winter garden doings


It’s winter, and a cold one, but I’m still beavering away doing garden things as if it was autumn. Hopefully the plants will cooperate. If they don’t then visitors will just have to put up with less growth and more gaps when spring comes and the garden has its open weekend.

Visitor: Where's the garden?
Me: It's there, it's a work in progress, it's still in its potential phase.
Visitor: ****???????***???

I decided the front path would look better with nutmeg geranium on both sides. One side has grown into a lovely low hedge edging the path, the other had bits of geranium interspersed with vigorous erigeron. They are pretty little daisies but I am getting a bit sick of them. They seem to be everywhere. (Sorry guys, I admit it, I’m acting ungrateful to you after years and years of loyal service).
So I pulled out the erigeron and threw them on the compost. Then I took cuttings of the geranium and stuck them in the ground alongside the path. Yesterday the temperature reached only 14 degrees. But the soil is rich and moist, and they are tough little plants, so in time we’ll see if they take or not …
I’m still trying to work out where to place some tall trees and shrubs. The two Eucalyptus leucoxlyon looked a bit militaristic as a pair, so I rushed off to my fave native nursery, Kuranga, to get another one to make it an informal-looking group of three.
While I was at the nursery I bought a couple of pots of Derwentia perfoliata (Speedwell) and Gastrolobium melanopetalum (the low form with black flowers) to fill some gaps.
There’s an Alogyne heugelii shrub (native hibiscus) that is tiny because it’s been moved so many times. It’s still not in the right place. So I moved it. The contents of the garden bed it’s in are fairly invisible unless you put on your Potential Vision Spectacles. Then you can see it as I can – with tall plants at attractively varying heights. (Will it / won't it achieve this by spring???????)
As I prune and thin out, both sides of the compost heap are getting very full. Most things go into the compost: fruit and veggie peels, prunings, paper, boxes, old clothes too worn and torn for the op shop. What is definitely not composted are violets. Like erigeron, they seem to be all over the garden, especially during the present extended rainy spell.
I found a large box to store leaves. Leaves decompose much more quickly than other things in the compost. I chuck leaves anywhere I see a gap between plants. I think they look great on the garden, very soft and natural, and are good mulch. To me leaf mulch is like a warm cosy doona, compared to other mulches which are more like a (wet) blanket.

Comments

  1. My garden is always a work in progress also... I like your phrase "Potential Vision Spectacles!" Stay warm and keep dreaming of spring :)

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  2. It's very interesting to follow how you are preparing for the tour in the spring. A very conscientious gardener indeed. I love leaves in my garden. They are the perfect foil for plants and look great in yours.

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  3. I always forget about the geranium. I plan to propagate some stem so they flower in spring but always distracted with other things in the garden.You have just reminded me of them so hopefully tomorrow the weather will cooperate and I can take some cuttings.

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  4. I normally do replanting in the midst of rainy days. I think the plants will have time to adapt before the sun comes back. So using same logic, I think your plants will have good chance to grow more foliages soon ;-)

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  5. In the wintry days, the role of custodian becomes more apparent. Thankyou, Sue, for the nitty-gritty of your post...gardeners like to know that it's not all about showpieces. I especially like your last photo, and that blue-green spikey grass...considering autumn's nearly over, spring's not far away, is it?

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  6. thanks dear cyberfriends for your encouraging comments.

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  7. May your nutmeg geranium cuttings flourish as mine are! They sulked thru the summer, but now I have plenty of volunteers off the sulker.

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  8. thanks for the comment Diana, so far so good - no sulking ...

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