Garden photos and a mystery plant

I have been trying to identify a perennial that was in the garden when I arrived. I think it requires more sun and possibly more water as it rarely flowers but it has two pretty spikes this year. It’s not quite right for phlox or dianthus so I will keep looking and may even have to key it out!

unknown perennial in front of french lavender

mystery perennial (since identified as Saponaria officinalis Rosea plena by James Todman )

Fuchsia procumbens

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The flower colours on the creeping New Zealand Fuchsia procumbens are stunning. I have it in a pot so they are visible but still very small, maybe 2cm long.

 

 

 

Golden marjoram below Rudbeckia fulgida, Ceratostigma plumbaginoides and a red floribunda rose

The Gazebo beds continue to look good with judicious watering through the heat. In this shot golden marjoram controls weeds along the bottom of the bed.

Fuchsia magellanica and iceberg rose

The iceberg is probably not in a recommended location squeezed in between the fuchsia, buxus and camellia hedge but at the moment is  giving a great show.

Cercis canadensis

The Cercis seems to have responded to all the rain and has put out a few new hearts despite the summer being nearly over.

The Gazebo Garden

The Gazebo is our garden function area. It is open to the gardens on three sides with a conservatory type garden on the fourth side. Clear blinds can be pulled down all around should the weather become chilly. In the Mountains that may happen even in summer. This is where we host our garden wedding receptions. Sometimes the wedding ceremony is in our garden and sometimes elsewhere. Out the front of the Gazebo we currently have a native daisy area with Californian poppies and hearts-ease volunteering. The brachyscomes look great but are not good competitors and don’t much like being disturbed so keeping them looking neat is a bit of a trial.

Brachyscome multifida and Californian poppies

 

Speedwell and rudbeckia

Rudbeckia fulgida

Leading off from one corner of this garden is an entrance path where we have been working on a water wise border containing salvias, achilleas, pelagoniums and geraniums. Currently a grey leaved Speedwell Veronica spicata and Rudbeckia fulgida are

the stars.

A burgundy dahlia among the leaves of the purple leaved  Maple. This year I pinched out all the growing tips of the dahlias in these borders in an attempt to stop them flopping over. They are flowering a little later than most about town, possibly due to this set back!

 

 

On a higher level at the back of the Gazebo is our newly named eco lawn looking great at the moment (with a fescue lawn beyond it) and a white perennial sweet pea.

Eco lawn February 2016

Lathyrus latifolius

 

The sweet pea  is planted with red bergamot Monarda didyma which hasn’t really got going yet but they should make a great combination if and when it does. The perennial sweet pea unfortunately has no scent. It is considered a weed in Victoria so we will need to keep it under scrutiny here.

 

Renewing the chamomile lawn

A  chamomile lawn is on many garden wishlists. We established a small one here 4 years ago by buying lawn chamomile Chamaemelum nobile punnets and dividing them regularly until we had sufficient to plant a lawn circle with a 2 metre diameter. Chamomile is high maintenance and does need weeding so realistically we could only manage a small area.

Chamomile lawn in 2013, freshly topdressed

Chamaemelum nobile

The lawn has now begun to thin and this year was invaded by Vulpia myuros grass, too much to weed successfully. We did think about pulling it all up and planting the area with something else but after further consideration decided to turn it into a mixed sward. When the Vulpia had browned off it was easily pulled up. An internet search found a lovely article about an “eco-lawn” in the USA that we used as a guide to planting new species into our remaining chamomile. We had already in our nursery a few plants of

Achillea millefolium

Nepeta sp.

Achillea millefolium, a Nepeta sp. and a pot of Mentha pulegium (pennyroyal). There is an Australian native pennyroyal Mentha satureioides that  I have seen growing in pastures in the Central West of NSW so I decided to add pennyroyal to the lawn mix.

Mentha pulegium

One other species I would like to add is lawn thyme Thymus serpyllum either as seed or seedlings. A clover species is also a possibility.

The newly created “eco lawn”

Caterpillar season

We have been summer pruning the Boston ivy back from paths and doorways and found two caterpillars feeding on the leaves plus a wasp that predates them. All the insects are Australian natives.

Phalaenoides glycinae larva

Phalaenoides glycinae is the Grapevine moth and is an agricultural pest in grapevines in Australia. The Indian Myna bird was introduced to combat this caterpillar but the bird itself turned into a pest.  Currently being investigated as a biological control for the Grapevine moth is the Ichneumon wasp.

Ichneumon sp.  (Photo by Lexie)

 

There were plenty of these in the Boston ivy but unlike the caterpillars they are very fast moving and difficult to photograph. Lexie’s patience paid off with the photo shown here. The wasps are a bit more orange in full sunlight.

 

Papilio aegeus larva

Papilio aegeus Orchard Swallowtail butterfly

Papilio aegeus is the Orchard or Citrus Swallowtail butterfly, a very beautiful butterfly. The photo of the butterfly was taken in February 2013.

Summer flowers for wedding season

Lythrum salicaria

Fuchsia magellanica var molinae

Agastache, Gladioli and Erysimum

Oregano, Rudbeckia sp. and Ceratostigma plumbaginoides

Fuchsia David George

Tiger Lilies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have had great rainfall for January measuring 298mm in our gauge. A dry January is very hard to manage in freely draining sandstone planted with many thirsty trees. We don’t have an irrigation system and want to be water wise but we do drag sprinklers around the lawns during dry spells to keep them going – it is not the same as rain over the whole property by any means. We are hosting 6 weddings over the next 2 months, some have garden ceremonies under the Linden tree as well as a reception in our Gazebo and some will just be the reception. The garden was initially planted with some winter and many spring flowering plants but we are now incorporating plants that flower through summer and autumn to cater for year round use.