Autumn

Autumn is a glorious time in the garden.  All the horrible debilitating heat has gone and lovely warm, balmy days are bringing out the best in the perennials that are eagerly poking up their heads and asking “Is it safe?”  Even the light is different, sunlight mellow and friendly, the sky a rich, rich blue. It’s a very busy time for the gardener too, being planting time for spring; seeds to be sown and bulbs to be purchased and planted in the following weeks. Tidy up your garden now and cut back growth that has become too prolific in the summer. Be careful not to cut back spring flowering shrubs or you will lose all the flowers.

 Some annuals flowering in autumn

 Bachelor buttons (Gomphrena globosa)
Californian poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
Celosia spicata
Chinese forget-me-not (cynoglossum)
Cosmos
Dahlia
Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia)
Nasturtium
Night scented tobacco (Nicotiana sylvestris)
Nicotiana langsdorfii
Phlox
Snapdragon
Torenia
Zinnia

 

Favourites: Bachelors buttons in reds, purples, orange, white and pink. Celosia spicata, especially the maroon variety will grow very large with hundreds of cones like flowers in a shade that matches the vivid foliage; the smaller pink form is also lovely.  Zinnias are at their vivid best now, I love the huge cactus type.

 The English forget-me-not does not do well here. It gets very weak and sprawly but the Chinese forget-me-not (cynoglossum), with pretty sprays of bright sky blue, candy pink and white flowers make a very good substitute indeed. Just be careful if you go out in the garden in your dressing gown and bend over to admire them – their seeds will stick to you like Velcro!  Your cat also, if it has soft fur….…

 Some perennials flowering in autumn

 Angelonia
Asystasia gangetica
Bulbine
Cat’s whiskers (Orthosiphon aristatus)
Centrantherum
Cherry pie (Heliotropium aborescens)
Chinese foxglove (Rehmannia elata)
Chrysanthemum
Euryops daisy
Gloxinia perennis
Goldenrod
Goldenrod (dwarf)
Helenium
Jackmans blue rue
Japanese windflower (Anemone hupehensis var. japonica)
Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa)
Mexican marigold (Tagetes lemmonii)
Mock Erica (Physostegia virginiana)
Native violet
Osteospermum
Penstemon
Perennial phlox
Rudbeckia
Ruellia ‘Firebird’
Shrimp plant (Justicia brandegeana)
Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis)
Tree dahlia (Dahlia imperalis)
Viola dissecta
Zinnia haageana

 Favourites: Angelonia, cherry pie, white butterfly, penstemon, Viola dissecta, Japanese windflowers (these like the early morning sun only); the Mexican marigold bush which is quite delightful with its fragrant foliage and never-ending display of rich gold flowers that give off a glow in the autumn sunshine. I repeat myself when I state the goldenrods are a never-ending joy, and the dwarf ones are particularly lovely. One variety has a ‘crown’ of flowers at the top of the stem.

 For a tough perennial you couldn’t get a better one than mock Erica (obedient plant) which sends up thick sprays of mauve, white or pink bells for weeks during late summer and autumn. It spreads, but I won’t grumble about a plant that is generous. Gloxinia perennis has gorgeous sky blue ‘Canterbury bell’ type flowers that will make visitors stop in their tracks. It is surprisingly tough and reproduces over many years.

 Penstemons are very decorative perennial plants with their lovely tall sprays of bells, but are rather short lived in our climate. Some varieties do well, others don’t. If you regularly take cuttings of the good ones you can keep them going for years. There is an excellent annual form available in punnets which has really large bell flowers in lovely bright colours on thick upright spires. They are absolutely beautiful in spring.

Some shrubs flowering in autumn

 Barleria
Beauty berry (Callicarpa pedunculata)
Blue butterfly bush (Clerodendrum ugandense)
Blue cone flower (Pycnostachys urticifolia)
Cestrum
Chinese hat plant (Holmskioldia sanguinea)
Chinese lantern (Abutilon hybridum)
Strobilanthes ‘Darwin Bells’
Eranthemum wattii
Gordonia
Ipomoea fistulosa
Mexican daisy tree (Montanoa leucantha)
Mock gardenia (Tabernaemontana divaricata)
Mussaenda
Pink monkey tails (Stachytarpheta mutabilis)
Pink plumbago
Plectranthus
‘Pretty in Pink’ (Dianthera nodosa syn Justicia brasiliana)
Snowflake bush (Euphorbia leucocephala)
Whitfielda

 Favourites: So many beautiful shrubs are blooming now. Try growing a beauty berry which has arching canes thickly decorated with hundreds of little rosy-purple berries. In May the showy Mexican daisy tree bears huge trusses of large, white, yellow-centred daisy flowers that attract bees in their thousands. In the early morning when the flowers are fresh, the noise these happy little creatures make is deafening!

 At this time of year snowflake bushes are flaunting themselves all around our suburbs, drawing many admiring glances.

 A favourite shrub this season is the large, extremely hardy, long blooming Chinese hat plant that bears thousands of little limey-yellow flowers along its long canes for many weeks. It is beloved of little finches and makes a radiant sight when back lit by the autumn sun. The flower sprays are excellent for drying and last a very long time indeed in a vase. There are red and orange varieties also, as well as an intriguing mauvy-pink, something like a faded hydrangea.

 Climbers and vines flowering in autumn

 Allamanda ‘Siam Snow’
Cardinal creeper (Ipomoea horsfalliae)
Climbing snapdragon (Maurandya barclayana)
Fraser Island vine (Tecomanthe hillii)
Glory bower (Clerodendrum splendens)
Herald’s trumpet (Beaumontia grandiflora)
Hoya
Mandevilla
Moonflower (Ipomoea alba)
Saritaea magnifica
Snail creeper (Vigna caracalla)
Solanum wendlandii
Spanish flag (Ipomoea lobata)
White potato vine (Solanum jasminoides)

 Favourites: Herald’s trumpet is a magnificent, very strong climber from India that is regarded as one of the world’s most outstanding climbers (Don Ellison’s Cultivated Plants of the World). It bears huge bunches of waxy, snow-white, trumpet-like flowers in profusion for many months and these lovely blooms are exquisitely scented.  It is evergreen. This one has the WOW factor! This gorgeous plant likes our climate and therefore cannot take any frost. It sometimes blooms much later in the season, not starting until early winter. It needs a strong support but judiciously pruned also makes a good shrub. The same can be said for many climbing plants.

 Saritea magnifica (this used to be Bignonia magnifica), a native of South America, is another spectacular flowering evergreen climber which has large heads of violet-pink, trumpet-type flowers with a white throat. In my garden it blooms for many months of the year and makes a beautiful sight and is very hardy indeed. Nothing eats it.

 The climbing snapdragon is a very dainty, but hardy twiner that makes a pretty show of bright blue or pink ‘snapdragon’ type flowers among its tiny lettuce green leaves. Spanish flag is a delightful twiner with flame coloured ‘little soldier’ flowers.

 The white potato vine is a rampant climber, very quickly covering a trellis or fence, and is covered with bunches of fresh white flowers almost perpetually. It is extremely hardy and a very useful climber although some people grumble about its generosity.

 Some bulbs flowering in autumn

 In autumn my favourite bulbs the zephyranthes are at their best, particularly after rainfall. These wonderful evergreen bulbs come in several shades of yellow, white and beautiful pinks. They bloom on and off for months, sometime starting in summer and going through to early May and flourish and multiply in full sun or light shade. The white ones are the strongest and quickly form big clumps, which should be broken up every three years or they will not flower as well.

 Dwarf snowflake (Leucojum autumnale)
Eucharis lily
Japanese tea lily (Tricyrtis formosana)
Leopard lily (Belamcanda chinensis)
Rain lily (Habranthus sp)
Zephyranthes

 I find the Japanese tea lilies most interesting plants. They flower prolifically on cane-like stems resembling a miniature bamboo and their upward facing starry flowers vary in colour from pale lilac to a bright blue, sometimes even white, all heavily spotted with purple.

 The westerly

 A wind blew in from the west today,
And wasted no time in starting to play
He forced all the trees to bow to the east
‘Twas a wind ‘not fit for man nor beast’

 It sent everything waving this way and that
Breaking off twigs and displeasing the cat
Making us hug our coats to us tight
It blew and blew with all of its might

 It sent clouds scurrying across a cold winter sky
And tore at our washing hung out to dry
Sending dust swirling and making us sneeze
For three long days it did just as it pleased

 On the fourth day we awoke to air that was calm
To our sore spirits – just like a balm
Then up sprang that wicked wind from the west
He huffed and puffed – but had run out of breath!

 Now he was nothing but an impotent breeze
And with a swirl of defiance he took his leave –
“I’ve got to get moving, go way down the track
But wait ’til next August – I shall be back!”

 Denise Horchner

 

Winter

We are very fortunate with our climate at this time of the year as cottage gardens in winter can be very pretty indeed, What a lovely sight it is when the red hot pokers are lit by a shaft of sunlight on a cold winter’s day! A few weeks later, when these lovely flowers have burnt out, cut the leaves back hard with a serrated bread knife and thickly cover with sugarcane mulch. There are ‘pokers’ in many different shades.

Usually our weather is quite mild, but outlying areas often get frost. In a way these gardeners are lucky because frost actually ‘helps’ some plants, as many detrimental bugs get killed by very cold weather. The wretched grasshoppers often disappear also. There is an ‘anti-stress’ spray put out by Yates that protects delicate plants against the effects of frost and wind, as well as searing heat in summer. Liquid seaweed is also very effective for stressed plants.

If you have planted some daffodil ‘Erlicheer’ their beautiful double flowers in creamy sprays will be sharing with you their delicious perfume. The Arabian jasmine, especially the cultivars ‘Grand Duke of Tuscany’ or ‘Grand Emperor’ which are double flowered forms, will be adding to the scented ambience of your garden. What joy these shrubby semi-climbers are, generously flowering on and off all year round. This attribute is much envied by gardeners from the southern states! They can be kept as a shrub by clipping back by half any feelers that tend to appear from time to time; also very good to grow in large pots. They make good standards.

Another substantial, winter flowering, hardy, evergreen shrub is Strobilanthes ‘Darwin bells’. Its elegant ‘fishing poles’ are decorated with hundreds of tiny pink bells that will make you stand and admire. In a similar shade the dainty, but hardy, climbing pink foxglove (Asarina scandens) is sending down long sprays of bells. The seed pods of this lovely plant are nice too, somewhat like little green apples and so packed with progeny that there is no fear of this species ever dying out! Very good for a small trellis.

Early winter also brings the magnificent tree dahlias which can grow higher than 4m. They come in single and double white, mauve, double pink and a particularly nice shade of burgundy (the latter doesn’t grow as tall and has a much longer blooming period). Their bamboo-like stems are brittle so they need shelter from wind.

There are some very good winter flowering salvias. They tend to make large bushes, and one of the tallest of these is S. iodantha which bears long, thickly bedecked sprays of frilly cerise pink flowers. S. karwinskii is another excellent one with grey foliage and thick spires of peachy pink flowers over a long period, likewise the various involucratas with their arching canes of thick sprays in diverse shades of pink and rose and mulberry. The bright violet flowers of S. purpurea are quite lovely.

‘I find the love of gardening grows upon me
As I grow older more and more’
Maria Edgeworth 1767-1849

Some annuals flowering in winter

Chinese forget-me-not (cynoglossum)
Cleome
Foxglove
Gaillardia
Hollyhock
Johnny-Jump-ups (viola)
Larkspur
Linaria
Love lies bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus)
Nasturtium
Nasturtium ‘Alaska’
Nicotiana langsdorfii
Night scented tobacco Nicotiana sylvestris
Pansy
Primula
Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota)
Snapdragon
Virginian stock
White lace flower (Orlaya grandiflora)

Favourites: cleomes – magnificent plants these, absolutely magnificent, like small flowering trees in pinks, mauves and white; very long blooming indeed. So they have a few thorns – so do roses (as I said before) and we still love them! Seed of pretty Virginian stock, (pink, mauve and white flowers) can be sown all through winter; it blooms in about six weeks. Very good for sowing around the edge of pots.

Some shrubs flowering in winter

Blue cone flower (Pycnostachys urticifolia)
Brazil torch (Ruellia colorata)
Chinese hat plant (Holmskioldia sanguinea)
Chinese lantern (Abutilon hybridum)
Strobilanthes ‘Darwin Bells’
Dwarf white cedar (Melia Azedarach)
Firefly bush (‘Justicia rizzinii’)
Golden dollar bush (Reinwardtia indica)
Justicia, yellow (Justicia aurea)
‘Lady of the Night’ (Brunfelsia Americana)
‘Lavender Star’ (Grewia occidentalis)
Nutmeg bush (Tetradenia riparia)
Peristrophe hyssopifolia
Rondoletia amoena
Wintersweet (Acokanthera oblongifolia)

Favourites: The dwarf white cedar is a small bushy plant that grows naturally as a standard (only 1m). In late winter it is topped by a fountain of sweet-smelling mauve and white flowers that smell like lilac.
Blue cone flower (Pycnostachys urticifolia) always attracts great attention when it is in full bloom. It has little cone flowers of the most brilliant royal blue and makes a very striking plant. It is not a long-lived plant. Rondeletia blooms in late winter.
Wintersweet is a most attractive, large, bushy shrub that in winter bears thick sprays of highly scented white flowers for many weeks. It is extremely tough and fire retardant and the sap and seed (like black olives) are very poisonous.
A very large, dense shrub, ideal for screening something is Grewia occidentalis ‘Lavender Star’.

Climbers & vines flowering in winter

Arabian jasmine (Jasminum sambac)
Climbing snapdragon (Maurandya barclayana)
Herald’s trumpet (Beaumontia grandiflora)
Orange trumpet vine (Pyrostegia venusta)

Favourite: The orange trumpet vine whose masses of striking orange flowers warm up a cold garden in the most spectacular fashion. It is quite rampant.

Tip: Climbers like to have their feet in the shade and then grow up to flower in the sun. Shade their base with a low, bushy plant, rough mulch or even rocks. Many climbers can be grown in large pots planted in good soil and kept judiciously pruned. If you grow them this way feed plant regularly and replace worn out soil with fresh potting mix occasionally.

Some bulbs flowering in winter

Daffodil
Freesia
Hyacinth
Ifafa lily
Jonquil ‘Erlicheer’
Narcissus
Ranunculus
Sparaxis
Tulip

Some of your freesias will be coming into bud by now, and many of the newer hybrid types have an irritating habit of ‘flopping’ thus spoiling their beauty, and staking is a bit unsightly. You can overcome this problem to a great extent by sprinkling a little sulphate of potash around your bulbs when planting and watering in. Repeat again near blooming time. This always seems to work for me.

Wait a few weeks after flowering before cutting back untidy looking leaves and, as they have to build up flowers for the following year, remember the golden rule ‘Feed as fade’. Cold climate bulbs will have to be discarded after blooming.

Perennials flowering in winter

Campanula
Double feverfew
Goldenrod
Incarvillea arguta
Japanese tea lily (Tricyrtis formosana)
Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa)
Penstemon
Ruellia macrantha
St. John’s Wort (Hypericum calysinum)
Toadflax (linaria vulgaris)
Tree dahlias
Viola dissecta

Favourites: Double feverfew, which is a quintissential cottage garden plant; one spray of its charming little white pom-pom flowers will fill a small vase. Jerusalem sage, which has beautiful grey, velvety leaves with either soft pink or lemon whorled flowers and Ruellia macrantha with its spikes of large cerise, quilted trumpets which bloom for many weeks from winter into spring. The tree dahlias make a magnificent sight at this time of year. They have flowers of single white, double white, single pink, double pink, and a single deep wine colour. This darker coloured form blooms later and lasts longer than the others and doesn’t grow so huge. It also has deeper coloured foliage.

Odds & sods

Every cottage garden should have a lemon tree but you need a good space all around it in full sun – and sometimes if you have only a small block of ground there is just not enough room. However, there is now a dwarf Meyer lemon on the market called Lots ‘a Lemons that only grows 1.5m high. Remember lemon trees like full sun and lots of water as well as feeding in spring and autumn.

Most dombeyas grow very well in this part of the world. A particularly beautiful species is Dombeya cacuminum which grows to about 6m high and is covered in loose heads of striking red, white centred flowers that hang beneath terminal branches. There are also white and pink varieties that flower well here. The lovely flowers when they die drift down to form a beautiful carpet.

Roses last longer placed in vases filled with water that has been previously boiled.

Spring

This is the time for plants that have spires of flowers, they give such a beautiful effect rising above the other plants. The biggest spires are the towering hollyhocks with voluptuous double pink, red and lemon flowers; some years they are better than others. Beneath these are usually tapering spires of foxgloves, with their mysterious spotted ‘fairy’ flowers in muted shades of rosy pink, cream and lavender. Many are the visitors who have exclaimed in wonder “I never knew you could get them to grow here.”

And talking of foxgloves I must mention that they should be planted in late March or earlier, as soon as they come on the market every year, usually early March. Planted at this time they will usually start blooming in mid-winter and go for many months, particularly if you trim off dead flower spikes regularly. Planted later they probably won’t bloom that season. Remember the first spike is always the biggest, and when the flowers die, cut back as many more side shoots bearing sprays of flowers will keep coming for a long time. Annual types of foxglove (‘Foxy’ or ‘Little Foxy’) are the only type that do well here. Perennial varieties I have planted have always failed, probably because they may only flower in their second year and therefore have to go right through our very difficult summers before finally blooming.

Larkspurs, in rising spires of pinks and mauves mixed in with the elegant wands of blue campanulas, bring more exclamations of delight from visitors and the same scene is repeated later in spring when the delphiniums in delicate shades of blue and aqua, start unfolding their buds. They are so easy to grow, so delightful to look at. Later in the season again, much loved goldenrods light up the garden with their feathery spikes pushing up through the other flowers.

Two types of Queen Anne’s lace, both very tall, with their delicate doilies of sparkling white flowers (no cottage garden should be without them) are a perfect foil for brilliant red Flanders poppies, huge showy cleomes, and clumps of ephemeral Shirley poppies. A variety of poppy called ‘Fairy Wings’ has flowers in dreamy, muted shades of grey-blues, mauves, and dusty pink, so lovely but so fragile.

POPPY LOVE!
Such pretty poppies standing there
So delicate, so very fair
Crumpled dresses fast unfold
Revealing pollen laden hearts of gold
Then as their fragile petals drop
Come seed packed wooden pepperpots
Denise Horchner

Spring annuals

Alyssum
Amaranthus viridis
Bidens ferulifolia ‘Goldmound’
Calendula
Californian poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
Candytuft
Chinese forget-me-not (cynoglossum)
Clarkia
Cleome
Corncockles (Agrostemma githago)
Cosmidium (Thelesperma burridgeanum)
Cosmos
Delphinium
Flanders poppy (Papaver rhoeas)
Foxglove
Helipterum (paper daisy)
Hollyhock
Iceland poppy (Papaver nudicaule)
Johnny-jump-up (Viola tricolor)
Larkspur
Linaria
Lobelia
Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena)
Love-lies-bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus)
Lupin
Marguerite daisy
Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia)
Nasturtium
Night scented tobacco (Nicotiana sylvestris)
Penstemon
Primula
Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota)
Snapdragon
Orlaya grandiflora
Shirley poppy
Statice
Stock
Strawflower (Acrolinium sp.)
Verbena
Viola

No. 1 favourite: Without doubt utterly delightful Clarkia elegans which has double flowers in shades of peach, rose pink, fuchsia, purple, and white. They grow in bushes about 1m and have slender ascending branches covered with dainty blossoms tucked in the axils of the leaves. (They are not godetias).

Other favourites: Queen Anne’s lace, hollyhocks, foxgloves, cleomes and the double form of Shirley poppies which are a dream with their exquisitely shaded flowers. I call them ‘Sara Lee’ flowers, with their ‘layer upon layer upon layer’ of petals! Yates sell these. Also spangly ‘Love-in-a-mist’ are much cherished.

Seedlings of helipterum are available in seed (Yates) or on occasion in punnets. They are also known as rhodanthe. When picked, these dainty but hardy, pretty flowers in shades of pink, as well as white last for years left to dry in a vase.

Corncockles with many-branched sprays of dainty blooms with faintly pencilled darker markings on petals that shine like satin in the sun. Johnny-jump-ups are hardy little violas with charming, funny-faced flowers that cheerfully re-appear every year and spread themselves around.

Delphiniums have absolutely heavenly flowers in the most exquisite shadings of aquas and blues mainly. They like limed, humus rich soil and protection from wind and I have had some fine specimens in my garden; some years are better than others.

Bidens ferulifolia ‘Goldmound’ makes a frothy, spreading clump of bright lemon daisy flowers that are very pleasing and it intermingles nicely without being a bully to other plants. These pretty plants are easily available in punnets. Stocks are one of the most beautifully perfumed flowers in the garden, sniff and drown in the fragrance… One just has to take a chance with stocks as many of them turn out to be single forms, which are nowhere near as nice as the doubles.

Some perennials flowering in spring

Achillea (yarrow)
Angelonia
Aquilegia
Arctotis daisy
Asystasia gangetica
Bulbine
Campanula
Carnation
Centrantherum punctatum
Cherry pie (Heliotropium aborescens)
Chinese foxglove (Rehmannia elata)
Coral plant (Russellia mexicano)
Day lily
Dianthus
Dwarf white cedar (Melia aazedarach)
Euryops daisy
Evening primrose (Oenothera speciosa ‘Rosea’)
Fairy fan flower (Scaevola aemula)
French lavender (Lavendula dentata)
Gaillardia
Geranium incanum
Gerbera
Giant sage (Brillantaisia subulugurica)
Golden chamomile (Anthemis tinctoria)
Goldenrod (Solidago ‘Cloth of Gold’)
Incarvillea arguta
Italian lavender (Lavandula stoechas)
Kalanchoe
Kingfisher daisy (Felicia amelloides)
Lady’s purse (Calceolaria tomentosa)
Louisiana iris
Mazus pumilio
Michaelmas daisy (aster)
Native violet
Oxalis regnellii
Parma violet
Penstemon
Perennial statice (Limonium perezzii)
Pincushion plant (Scabiosa sp.)
Rosemary
Ruellia macrantha
Seaside daisy (Erigeron karvinskianus)
Toadflax (Linaria genistifolia)
Turnera elegans ‘Early Bird’
Viola labradorica
Violet
White butterfly (Gaura lindheimeri)
Evening primrose yellow (Oenothera biennis)

Favourites: Ruellia macrantha is a truly beautiful perennial with tall spires of trumpet flowers in a beautiful deep pink, bordering on cerise. The petals are most attractively marked and quilted. Old fashioned cherry pie (Heliotropium aborescens) is a particular favourite with its beautiful richly scented blue or white flowers and there is a form with bright yellow leaves that has pale blue flowers – they smell just as good. Aquilegia ‘McKanna Giants’ that are available in punnets, usually flower very well for me kept in pots but very occasionally for some reason they don’t. Any species with ‘vulgaris’ in their name are good also.

Campanula (C. rapunculoides) is a first-class herbaceous perennial, which lasts in the garden for years, and for many months through spring and summer and often in autumn sends up long spires of delightful blue ‘pixie’ hat bells graduating in perfect mathematical order down their stems.

Coral plants (Russellia mexicano) with their weeping, rush-like foliage are very attractive, and now come with yellow, apricot and red flowers. Very good for splaying down a stucco wall. Don’t allow these plants to get too dense, groom them and thin out now and again. Lady’s purse (Calceolaria tomentosa) – a charming annual cottagey plant with masses of little yellow ‘purses’. The pink and white evening primroses are one of the prettiest perennials it is possible to have. Sadly they have a bad reputation for spreading madly.

Spring flowers that rise in spires of varying heights

Campanula
Candytuft (Iberis sp.)
Chinese foxglove (Rehmannia elata)
Clarkia
Delphinium
Foxglove
Goldenrod (Solidago ‘Cloth of Gold’)
Hollyhock
Larkspur
Lupin
Penstemon
Red hot poker (Kniphofia caulescens)
Ruellia macrantha
Snapdragon
Toadflax (Linaria genistifolia)

 

Favourites: The dainty toadflax (linaria) is a little sweetie and one of the smallest ‘spires’, and gently meanders through other plants in its company. It is very dainty with its tiny lemon snapdragon flowers but at the same time is very hardy and always given much praise by besotted admirers. Yes, it spreads, but please don’t grumble.

In staggering contrast the marvellous ‘Summer Carnival’ hollyhocks are the largest spire of all! What fun these plants are – if you plant them early they will flower in late winter and right through spring into summer. If cut back and fed after flowering, many clumps will last a couple more years, although do best as an annual.

Annual foxgloves ‘Little Foxy’ or ‘Foxy’ with their mysterious spotted flowers held on long tapering stems are easy to grow and just beautiful. The first spike is always the biggest, cut this back when it is finished and for many weeks side sprays of these flowers will continue to delight. I have had some nice foxgloves from plants put in the garden in March, blooming at Christmas, especially when grown in a shady spot.

Campanulas tall, how their elegant spires
Laden with bells are so sweetly attired
With larkspurs lovely in pinks and blues
In front of delphiniums of similar hues
And clarkias dressed in rose and mauve
‘Midst spotted foxgloves the colour of smoke
All dwarfed by hollyhocks, rising high
Silhouetted hugely against the sky
D. Horchner

The old-fashioned goldenrods are absolutely radiant in a cottage garden and so very generous with their flowers. Sometimes the flowers of the dwarf variety can look like perfect sprays of wattle. The varieties that are around now are not the weedy ones that used to grow wild in some parts. Goldenrods in the past have been blamed for causing hay fever, but I have recently read that scientists who have studied these plants state they do not cause hay fever because this distressing condition is caused by wind pollinated plants and the goldenrods are insect pollinated.

Spring flowering shrubs

Blue butterfly bush (Clerodendrum ugandense)
Browallia
Buddleia
Cestrum elegans ‘Rosea’
Chandelier plant (Clerodendrum wallichii)
Chinese lantern (Abutilon hybridum)
Dwarf pomegranate (Punica granatum ‘Nana’)
Dwarf white cedar (Melia aazedarach)
Firespike (Odontonema strictum)
Gardenia
Geraldton wax
Golden candles (Pachystachys lutea)
Iochroma
Ixora
Justicia
‘Lady of the Night’ (Brunfelsia americana)
Lavender star (Grewia occidentalis)
Lion’s tail (Leonotis leonurus)
Little boy blue (Otacanthus caeruleus)
Magnolia ‘Little Gem’
Medinilla
Michelia ‘Coco’
Osmanthus fragrans
Pentas
Persian shield (Strobilanthes dyerianus)
Plumbago
‘Pretty in Pink’ (Dianthera nodosa syn Justicia brasiliana)
Rondoletia
Shrimp plant (Justicia brandegeana)
Tweedia
Whitfielda longifolia
Brunfelsia australis ‘Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow’

Favourite plants: Geraldton wax – buy grafted plants for best results in Brisbane, they are wonderful.
Pentas varieties bloom almost forever as does the lovely whitfielda which is a very good shrub indeed for a shady spot with huge candles of snow-white flowers in profusion.

The fragrance that pours forth from the tiny flowers of osmanthus is a dream; this plant does better in an acid soil. A very good shrub indeed is golden candles which blooms nearly the whole year round; it brings a glow to the garden. Incredibly tough.

Medinella is a very exotic shrubby plant (best kept in a large pot) and has the most gorgeous pendulous pink flowers year round. I water under its leaves every time it is due for a drink, this is very good for keeping away spider mites to which it is prone.

Apart from the more common mauve brunfelsias, there is a particularly lovely variety ‘Lady of the Night’ (Brunfelsia americana) which has white flowers that turn butter yellow as they age. This is another plant that sends most divine scent wafting around the garden in the late afternoon and evening.

Rondoletia is a very hardy long flowering plant (there is also a dwarf form).

The red, pink, apricot, orange, yellow and white flowers of the Chinese lanterns (abutilon) are almost perpetually in bloom. Grown in light shade this is one of the hardiest, longest blooming shrubs I know. Unfortunately, grasshoppers love them but the white and orange species, for some reason seem less attractive to these pests.

Michelia ‘Coco’ bears masses of small, beautifully scented flowers in spring and makes a very hardy shrub.

Magnolia ‘Little Gem’ which is a smaller form of Magnolia grandiflora, is an outstanding cultivar that is a favourite with many Brisbane gardeners. It has the most gorgeous large, glossy white, scented flowers.

Climbers flowering in spring

 Allamanda
Arabian jasmine (Jasmin sambac)
Climbing pink foxglove (Asarina erubescens)
Cup and saucer vine (Cobaea scandens)
Fraser Island vine (Tecomanthe hillii)
Golden slipper vine Thungergia mysorensis)
Jasminum polyanthum
Herald’s trumpet (Beaumontia grandiflora)
Mandevillea
Moonflower (Ipomoea alba)
Orange trumpet vine (pyrostegia venusta)
Saritaea magnifica
Star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides)
Wisteria

Favourites: A great personal favourite is the Arabian jasmine, which is wonderfully perfumed and has the great advantage of blooming in long, thick sprays very frequently, year round. There are two particularly lovely cultivars of this species. ‘Grand Duke of Tuscany’ (he was a real person), which has heavily perfumed flowers that are like tiny double white roses and ‘Grand Emperor’ which has bigger and even more double flowers again. These plants are shrubby, semi-climbers but if desired, can be kept to being a shrub by nipping back by about 50% of any feelers that appear from time to time. The famous jasmine tea comes from this species. ‘The Grand Duke’ is lovely grown in a pot.

The golden slipper vine is exotic and long flowering but you will need a high pergola for this gorgeous thing to show off its dangling racemes of rich Indian red and gold footwear. Mandevilleas are excellent and the cultivars ‘White’ and ‘Red Fantasy’ are exceptionally good twining plants with huge flowers. Good for an arch.

Another interesting and oh so pretty twining climber is the cup and saucer vine. This plant is very fast growing, very quickly ending up with showers of wide-mouthed pale lime-green bells backed by matching frilly ‘saucers’. These gradually change to a smudgy purple that looks most attractive against the fresh green foliage.

Wisteria grows and flowers well in this part of the world, but remember it is amazingly energetic and requires special care and pruning to produce the best flowers. It also blooms only for a very short time, especially if (horrors!) we have a very warm spring as sometimes happens. The seeds, which are enclosed in velvet-clad pods are poisonous. A hint for encouraging this beautiful climber to flower is to remove the tip growth every year, and this way they will flower on short side shoots or laterals. Also, you shouldn’t fertilise them much at all. Beware they can sucker!

Hint: When planting a climber on a trellis, twine the tendrils out sideways rather than up. Also, to help plants climb up walls without drilling holes for screw eyes and wires, a reader of Gardening Australia magazine has told us that she mixes a small batch of quick-setting, clear plastic padding – the kind used to repair holes in cars, then places a dollop on the wall and, before it hardens, inserts a tie wire. This should be either a copper wire or a good quality plastic garden tie; bread or freezer bag ties do not last. The ties can be removed if necessary by a blow with a hammer and chisel. This hint would almost certainly apply to walls situated in a shady part of the garden.

Odds & sods

• Stocks greatly benefit from the application of a little dose of lime. Delphiniums, carnations, campanulas and lavender also.

• A simple bucket of river sand is an excellent place in which to strike cuttings of almost anything (particularly lavender, rosemary, wormwoods, and geraniums). Keep in a shady place (in summer) and water with a solution of Seasol, a favourite product of mine that stimulates root growth and strengthens cells of plants.

• Native plants strike easily in 2 parts sharp sand and 1 part copra-peat. This peat is not as acidic as true peat, but just as good. It is available in a brick form everywhere, and is good for many jobs. Just soak the brick in 2/3 bucket of water (add a little Seasol) and almost immediately you will have a bucket full of peat.

• Honey (from ‘side of the road’ stalls) is an excellent substance in which to dab your cuttings before placing them in pots for striking.

• Pick poppies just as the buds are splitting open early in the morning and before the bees push their way in. Seal the ends of the stalks by burning them on a hot plate. The flowers will last longer if the water in the vase is not too deep.

• Substantial cuttings of the lovely blue ginger (Dichorisandra thyrsiflora) grow strong roots if left standing in a bottle, dark glass preferably, for about two weeks (in warm weather). Many other plants do this also, including coleus and crotons.

• The secret for selecting seed that will produce female pawpaw plants is to use only the black shiny seeds, discarding the greyish looking ones. Dry the black ones on tissue for a few weeks until they are shrivelled, then plant into pots before putting them into the ground when they have grown to about 300mm high.

• Spray the inside of brown paper bags with canola oil and let them dry; then fill with soil and plant seeds of ‘fiddly’ plants that dislike being transplanted such as poppies, clarkias, etc. When its time to plant them out leave the seedlings in the bags and plant them directly in the soil where the bags will slowly decompose.

• In autumn cut back your hydrangeas to a place on the stem where two fat buds are showing. Don’t cut back any canes that haven’t flowered the current season. Poke the cuttings in somewhere and you may have several new plants a bit later.

• Do not prune back old geraniums plants too hard or they will die. Do only about one-third at a time until new growth starts. Don’t water over the leaves too much.

• The ‘good oil’ – Mix together a teaspoon vegetable cooking oil and one teaspoon liquid dishwashing detergent (any brand) with one litre of water. Spray for a full cover and repeat application about seven days later. We are told that this simple oil will control most fungi and insects and also help repel them too.

• A ‘whiteout’ pen is excellent for marking pots. It will last for many years.

Some spring flowering bulbs & rhizomes that do well in Brisbane

Agapanthus
Anemone
Aristea
Arum lily
Babiana
Blue eyed grass
Chincherinchee
Clivia
Crinum lily
Daffodil
Day lily
Dianella
Dutch iris
Eucharis lily
Freesia
Gloxinia perennis
Grape hyacinth
Hippeastrum
Hyacinth
Ifafa lily
Ipheion
Ixia
Jacobean lily
Jonquil ‘Erlicheer’
Lapeirousia
Louisiana iris
November lily
Orthrosanthus
Pineapple lily
Rain lily
Ranunculus
Snowflake
Society garlic
Soldier boys (lachenalia)
Sparaxis
Tuberose
Tulip
Vallota lily
Watsonia

Many bulbs grow and flower well in Brisbane, but one has to realise that most of the typically spring flowering, cold weather types such as daffodils, hyacinth, grape-hyacinth etc. will have to be treated as annuals. I have found that these bulbs flower best when grown in pots, but must have well drained soil. They should be planted about mid-April, (unless the weather is still warm) slightly crowded in a pot, except for tulips which should not be planted until the end of May.

Jonquil ‘Erlicheer’ is one of the very best, with large sprays of double creamy white flowers with a rich perfume, often blooming in winter and totally reliable. Some jonquils such as ‘Paperwhites’ and ‘Soleil d’Or’ occasionally flower in the garden for two or three years. Anemones and ranunculus are best planted fresh every year, claws facing down into the soil. They do not usually do as well a second year.

Once growth of your bulbs becomes established, start fertilising with a soluble, high phosphorus and potassium fertiliser once a fortnight.

Put bulbs of hyacinths, daffies, tulips, etc. in frig for six weeks before.

Every year I have an enjoyable little ritual in that I purchase some fat hyacinth bulbs when they first come into the shops in February/March and put them in the crisper part of the ‘fridge. After four-five weeks I fill some glass hyacinth vases with water and place the bulbs on top. I make sure the bulbs don’t actually touch the water. They are then put in a dark cupboard for a few weeks (checking the water level every now and again and replenishing if necessary) until the spears of growth are rising up to about 7.5cm when I take them out of the cupboard and place them in a good light, (indoors) but not near heat or strong sunlight. Within a few days, the gorgeous flowers slowly come into bloom and send wonderful fragrance drifting around our home.  But be warned! If you do this delightful thing, every time you pass the vases you will just have to stop and admire!

Ipheions or ‘star flowers’ are another excellent bulb and one that lasts for a number of years, often bobbing up unexpectedly (when you have forgotten about them!) and giving you a nice surprise. This species is very hardy and grows in clumps that spread slowly and bear many blue or white star-flowers on short stems.

Lapeirousia is a fast spreading, pretty little freesia-like bulb that is a unusual shade of pink. It makes a good ground cover under deciduous trees, forming a carpet. Take care as they can become invasive.

Tulips, if you purchase the plain, more common forms, always bloom beautifully for me grown in pots. Do you know that tulips will straighten up if they see themselves in a mirror? Can’t you just hear one asking the other (anxiously) “Does this vase make me look fat?”

Snowflakes (leucojum) should be transplanted in spring or just after flowering, while they are still in full growth. This is the best time to dig up clumps in order to split them. It is important when moving them not to let them dry out. Snowflakes do best in heavier soils and usually grow well under alkaline conditions. They like semi-shade and plenty of humus in their soil.

Louisiana iris are one of the joys of spring with their beautiful, lush flowers held all the way up long stems. They come in a large range of colours and, unlike some other types of iris (particularly bearded ones), perform very well in Brisbane.

Freesias:  Sometimes freesias annoy when the flowers flop. This can be alleviated by applying a light sprinkling of sulphate of potash at planting time and the same when the buds are starting to appear.

Hippeastrum, clivia, and crinum lily bulbs should be checked now and again to make sure that they are not being demolished by the dreaded ‘lily caterpillar’ which can eat down the leaves into the bulb very quickly. If discovered, pick off the offenders.

The flowers of chincherinchee are good for picking and it’s a fun thing for children to change their colour (other white flowers too) by standing them in a vase full of water coloured with either cochineal, blue or even green food colouring.

Beautiful babiana bulbs flower very well in Brisbane – they come in rich blues and purples as well as pinks and are extremely hardy and easy to grow. These are bulbs that grow well out in the garden, and like freesias, can be left after flowering; they multiply quite a lot and will pop up again next year and bloom well.

Little grape hyacinth grow and bloom well in pots. They are delightful bulbs and are a particularly intense shade of blue.