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 …

The Colour of Autumn

If you look past the mess and obvious work that needs to be done you will find little spots of colour and beauty in my Autumn garden. But, you reee-ally need to look past a lot of debris and fallen leaves to see it. If you love the look of fallen leaves and fading blooms, then you don’t have to look too hard to marvel at the changes that are happening in my garden. And if you go outside at the right time of day … you know, that special time when the sun catches the foliage at that splendid angle … well then you will see lots of beauty and colour in my very messy autumn garden!

Lets see what beauty we can find in the foliage and combinations …

[one_half]Carex, H. petiolare & P. Rubrum[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Pink Camellia has fallen into Dusty Miller[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Pandorea, Lavender and Gaura stems[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Helichrysum petiolare with Pennisetum rubrum[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Dropped Camellias and dried leaves …[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Prairie fire and Ipomoea batatas[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Miscanthus sinesis “Variegatum”[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Evergreen combinations that work[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Carex evergold and Duranta Sheenas Gold[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Gaura lindheimeri ‘Siskiyou Pink’[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Lavender & foliage for Autumn flowers[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Strobilanthes and a single Crocosmia bloom[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Carex and dainty blue Lobelia[/one_half]

[one_half_last]A small Imperata cilindrica “Red Baron”[/one_half_last]

[one_half]The new Nandina leaves are pink?[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Fallen leaves look beautiful against grasses[/one_half_last]

Blooms are few and far between, and yet there is so much colour courtesy of all the foliage.

Happy Gardening
xxx

Tags autumn, autumn leaves, foliage

Christine's garden Gardening Home page features Reviews

April Book Review – Foliage by Nancy Ondra

Post author By Christine
Post date April 22, 2012
8 Comments on April Book Review – Foliage by Nancy Ondra

Once again I’m joining Holley of Roses and Other Gardening Joys in doing a monthly book review on a favourite gardening book from my personal library. I was originally introduced to this particular book by Cathy & Steve of Our Garden Journal when they reviewed this book last year. After reading their glowing report I promptly ordered the book and was not disappointed when it arrived. Foliage, by Nancy Ondra ticks all the boxes when it comes to great gardening books. Written by Nancy Ondra with photography by Rob Cardillo, the cover will entice you to delve deeper into the art of combining plants based on their foliage to create wonderful “pictures” in your garden.

As a new gardener it didn’t take me too long to realise that experienced gardeners obviously knew things I did not. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t emulate the stunning garden beds I was seeing and realised I was missing something … and then slowly the penny dropped. Creating a stunning garden is not just about flowers and plants. It’s about how you combine the plants to create something that not only works well in nature but creates a garden scene that is pleasing to the eye.

In fact, what really appealed to me about this book is that I already had a lot of the plants featured in it. Putting them together in the right combinations to create a fabulous garden was what I was about to learn from the book. Flowers come and go – insects or the weather can destroy seasonal blooms seemingly overnight – but predictable foliage in great combinations will set the scene or background for a wonderful landscape that is not dependent on pretty flowers.

You don’t even have to read a single word in the book – just paging through it and seeing the effects created by combining plants based on colour, size, shape and texture will have new gardeners itching to get outside to change things around.

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[one_half_last][/one_half_last]

The book is organized by colour and texture with each chapter explaining the characteristics of plants chosen for the singular appeal of their varying foliage. Colours range from, my favourite, brilliant Chartreuse to blues, silvers and the darker colours like the reds, maroon and blacks. Size of foliage and shapes of leaves (e.g. spiky, bold, medium and fine) with surface textures varying from rough to smooth or satiny, and outlines that are smooth, ruffled, irregular or uniformly even – all this is covered in this wonderful book.

Rob Cardillo’s amazing photography has to be mentioned here. With the range of colours and textures as captured by his camera, it doesn’t take a novice long to realise that season-long interest in the garden depends on the foliage of the plants you choose and how you combine them that creates the base of a stunning garden. Get the foliage plants right and then the plants you choose for flowering in combination will create magic!

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about gardening with foliage and how to create a year round garden that is beautiful.

About Garden Bloggers Book Review meme

Garden Bloggers Book Review is a monthly meme hosted by Roses and Other Gardening Joys (20th day of the month). Whether its vegetable gardening, flower gardening, specialized gardening, design, landscape, or even fiction (that includes a garden, such as ‘The Secret Garden’), Holley invites you to share your take on the garden books you have read. “Each of our gardens are different, and each of our tastes in garden books will probably be different – but I think if we tell what we like (or not) about each book, we can get a good sense of the books we might want to add to our collection”. Join Holley on the 20th of the month and share one of your books with us all.

Tags book review, books, gardening books

Christine's garden Gardening Home page features Perenniels

Clivia is Fourth of my Twelve

Post author By Christine
Post date April 21, 2012
13 Comments on Clivia is Fourth of my Twelve

Gardening in shade in South Africa almost requires the gardener to grow this most beautiful of native beauties, the Clivia. Prized for their ability to flower in shade, Clivias are ideal for massed planting under trees or in shaded areas. Extremely hardy and drought-resistant, they will not thrive in direct sunlight or frost areas. As I have lots of shade I also have lots of Clivias …

An evergreen beauty, during the winter months I hardly pay them any attention, their large strappy leaves blend into the scenery providing a beautiful background to all the other plants in the shade garden. Come late winter and spring they burst into colour delighting us with beautiful blooms that last for weeks and brighten even the darkest of corners in my shade garden.

I don’t call it a favourite plant. But I do call it a reliable stunner that brightens even the darkest corner. Clivia is a genus of monocot flowering plants native to southern Africa. They are from the family Amaryllidaceae and their common name is Bush lily. The flowers are carried in clusters on stout stems and range in colour from rich oranges to shades of deep red. The leaves are strappy, fleshy and even when not in flower; the foliage provides excellent dark green cover.

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[one_half_last][/one_half_last]

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[one_half_last][/one_half_last]

Clivia miniata is a clump forming perennial with dark green, strap-shaped leaves which arise from a fleshy underground stem. The flowering heads of brilliant orange (rarely yellow), trumpet-shaped flowers appear mainly in spring (August to November) but also sporadically at other times of the year. The deep green shiny leaves are a perfect foil for the masses of orange flowers. (Info from PlantzAfrika.com)

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Clivia are endemic to southern Africa, meaning that they do not occur naturally anywhere else in the world! In many areas colonies of wild bush lilies have been destroyed by harvesting for traditional medicine and also by plant collectors.

What are your favourite plants? The stalwarts that provide the backdrop to your garden?

Diana of Elephant’s Eye invites you to write a plant portrait each month. “I challenge you, in 2012, each month choose a plant. Archived pictures of flowers, berries, autumn leaves, wildlife endorsing your choice. Start fresh – what will be your signature plant?” Join Diana and friends on the 3rd Friday every month and showcase one of your favourite plants and see what others have chosen as theirs!

In January I profiled Carex evergold as my signature plant and in February I raved about the Pittosporum eugenioides ‘Variegata’. In March it was Dietes grandiflora and next month … perhaps a ground cover or shrub. Come back and see!

Happy Gardening
xxx

[note_box]PS: Please join us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter – we’ll be so happy if you do![/note_box]

Tags clivia, My Garden of Twelve

Christine's garden Gardening Home page features

Garlic and heirlooms

Last year I planted garlic. Twice. At different times. In different places. Planted in full sun, part sun, shade, full shade. Guess how many sprouted? Not one!

First I read on Alan’s blog that Garlic must be planted in Autumn if you want it to grow successfully. That was my first Garlic Ah ha moment. The second Garlic Ah ha moment came when I read a few weeks ago that the garlic we buy from our local super market is genetically modified to be sterile (so that if you plant it will not grow). That’s quite funny actually. Here I was faithfully planting the finest bulbs from my garlic purchases thinking they would give me wonderful garlic plants. They didn’t stand a chance. Now I know why.

The last time I visited Barbie’s garden I was completely blown away by the size and quality of the vegetables she had growing in her garden here and also here. The tomatoes tasted like real tomatoes, her baby marrows were the size of giant cucumbers and the butternut squash was beautiful and tasted like no squash I buy. Delicious! I wondered a little how she did it and decided it had to be the wonderful full sun she has going on in her veggie beds. Until I stumbled on a sentence in a newspaper article in which Barbie and her garden was featured … Her new venture is to use heirloom seeds. “I’m very interested in buying and swapping seeds. The second-generation plants of the commercial seeds are weak. It really upsets me that seeds are being manipulated like this. It means you can’t collect your seeds from year to year, but have to buy new ones each time.”

A bit of scouting around and I came across a South African site that sells Heirloom Seeds*. I spent quite a bit of time on the site and read their story which inspired me to try growing a few more veggies. (Note to self: but more pots for veggie plants). Each vegetable or herb featured on the site is accompanied by useful tips and instructions on when, where and how to sow, etc.

Long story short, I placed a small order with them which arrived and I now eagerly await the weekend so that I can get outside and plant!

[one_half]The seed packets[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Pink Egyptian garlic[/one_half_last]

[one_half]White Egyptian garlic[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Giant Garlic[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Lovely, plump garlic seed[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Parcel from Living Seeds[/one_half_last]

I have to commend the guys at Living Seeds. I’ve bought quite a few seeds and gardening things online. Ordering was fast, secure and communication was great. The seeds arrived in the post (it took ten days from Gauteng to Cape Town, but that’s the SA Postal Service for you!). They were beautifully packaged and arrived with more printed info and tips again on how to get the most from my garlic seeds. Best online seed buying experience by far!

The instructions for planting times are pretty clear. The Egyptian garlic should have been planted by the end of March and the Giant or Elephant garlic should be planted out by mid April.

In case you are wondering what’s in the seed packets … I also bought Borage, Red Creole Onions and Echinacea. It says this on all the seed packets: We encourage you this season to become more sustainable. Plant these seeds with the intention of saving some seed for the following season. I like this company, their service and their product. If you are a South African looking for superior quality seed, please try them. **

* Heirloom Seeds (definition courtesy of www.LivingSeeds.co.za) Heirloom vegetables can be simply defined as any plant that has been handed down from generation to generation. However there is much debate and discussion between various organisations and bodies that try to place limits and stipulations as to what defines an heirloom plant. We believe that any plant that is firstly open pollinated, secondly has a history of private exchange and thirdly has not been subject to a plant breeders rights claim to be worthy of heirloom status. This definition is however not cast in stone and is open to constructive discussion.

** Please note that this is an unsolicited review. Living Seeds are not aware of my intention to blog about this order and I paid for my purchases like any normal customer.

Tags garlic, heirloom, heirloom seeds, seed, vegetable seeds, veggie garden

Christine's garden Gardening Home page features

An Autumn garden

My garden is in a sorry state … three days of continuous rain over the long weekend that interrupted my garden clean-up has left it looking untidy and ever so sad-looking. As I was busy with laying newly purchased compost and mulch the heavens opened up and it rained for three days solid. But in typical Cape Town fashion, as we got out our winter woolies and put extra blankets on beds, so the weather changed right back and the last two days have been too hot to do much gardening.

Today is looking good – not too hot, no wind, no rain (yet), but before I head out to continue my clean up, I took a few photos to show you what’s going on. And as I was taking these photos, I noticed something else – it’s not all white anymore! I have lots of pinks and blues and violets …

[one_half]Camellias have started their display[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Promise of lots to come[/one_half_last]

[one_half]A sweet pink daisy[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Looking washed out after rain[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Mexican Petunia keeps on giving[/one_half]

[one_half_last]More pretty – Brachycombe daisies[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Barleria obtusa – Bush Violet[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Lots of blue and purple[/one_half_last]

[one_half]First Azalea showing its face[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Lots of lovely, fragrant Lavender[/one_half_last]

Then there were a few surprises that popped up after the rains. The fading Hydrangea blooms are amazing to me. Spent but still beautiful I think I’ll leave these on the plants rather than cutting them off. I think they are lovely, I think I prefer them at this stage. Even the ones turning brown are lovely, it’s just a different type of lovely.

Tucked away in a very dark, hidden corner, we planted a few extra Clivias around this time last year (I already had quite a few and added to my collection). As I was cleaning, composting and mulching I noticed that the new additions have not just established themselves well, they are thriving and rewarding me with seeds.

And finally, I wrote about my intention to plant Crocosmia in the shade last year which I also did and forgot about. I planted them from bulbs and have been extremely underwhelmed by them – compared to the success I had with all the exotic bulbs I planted I fully expected this indigeneous bulb to do well. It has not really …. but it is still early days. Right now there are a few raggedy looking stalks and one single bloom – I’m not even sure I’m that mad about it anymore, but I will be patient. All the photographs of mass plantings of these can’t be wrong, they obviously just need more time to look impressive. But seeing the first bloom was exciting …

[one_half]Hydrangea blooms[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Clivia seeds[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Clivias have grown very well[/one_half]

[one_half_last]First Crocosmia blooms[/one_half_last]

Oh, and the photos don’t really support my statement of a “sad looking garden”. Trust me, its sad. The lawn is in a bad way, there are lots of weeds (thanks rain!) and shrubs looking worse for wear after a three day downpour. Lots to do … a busy gardening weekend ahead.

Happy Gardening!
xxx

Tags autumn, azaleas, blooms, camellias, clivia, crocosmia

Bugs & Pests Christine's garden Gardening Home page features

Bug-date

It’s a bug-update post! Some are pretty, others not so much. But they are all fun to photograph.

The white spider in the third photograph was hidden in an iceberg rose and I noticed him as I was cutting off the spent blooms last week. I let him disembark and he hopped onto the Heliotropium bloom where I thought he looked quite beautiful contrasted against the purple flowers. I’m scared of big spiders that get into the house but I love the smaller ones and value them all in my garden.

Here’s my latest Bug-parade …

[one_half]From the ordinary chafer beetle[/one_half]

[one_half_last]to the almost scary looking bug[/one_half_last]

[one_half]an intsy wintsy white spider[/one_half]

[one_half_last]and then another one of these[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Who’s eating my Anemones?[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Ah ha! Caught in the act![/one_half_last]

[one_half]There was a parade of caterpillars[/one_half]

[one_half_last]and we saw plenty of beetles[/one_half_last]

[one_half]He annihilated one of the Irises[/one_half]

[one_half_last]And perhaps turned into this?[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Or was he this before?[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Or maybe even this?[/one_half_last]

[one_half]They keep the aphids at bay[/one_half]

[one_half_last]and then get munched by this![/one_half_last]

I’m a very “bug-friendly” gardener. The truth of the matter is, I’m way too lazy to be bothered with all the spraying and laying of potions and pellets. My idea of “pest control” is throwing snails over the wall and lifting those really ugly grey worms up with a trowel and throwing them out with the garden refuse. The rest I let live and hope they keep each other in check or provide food for insect-eating birds. It’s all much easier that way :).

Seen any interesting bugs in your garden lately?

Happy gardening
xxx

Tags bug, Bugs & Pests, spider, sun spider

Christine's garden Gardening Home page features

Happy Easter

We wish all our Gardening friends a lovely Easter weekend …

Did you find any surprises in your garden?

Perhaps a bunny or two?

Or an Easter Eggie?

Whether you were doing the hiding or finding, here’s hoping your weekend is wonderful!

xxx

Tags Easter, holiday

Christine's garden Gardening Home page features

A few new plants for the pond

Post author By Christine
Post date April 7, 2012
6 Comments on A few new plants for the pond

I’ve been trying to source some good plants for my pond. All my “pond research” has taught me, that my pond needs a lot more plants than I currently have in order to get the correct balance in the pond to prevent algae from taking over. The few existing plants urgently need re-potting – something that’s never be done in four years (blushing in embarrassment here). Poor things have been living in the same cramped baggies for the last four years – and it shows. Neglected, sad plants. Hopefully I can save a few of them. The Yellow flag irises were a gift about a year ago, and I potted them up at the time. Those are growing beautifully – perhaps too beautifully as they are getting crowded in their pots.

Armed with a shopping list of things I need to get in order to get this task done I discovered that pond gardening is not as commercially popular as I thought. Getting together everything on the list is impossible. Although I finally managed to uncover a few large aquatic baskets (I cannot stand the black bags in my pond), I was told that there is such a small demand for them that they don’t bother importing a large selection or even very many. Aquatic plant fertiliser can’t be found at all and so I am looking for a specialist aquatic nursery … I’ve found one, but it’s an hours drive away (an and hour back). *Sigh*.

So imagine my joy when I found a small selection of the above-mentioned Aquatics Nurseries plants at the local nursery this past weekend. And the plants are lovely! In fine condition and although it is only a small selection, they were of plants I wasn’t expecting to find. What’s more, the plants are already potted and ready to put into the pond. Now I know it might actually be worth taking an afternoon off to visit that nursery out in Somerset West.

I also found a few Canna Lillies – the label says “Canna assorted” (that’s annoying – I like to know exactly what I am buying!), but I bought them anyway. At this stage I am buying plants and keeping them to one side. I plan to plant up two containers with a mix of plants that have been suggested to me by experienced gardeners. The Cannas and Alocasia/Colocasia are intended for this purpose.

[one_half]A new water lily[/one_half]

[one_half_last]A lovely Cyperus papyrus[/one_half_last]

[one_third]My latest nursery haul[/one_third]

[one_third]Leaf of the “Canna assorted”[/one_third]

[one_third_last]I really love this! Very whimsical[/one_third_last]

[one_third]Nice bounty[/one_third]

[one_third]Berula erecta (water parsnip)[/one_third]

[one_third_last]The new water lily[/one_third_last]

[one_half]Alocasia “Black Magic” and Colocasia esculentes[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Aren’t they stunning?[/one_half_last]

[one_third]New growth on the Colocasia[/one_third]

[one_third]An old repotted water lily[/one_third]

[one_third_last]Big beautiful water lily leaf[/one_third_last]

As with my back garden I’m finding out that my “little pond” actually needs a lot more plants than I realised.

Happy gardening
xxx

Tags pond, pond plants, project pond

Bloggers Harvest Day Christine's garden Gardening Home page features

My Veggie Harvest for April

Post author By Christine
Post date April 5, 2012
4 Comments on My Veggie Harvest for April

My ornamental plants are starting to shed their Summer beauty for more sedate Autumnal finery, but no so the vegetables and herbs. My little veggie planters are brimming with produce waiting to be pickled and we can’t eat it as fast as its growing. I added a few new things this month. I like to plant and grow herbs that are not always available at the local supermarket. A new one is fennel which comes up occasionally in recipes. So this month I added fennel, more coriander, rocket (a red variety), I was gifted three green pepper plants (Thanks Helen!) and added a few more coriander plants as we have had to buy coriander to supplement our own home-grown.

Let’s have a look at whats going on …

[one_half]Coriander, basil, fennel and parsley[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Lemon grass and two chillis[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Tomatos are still ripening[/one_half]

[one_half_last]New colour in the veggie patch[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Cherry tomatoes[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The reddish coloured rocket[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Flat leaf Italian parsley[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The interesting looking fennel[/one_half_last]

[one_half]I bought this pepper for the foliage 🙂[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Green pepper almost ready[/one_half_last]

What are you harvesting this month? Please share with us and join in at Garden Bloggers Harvest day.

About Garden Bloggers Harvest Day

Please join us on the 5th of every month and show us what you’ve harvested. Whether you have a massive vegetable garden or grow a few herbs in pots or just pick a few peaches from a tree … we’d love to see! Its all about sharing our experiences, photographs, successes and failures as we “learn to grow”.

So prepare a post on your blog about what you harvested this past month, link up to us at The Gardening Blog and then, add your link to the Mr. Linky on the April Harvest Day post so we can all visit your blog and “share in your harvest”. And leave us a comment! We LOVE hearing from you!

Happy Harvesting
xxx

Tags garden bloggers harvest day

Christine's garden Gardening Home page features Perenniels

The House Plant (Anthurium andreanum)

Post author By Christine
Post date April 3, 2012
15 Comments on The House Plant (Anthurium andreanum)

Does being a good gardener mean you will be successful at indoor gardening too? I think in my case “enthusiastic” is a better description than “good”, but the question is the same. Can I be good at both? I know I don’t have the same enthusiasm for indoor plants that I have for outdoor plants. I find the plants in my garden extremely forgiving – if they are happy in their allotted spaces then occasionally forgetting to feed them or even skipping the odd scheduled watering, doesn’t seem to do them any harm. The occasional sad-looking plant will perk up again after getting a little attention be it a pruning, mulching or feeding after which it will soon reward me with lovely growth and blooms.

Not so the indoor plants. My track record is bad. In the last year alone I’ve managed to kill two orchids. In my defense, I did not buy the orchids. They were gifts. There should be a warning on my front door – “She kills house plants” or perhaps, “Houseplants enter at your own risk”. I can actually picture it, right below the “Beware of the dog” sign.

In my lifetime I’ve successfully nurtured only two house plants. One was a ‘delicious monster’ – it grew so massively big that I eventually had to give it away as it was taking over the entire living room in the small apartment I lived in some 20 odd years ago. The other was a tiny “love palm” that was given to me when my daughter was born. I semi-killed it a few times but for sentimental reasons I always tried to revive it and over the years it was even re-potted a few times. Due to neglect it stayed pretty small and finally moved to this house with us where it was stuck in a corner and forgotten about apart from the odd watering.

When Dexter (the dog!) arrived to live with us just over four years ago he, the rambunctious puppy that he was, very quickly found the little potted palm and decided it was a great thing to push-off its table and fling round … once too often and I took the poor unfortunate plant outside and planted it under the pepper tree where Dexter had no further interest in it. There was another already growing there. Both got cut to the ground two years ago when we redid the garden and now, amazingly, its grown very well out there.

[one_third]Potted into a Portmeirion pot[/one_third]

[one_third]Different, exquisite flowers[/one_third]

[one_third_last]Beautiful, glossy leaves[/one_third_last]

Last week an Anthurium andreanum called out to me while I was browsing at the local nursery. I took it home, thinking that if the little love palm survived and thrived out back, surely this pretty plant would do quite well there. I googled “Anthurium andreanum” when I got home and stumbled on this post – Hooker with a Heart of Gold (Anthurium andreanum). It tells the story about how the writer in his time as a salesman at his local nursery had no problem selling these plants – 5 out of every 6 people would leave the nursery with one in hand … I thought the story was quite amusing and makes perfect sense to me. It’s hard to resist them. I didn’t even think about it – I saw it, placed it in trolley, paid, took it home. There was little thought behind this. It just happened.

But House Plant it is. Even in my wonderful climate I don’t think this one will make it outside. So I’m giving indoor gardening another try …

Happy Gardening
xxx

Tags Anthurium andreanum, house plants, indoor plants