Spring is on the way

Car park camellias

The winter flowers are still putting on a show with the white camellia hedge in one of our car parks looking lovely at the moment but the bulbs are starting to make their mark and we are right in prime daffodil time now.  Lady Fairfax planted daffodils near her rock pool and some of those in the bluebell wood may be remnants of her plantings.  More recently daffodils have been planted above the rock pool and are starting to make a good show.

Billy beside the daffodils. The stone wall behind dates from before 1927

Long view of daffodils above the rock pool

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many of our flowers are susceptible to attach from birds at this time of year. I have not caught any bird actually in the act of nipping off jonquil or daffodil stalks or uprooting primulas but the prime suspects are the currently resident wood ducks closely followed by the white cockatoos who are always scouting overhead and the satin bower birds hopping through neighbouring trees. The crimson rosellas are about and I have witnessed them removing the buds from our Shogetsu cherry. I have resorted to putting wire mesh over the poppies for the moment.

Polyanthus and Primula vulgaris

These polyanthus and primulas are the last remaining, protected to a degree by the leaves of the Louisiana iris although the iris leaves are slowly being whittled back.

Red grasshopper

We found this red grasshopper among some freshly pulled weeds. I’m not sure if it is a cricket or a grasshopper but  it seems to have short antennae. Short versus long antennae is one feature used to differentiate between grasshoppers and crickets but  this one may have had its antennae damaged as it struggled among the weeds. The insect numbers are beginning to increase, encouraged by 2  weeks of warm weather. We have already treated our undercover fuchsias and abutilons with Natra-soap after finding 4th instar whitefly proliferating. The weather has currently returned to winter so we have a respite.

Hellebores

Helleborus foetidus
with bees and a fly

The green hellebores have been flowering steadily for most of winter and the recent warm days have them looking perfect and much appreciated by bees and flies. The botanic name is Helleborus foetidus and although I haven’t noticed the scent the flies confirm the label. The warm weather has the Helleborus orientalis flowering at maximum height now, although the hanging flowers still need to be turned up to fully appreciate their colouring.

Helleborus orientalis

Hellebore turned up

The front entrance has a few things going on at this end of winter. I planted Fiona’s early jonquils into pots despite advice that they would be a bit floppy. Tom has discretely staked some of the floppy flowers and they look great. I have pots of late jonquils to follow once these are finished. The Madeira daisies have been wonderful all winter although they are now leaning towards the light. The Magnolia stellata flowers look like they are made from icing sugar.

Madeira daisies and jonquils

Magnolia stellata

Magnolia stellata

Early jonquils

Bill Bewley

Bewley’s Upright Red Maple at Waldorf

Caroline Druce, the great niece of Bill Bewley, has moved in next door. Bill Bewley was a well-known nursery owner in the Blue Mountains skilled in grafting maples. Before beginning the maple grafting nursery at Warrimoo he and his family are remembered for the daffodils they grew and sold from what is now the TAFE site in Wentworth Falls.

Bill was born in Cowra in 1909. His interest in horticulture dates from around 1927 when the family was living in Luddenham and Bill was working in Hazelwood and Body’s Nursery in Pymble.  By the time Bill had a family of his own he had moved to Fletcher Street in Wentworth Falls where he developed a nursery and landscaping business. His daughter Cathy Challiner remembers him doing some work at Everglades in Leura.

Bill was employed as a ranger by the Wentworth Falls Reserve Trust from 1933 to 1941. He excavated the circular drive, built tracks and viewing platforms and looked after a small refreshment shop. During this time Bill studied plant propagation and practices by borrowing books from the Mitchell Library in Sydney, the books being delivered by train.

In 1949 Bill purchased 32 acres of land where the Wentworth Falls TAFE now stands. He cared for the orchard of the neighbouring boys boarding hostel, now Blue Mountains Grammar School and grew daffodils for the Sydney markets. All his children helped pick daffodils before and after school.

In 1955 Bill moved his family to Epping, continuing to run a nursery on 5 acres at Castle Hill.

Caroline writes:

“In 1966 Bill decided to move back to the Blue Mountains and so he purchased 12 acres at Warrimoo and developed a nursery there. It was here in the early 1980s that he started to graft and develop Japanese maples and supply many plants to the mountains area including residential gardens in Leura. I remember running around the rows of plants in the nursery as a child when we visited in the late 1960s and returning again with young children for a family reunion in the 1990s. My Nanna, Bill’s older sister, aged 93 and one of her younger sisters were also present.

Bewley’s Upright Red in autumn

Bewley’s Upright Red in winter

Bill developed the WJ Bewley Green Weeping Maple and the Bewley Upright Red Maple (Acer Palmatum) which continues to grow in the gardens of the mountains today. The green weeping maple is green with bronze tips in spring, green in summer and very red in autumn. The upright red maple is bronze red in spring, red in summer and orange red in autumn.

Bill developed the variegated Brush Box (Lophostemon confertus Bewley’s variegated) from a variation on a local mountain Brush Box. His daughter reports there to be one in Sydney’s Botanical gardens. Gt. uncle Bill also grafted Blue Spruce to Cedrus deodara which was popular then (1980s) as well.”

There are three grafted maples on the Waldorf site that I think are Bewley’s Upright Red. Two are in raised garden beds created when the car park was last renovated in the 1990s. The third is in the Fairfax garden. The photos above are of the maple in the Fairfax garden.

Thanks to Caroline Druce and Cathy Challiner for all the Bewley family history in this post.