Daisy Identification and working on colour combinations

I have left the native grasses (an Austrostipa species that I have tentatively identified as A. nitida and Microlaena stipoides) volunteering in one section of the garden and added other natives. Willow herb is volunteering as is a daisy like flower I was hoping might be one of the native Podolepis sp.but on closer inspection it is the introduced Smooth Hawksbeard (Crepis capillaris). There are always a few flatweed (Hypochoeris radicata) plants volunteering too. The hawksbeard is increasing in numbers and is easy to pull up so we will begin to remove it.

Crepis capillaris flowering with Pelargonium rodneyanum and Epilobium sp.

Crepis capillaris and Hypochoeris radicata

We do encourage some self seeding flowers that stray no further afield. The orange Californian poppy has been  very useful in this regard and the pink and purple Linaria purpurea introduced by an iris expert are also starting to reproduce. We have introduced a pale yellow Californian poppy and we have scattered seed from a red Californian poppy in the hope that we might introduce a few more colours to the mix. Our soil is still not good enough for a great success rate with scattered seed but once established I think they will manage their own reseeding. The red Californian poppy is part of a plan to add more reds to compliment some preexisting berberis. We have cut the berberis back into mounds and planted a red striped and highly scented floribunda rose called “Scentimental”, scattered seed of the red Californian poppy and seed of Cosmos bipinnatus “Velouette”. Only a few seeds have germinated but Tom took a photo of our first striped cosmos on Friday with the rose in the background. The photo of the rose has the berberis in the background and the original orange self seeding Californian poppy.

Cosmos bipinnatus “Velouette” photo by Tom Kennedy

Scentimental and berberis

Other red flowers in the gardens near by at the moment are a red bergamot I am keen to establish more thoroughly and the old red floribunda rose.

Bergamot and perennial sweet pea

Floribunda rose and oak leaf hydrangeas

July Flowers

We are experiencing some very cold weather. There is snow in the south and the strong winds are blowing in the cold air but no snow here.

Helleborus foetidus

The hellebores are beginning to bloom, the H. orientalis are flowering on short stems at the moment because it is so cold but the cold does not seem to be effecting our green hellebore – Helleborus foetidus. The Chaenomeles japonica is beginning to show a few blooms and our

Chimonanthus praecox

Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) continues to increase it’s bloom numbers as it ages. We have identified another camellia. C. japonica “Debutante”.

 

Camellia japonica “Debutante”

 

Reverse litmus, Hydrangeas and soil pH

I was being the “expert” on a school plant stall recently when I was questioned about how to change the colour of hydrangeas, specifically how to make pink hydrangeas blue and if nails and steel wool added to the soil would work. Coming from a science background I have to forget the litmus colour test where blue turning red indicates acid and red turning blue indicates alkaline. The hydrangea indicator is the reverse of litmus. A pink hydrangea indicates alkaline soil and a blue hydrangea indicates acid soil.  Purple indicates a neutral solution with litmus and a neutral soil with hydrangeas. White hydrangeas are not affected by soil pH although I have noticed a thin blue or pink margin around some.

pink and purple hydrangeas Dec 2015

I have done a bit of follow up research and find that aluminium ions are the key for the hydrangea pH indicator. In acidic soil aluminium is available and will change the pink to blue. In alkaline soils the aluminium becomes immobile as aluminium hydroxide and the hydrangea is pink.

pink and white hydrangeas with a purple at the very back Dec 2016

The mountain soils are generally acid and we would assume therefore that our hydrangeas would be blue. We actually have a few neutral purple hydrangeas and many that are pink. A soil test  in the vicinity of the pink plants revealed  pH6.5. This is a bit close to neutral for a good blue as aluminium begins to become unavailable above pH5.5. The plants that are pink may have their roots into the lime mortar of the rock walls, lime may have been added to the garden in the past or there may be insufficient aluminium in this patch of soil. Achieving a pink hydrangea is just a matter of adding lime but turning a pink hydrangea blue is more difficult. The usual method is to add an acidic aluminium complex such as aluminium sulphate. This will kill the plant at high concentrations and kills the microorganisms in the soil so for us is not an option.  Rusty nails, coffee grounds, citrus peelings, pine needles, pine bark and organic matter generally will all have a slightly acidifying effect.  As there are purple plants in the bed there must be some aluminium present. The bed in the photos was renovated earlier in 2015, see Mop Head Hydrangea Bed Renovation, and has flowered very well considering the severe treatment it received.  We will stick with our present colour combination. We are adding organic matter in the form of compost but I think a colour shift is a long way off.

Summer wildlife at Waldorf

The hot weather proved too much for one young ringtail possum. It dropped from the Linden at the feet of some guests this morning. They gathered it up away from the ants and I delivered it to the Wentworth Falls Vets. They will check it over and then release it to WIRES who will look after it until ready for releasing back here. We think it is probably dehydrated and hope the drop to the ground didn’t do it any damage.

Young ringtail possum fallen from Linden tree
(photo by Louise)

The heat does not worry the blue tongue lizards, this one was heading away from the mower. The kookaburra is probably on the lookout for any sort of lizard, there are little skinks about too.

Blue tongue lizard

Kookaburra on the urn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And last but not least Billy the dog among the Weeping grass Microlaena stipoides with the pink flowering Blueberry Ash Elaeocarpus reticulatus flowering behind him.

Billy in the Microlaena

In the Garden in Festival Week

The Leura Garden Festival started on Saturday 3rd October and runs until Sunday  11th October. 10 gardens are open and proceeds benefit chiefly the Blue Mountains Anzac Memorial Hospital. Our garden is one of the open gardens.

Light refracting through the elm in the Margaret Stevens Garden

Primula “Wanda” and blue Corydalis

The bluebell wood 2015

Tulips in the heat

Chairs set for the music in the Lady Fairfax Garden

Wisteria chinensis

 

 

In the Garden 2.10.15

Shady Lady

Paul Scherer, Curly Sue and Blue Diamond

Eschscholtzia Milky Way and yellow foxgloves

Malus floribunda

Liz with one of our guests,  an enthusiastic helper as we successfully dug out a stump

In the Garden 25.9.15

Camellia japonica Nancy Bird sporting Edith Linton

Snakes Head Frittillary doing battle with the bluebells

Tulip Salvo in the foreground

Dendrobium sp.

The neighbouring radiatas are all down now and  the stumps ground.  This week we made a huge collection of vegetable scraps from Up Beet.  The opportunity to make an immediate pile from the scraps plus extra coffee grounds on hand from Cassiopeia with the abundant sawdust seemed too good to miss.

sawdust pile from stump grinding and milling of radiatas and the new view

Opportunistic compost pile using sawdust, vegetable scraps and coffee grounds

In the Garden 18.9.15

Golden elm flowering over the nursery

Prunus “Elvins”(I think) with rhododendron and deciduous conifers behind

Dendrobium sp. flowering in the laundry

Driveway tulips with Pyrus calleryana flowering in the car park behind

A Radiata pine felled and milled on a neighbouring property (stump in foreground)

In the garden this week at Leura Gardens Resort 11.9.15

Magnolia soulangeana

Ron’s camellia (over the fence)

The spirea below is the Bridal Wreath Spirea single form. The double form is the one more readily available for sale. The double was the first to be identified by plant hunters in Japanese gardens and the wild single form identified later in Korea. This is why the wild form  is the variety (see http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/2014-71-4-simply-spirea.pdf).

Spirea Update September 2016

While visiting the Baytree Nursery in Mount Victoria we came across a Spirea flowering at the same time as ours called Spirea thunbergii . I have tried to differentiate these two Spirea without success but as the prunifolia is not commonly available I suspect we have thunbergii. Thunbergii has pale lanceolate leaves, and simplifolia dark obovate leaves in the most applicable description I have found to date.

Spirea prunifolia var. simpliciflora
or S. thunbergii

Spirea prunifolia var. simpliciflora or S. thunbergii in full flower

Magnolia stellata below our Olive Tree Restaurant

4.9.15 In the garden this week

New succulent bowls made up by Lexie

Fairfax iris and heather at the rock-pool

Osteospermum “Leura Gold”

The blue bells are starting to flower

Flowering plum across the road