Autumn 09

One of the many sunburnt plants. The Drought has Broken! Finally the drought has broken here at Katandra Gardens. Although the lake is still far from full, the plants have had good rain and are now growing well. After a time of concern with a very long and dry summer we have now had enough rain to stop the need to carry buckets of water in an attempt to save young plants less than a year old. This period of dry is by far the longest we have experienced in all the time since we have been at Katandra Gardens (over 30 years), and had dire consequences for some of our plants. Several days of extreme temperature in a row caused quite a lot of scorching to a number of plants. Many are still showing the signs their "sunburn." Changes in the Garden - by Bob The Wolamai pine cost $60 and was slowly fading away. I thought that I had selected the ideal site ( space, light and sufficient moisture), but it was too dry, so a year later it was dug up, repotted and re-established. Some 6 months later it was relocated in a much moister position and now it is faring quite well. I saw a friend use this solution for failing plants and I have used it successfully on a number of occasions since. A young bottle tree has since been planted in that position and it is shooting away nicely. My conclusion is that Wolamai pines require a reasonably moist situation, more so than I had anticipated. 16 spikes bearing more than 200 flowers made one Blandfordia nobilis a brilliant plant. It was in full sun in well drained soil and had ample space in which to do its thing. 2 other plants from the same seedling batch had but 3 or 4 spikes with no more than 5 flowers per spike. On the basis that this huge difference may be due to an excess of competition, these 2 plants have been dug up and repotted. So far all has gone well, and in due course hopefully will come closer to emulating the flashy sibling in more spacious surroundings. In a similar way I have repotted a number of smaller plants when they were in the wrong position or were not succeeding and there was nothing to lose by trying, nothing ventured nothing gained. Summer flowering - "Christmas Bells" Summer flowering - Kangaroo Paw Last year we encouraged an area of everlasting daisies to self seed. The mulch used was coarse native sawdust, a material that encourages more self seeding than more coarse mulches. The site is open, moist, sunny and out of the root zone of nearby trees seedling emerged like weeds. Plants when spaced out normally are almost ball shaped, these by necessity were erect and packed together. The show has been very effective. Plants are treated as annuals. I am curious as to the next generation of these plants on the same site. Most of us have problem areas, being too wet, shady or within the influence of large trees. On the west boundary there is a line of large cypress trees. The strip along the east of these trees pose a challenge. This strip has always appeared unfinished so it has been weed sprayed and will be mulched as soon as possible. Close to the trees will be mulched and left at that, but as the distance outwards increases options begin to increase. Planting will only commence once this torrid weather passes, but I have thought of eremophias, croweas, thomasias and small acacias. A couple of small brachychitons are also a possibility. I intend to check elsewhere before planting is completed and am very open to suggestions. The weather up to Christmas was mild and most attractive from a gardening perspective, even if there was inadequate rainfall to moisten the subsoil. We took the opportunity to continue with well established plants being placed about the garden, after all, they would be too pot bound if left till autumn as the other alternative. The extreme weather conditions sorted out a number of plants, but the majority of the later planting has been successful. The biggest problem area would be in sites where there is greater root competition. Areas away from root competition have been generally quite successful. In future, root competition areas will be planted in the autumn. Eremophila georgei Eremophilas, generally kept up good growth habits during the very dry conditions. As they are a desert plant they most likely felt very much at home.

Past News Articles 2 News 2005 3 Autumn 07 4 Spring 07 5 April 08 6 January 09