrown in!

Here is a review I found about it …. “The prefabricated chicken coop from British designers Matthew Hayward and Nadia Turan offers an alternative to the traditional chicken houses of yesteryear. Dubbed The Nogg, the egg shaped chicken coop appears to focus on aesthetics over long-term functionality and practicality. Any chicken farmer, urban or otherwise, knows that the key to chicken health is a well-ventilated spacious coop that is easy to keep clean. The Nogg is constructed from locally sourced cedar and features a glass top for sunlight and ventilation“.

I think its über-cool, but it might not be the best thing for the chickens it seems …
Website: http://www.nogg.co/

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Door open – Nogg Coop

Nogg Chicken Coop[/one_half]

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Door closed – Nogg Coop

Nogg Chicken Coop[/one_half_last]

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Christine's garden Gardening Home page features

My Bougainvillea she flowers!

My Bougainvillea

My BougainvilleaTalk about a long wait! I bought two little bougainvillea plants just under a year ago and planted them. One has dark green leaves and the bright pink / crimoson flower bracts, the other has pale green leaves ands white flowers. They were both in flower when I bought them. Iplanted them and they prompty dropped all their flowers and stopped flowering.

Then someone offered to make me a trellis to tie them to so that I could train them upwards against the wall and over our garage roof – which I gratefully accepted. When the trellis was put up against the wall we managed to tie one little branch –  just the tip of it – to the new trellis, and I wondered how long I would have to look at the trellis before my Bougainvilleas covered it from view.

I then dutifully watered my bougainvilleas. Every day. I fertilised them. Often. They grew. And they grew, and they grew. But they never flowered. Not even once, slightly in almost a year. The trellis is almost no longer visible – in under a year they have grown a LOT!

And then I started buying gardening books and read up about bougainvilleas. Aaaah … big rookie mistake – all the watering and patient fertilising resulted in prolific growth and no flowers. According to all my books and internet searches, I’ve discovered that … “These plants flower best under stress. Keep the plant slightly on the dry side. Water thoroughly, then allow to become moderately dry between waterings. They respond extremely well to stress, such as drought and heat, and reward you with excellent bloom”. So I stopped “caring” for them, ignored them completely and my reward?

My Bougainvillea has finally rewarded me with a flower …

I am continuing to”ignore” her … in the hope that she rewards me with more flowers. The branches of the white bougainvillea are mingling with those of the crimson one, so one day … we should have a lovely show of crimson and white bougainvilleas cascading up the wall and over the garage roof, onto the pergola …

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Christine's garden Gardening Home page features

My Pandorea Jasminoides

When it grows up ...

We planted Pandorea Jasminoides “Charisma” against the wall around the pool against the trellises in August. When they were planted they were these small plants that are apparently going to creep up the trellises and give a fabulous display. One Day. When they were planted they looked pretty enough – variegated leaves, nice creeper. I left it at that and forgot about them.

One day when I was going through one of my plant books I came across a creeper I thought looked absolutely stunning – variegated leaves, clusters of little white or pale pink flowers – very pretty and the book says they are fast growing and sounds ideally suited to the areas described above – against the trellises around the pool. So I was on a mission and thought “I gotta get me some of those”. And then I had a look – they are the exact plants Kathryn chose to plant … against those trellises – around the pool! Now if they will just GROW!! But I am excited because one of them has at last decided to flower. Looks very pretty, I love these plants. Here are some photos for you to see …

Pandorea Jasminoides Photos

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My Pandorea Jasminoides

My Pandorea Jasminoides[/one_half]

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When it grows up …

When it grows up ...[/one_half_last]

Some notes about Pandorea Jasminoides:
Pandorea Jasminoides or ‘Bower of Beauty’ are a tough native evergreen climber. Pandorea flower from early summer through to autumn with nice pink flowers with a red throat and attractive green foliage. Full sun to semi shade is best for Pandorea Jasminoides where it will develop into a dense screen and is ideal as an evergreen climbing screen. Pandorea or ‘Bower of Beauty’ also comes in a variegated form. Pandorea Jasminoides is susceptible to heavy frosts, water well when establishing but pandorea jasminoides is generally drought tolerant once established.

I can’t wait for mine to be growing full and wild like the ones I see on Google when I do a search for “Pandorea Jasminoides”. They look stunning! I wonder how long it will take?

Time-line photographs of the three creepers

December 2010:
December 2010

April 2011:
April 2011

October 2011 (with new Lavender):
October 2011

27 November 2011:
November 27 2011

28 February 2012:
28 February 2012

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Christine's garden Gardening

New Lavender plants

I love Lavender – and I am so envious of your Lavender bushes (hope you take some photos and publish them soon!), but apparently the type you have is not going to grow well in my garden because of all the shade. So I have to compromise and plant Lavender that will tolerate some shade. Last week I was a Ferndale Nursery in Constantia (Again!), and I saw lavender – marked as Lavender Stoechas. According to one of my books it will tolerate part shade, so I bought two small plants for planting in the one fairly sunny bed in the front. I took a photo so we can “watch it grow”. I planted them last week – so far so good. They look happy.

I did a search on Google now to get some more information about Lavendula Stoechas and … some sites say this is French Lavender and some say it is Spanish Lavender. Would really like to know what it really is. All very confusing.

New Lavender Plant Photos:

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My new Lavender

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Google search

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(Click to enlarge!)

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Christine's garden Gardening Home page features Miscellaneous Products

My Gardenias and insect repellent

Gardenia

GardeniaI thought I was finished for today, but then I had some more I wanted to say … remember that discussion we had about the insect repellents and how toxic they smelt (and felt)?

Today I had to do some major spraying because I found aphids on quite a few of my Gardenias – also on the Camellias in the garden. So I got hold of Ludwig’s Insect Spray to try. It was easy to mix up, and was quite okay to use. It smells of garlic – for people who don’t like garlic that might be an issue but I didn’t feel like I was “poisoning” anything in my garden.

According to the blurb … “Ludwig’s Insect Spray is Authorised for use in organic agriculture by ECOCERT SA F-32600. Ludwig’s Insect Spray +Broad spectrum organic insecticide for the control of insects on edible crops, roses, herbs and ornamentals. Contains: garlic juice extract, canola oil, natural pyrethrum (pyrethrins). It works on ants, aphids, red spider mite, white fly, astylus beetle, chafer beetle, CMR beetle, Flower beetle, American bollworm, thrips, wood-eating termites”.

I felt okay using it Dexter and his “doggy-nose” stayed way clear of me whilst I was busy with it! Quite unusual for him because he does like to interfere and sniff everything when I’m gardening, so he obviously doesn’t like the garlic smell either 🙂

I’m still very under-whelmed by the performance of my Gardenias. Only one of them really does well and gives me beautiful flowers. I think the others in the front are probably getting too much sun? (the performer is in more shade). I will have to find out what is wrong with them because I do like these plants, a lot.

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Christine's garden Gardening

My “back garden” make-over

Back Garden January 2011

I’ve been going through hundreds of old photographs to find before pics to show you of how the back area of my garden looked when we first bought this house. It really was not attractive – it was already overgrown and was dominated by ivy, ferns and the trees! The only thing I regret is that the “gardener” I got to mow the lawn and “tidy up” the garden destroyed a huge, beautiful lavender bush we had in the back garden. Everything else was … well IVY and the delicious monster which Kathryn decided to keep in the garden. I’m still not mad about it, I may remove it one day, but for now I defer to her better judgement.

After our magical day spent in Philadelphia yesterday with the kids and their families, I spent the best part of today working on this part of the garden – As I mentioned to you, I have a bit of an “ant problem” back there and aphids are attacking the Camellias, so armed with my organic pest repellent I’ve been spraying and then weeding, removing dead leaves, learning to prune … lots of work!

Here is a current comparison in photographs. The way it looked before Kathryn worked her magic and a photo I took today.

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Before – July 2010

Back Garden July 2010[/one_half]

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6 Months later – January 2011

Back Garden January 2011[/one_half_last]

I do still hate seeing the house next door but the rate at which the trees are growing (especially the Viburnum that was planted), I’m confident that within a year I should have my privacy back. Not that they can see over their wall into my garden, but I just don’t like looking at neighbour houses from my garden.

I uploaded a set of photos of the “progress” the plants have made to Flickr.com in case you are interested in seeing how its progressed. There is one that I took just after the new plants and lawn were planted, then one in October, one in December and then two photos I took today. Here is the link: My Back Garden progress in photos. I’ll add more to the set as time goes by.

That’s all for today!
Ciao
xxx

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Christine's garden Gardening Home page features Trees

The Willow Tree – then and now

Willow Tree after - January 2011

I have a huge Willow tree in my garden – as you open the front entrance to the property it is in fact the first thing you see. I have no idea how old it is – I’m assuming it’s pretty old because it is really large. I love willow trees – I think they are quite gorgeous, but this one does throw a lot of shade onto the front garden.
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Before – December 2007:

Willow Tree Before - December 2007I managed to find this old photograph of the willow tree and its surrounds so you can see the “before and after” pics of this little area in the garden. (my photography skills are zero, so excuse the photo quality!). I have no idea what those bushes are on either side of it – they grew totally out of control and were removed, as were the messy “hen & chicks” plants around the base. We cleaned up the area, fixed up the broken brick work and it looks neater now as you can see on the “after” photo …[/one_half]

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After – January 2011:

Willow Tree after - January 2011Here it is now after it was pruned somewhat to let some light into the garden and with the new plants that were planted in August. Coming along nicely. To the left we planted 2 x Nandina domestica (Sacred Bamboo) on either side of a Cammellia, at the base we have Hypoestes aristata ‘Purple’ – Ribbon Bush, Nandina pygmaea – Dwarf Sacred Bamboo, which are also on the right of the tree, another Sacred Bamboo on the right and then Cape Thatching Reed with Plectranthus madagascariensis.[/one_half_last]

I think it will look great once the plants have had a chance to really establish themselves. (You can view large versions of the photos by clicking on them – no comments about by crappy photographic skells please!!).