Chloris truncata (late summer)

After I decided to not water a patch until it became unacceptable as a lawn to test the time between waterings, we had 3.5 mm of rain. This was three and a half weeks between waterings and was almost at the stage of considering it to be in need of a watering. As a general rule I would say that 3 weekly intervals would keep a reasonable greenness about the grass. It is looking a bit tatty at the moment as it hasn’t been trimmed since late spring. We have also had many days above 35C and at least ten days above 40C.

I certainly think it is worth persevering with this grass in low rainfall areas, especially in areas where it occurs naturally.

See here for other posts on this topic.

Correa glabra variegated form

I was putting Correa glabra, a variegated form, on to the tables at the Spring Flower Show and Plants Sale organised by the Australian Plants Society. This is a pretty plant. Some Correas have a fruity scent in the leaves, which makes them good to grow near a path where the leaves can be brushed as people walk past them.

Correa glabra exists in a number of forms. What I have is a variegated form which has yellow blotches. The leaves are shiny and the blotching is better seen when the plant is growing out in the open. These Correas need to be tip pruned to keep them dense bushes. A friend made a practice of pinching the top couple of leaves of each branch on the bushes and alsways had prolific flowering as a result. This works with many species.

This particular species grows to about half a metre high and wide and grows well in clay soils that dry and crack in the heat of summer.

The leaves are not true leaves and are known as phyllodes. Many Acacias have very prickly or sharp pointed phyllodes, a fact that needs consideration when choosing species to grow. A prickly plant, regardless of the beauty of the plant in flower, is a pain (literally) if planted where one opens the door of the car and has to brush past it.

However to control foot traffic and for security, these have their uses. Small birds also appreciate the security of these prickly plants for nesting sites.

All Acacias are useful for erosion control. They respond well to pruning after flowering and this can extend the life of the plant. Wattles are very fast growing and can flower in the second year after germination.

The main pests are borers. These can be controlled by manually probing the hole with a piece of wirer or using a weak insecticide squirted into the hole. Some plants have galls and these are hard to control.

Research has shown that some species are sensitive to phosphorus in the soil and there is a need to take care with fertilisers. As a general rule a slow release fertiliser suitable for Native plants is safest. Symptoms of sensitivity are browning of the edges and dropping of the older leaves.

A good source of pollen, Wattles are popular with apiarist. The seeds are also an important source of food for birds. The seeds of Acacia calamifolia are part of the diet of the endangered Mallee Fowl. Some other species of Wattle are part of the Bush Tucker industry, particularly Acacia victoriae. As the seeds of some species are actually toxic, one needs to be sure of the identity of a species!

Anyway I wanted to divide it so that I had extra plants should the main one meet with an accident, like being drowned or forgotten! The bits that broke off may have enough tuber attached to grow on.

Anigozanthos flavidus is the hardiest of the Kangaroo Paws, and has the tallest flower spikes, which seem to flower for a long time. Most of the ‘paws’ prefer well drained positions but this one is quite forgiving as it is hardy in most soils and positions. Seed germinates readily, especially if fresh. Divide during the Autumn before new leaves begin to grow. A heavy sharp knife is necessary with this species as it has a large tuber.

A form that I’ve had for years is from the Barossa Valley I think. It has almost ruby flowers in large clusters. The honeyeaters love it when it is in flower.

When I told friends last night over dinner about the deer, they reminded me of the ferral deer in the South East of SA and that there are ferral deer in the Jamestown district (mid north of SA). I did not know of them. The ones in the South East are a hazard on the road. There are more deer than kangaroos to deal with, especially at night. We were always concerned when our daughter, who was teaching in the South East, had to travel one particular road to Penola, at night. She also discovered that echidnas don’t do car tyres much good, either!

The above Grevillea do very well in high pH soils like ours which has limestone rubble in it. Once established they will cope with the winter wet, summer dry climate and 350mm (about 13inches)  of rain. They need to be trimmed after flowering to maintain bushiness.

These were being recommended as suitable plants for the impoverished soils in the area. And they would be good for that purpose. They also do well here (country South Australia).

“Molongolo” is a registered cultivar, a hybrid between a dwarf, yellow form of Grevillea juniperina from New South Wales and an upright, red-flowered form of G juniperina from near Canberra, ACT. It can grow up to 5m across in ideal conditions (I’d like to see that here!), with apricot coloured flowers. It needs to be tip pruned from an early age to encourage the denseness of a good ground covering plant. It also responds well to pruning.

As with most plants, pruning is best done after flowering but this plant has a long flowering period. In general I would say that when there are signs of new growth is a safe time to prune most evergreen plants. As a rule don’t prune back to bare wood, but look for small branches or shoots to cut back to (unless you know for sure that the plant will shoot from bare wood).

Grevillea lavandulacea ‘Penola’ has been in cultivation for many years. It has greyish foliage with a massed display of red and cream flowers which look wonderful against the grey foliage. Apparently there is a question about whether it is actually a true form of G lavandulacea as it is very close to Grevillea ‘Poorinda Illumina’. We’ll let the botanists fight about that! The town of Penola is in the south east of South Australia.

I saw on one of the Lifestyle TV programmes some time ago the suggestion of using Westringea species as formal hedge plants. The programme showed these trimmed hedges as ‘fences’ separating  garden areas and it looked great. Again the best results were achieved by constant early trimming amd light pruning to maintain the leaf cover well down on the plant before it developed woodiness. The Westringea fruticosa (Native Rosemary- called this because the appearance is like the herb Rosemary) forms do lend themselves to this treatment very well.

The Westringea species that I know best for this purpose are

• Westringea rosmarinifolia (Native Rosemary, white to mauve flowers)
• Westringea fruticosa
• Westringes fruticosa ‘Highlight’ (variegated leaves and mauve flowers)
• Westringea fruticosa ‘Morning Light’ (variegated leaves and white flowers)
• Westringea fruticosa ‘Smokie’ (grey variegated leaves, white flowers, smaller growth)
• Westringea ‘Jervis Gem’ (small dense bush, mauve flowers, use as you would English Box)
• Westringea ‘Wynyabbie Gem’ (mauve flowers)

All of these will grow well in alkaline soil, all can be planted in coastal areas and all are hardy plants once established.

If I have to trim the roots of the cuttings when potting on, I will often tip prune the plant at the same time, or take a little more of the top to balance the root system that is available to the plant.

Last year we had a trip to Ngarkat Conservation Park, near Keith in the upper South East of SA. It was winter, the first rains for the year began that weekend, and the area had had a bushfire through it in January of the same year. Despite the lack of rain we found the locally occurring Correas had sprouted abundant new growth from the base of the plants at ground level. The top of the plants were a few charcoal twigs.

This made me feel that it was worth experimenting with quite severe pruning of the Correas which I had neglected in the garden. I forgot about it last spring. I am watching for the new growth to appear this autumn and will try a few of the late flowering plants, rather than lose the flowers this year. Thought I would cut back to the last three of four buds on each stem and see what happens. I will have nothing to lose really as the plants are quite scruffy. They will have to be chopped back or pulled out.

Meanwhile I have plants presenting great cutting material and I would love to be sidetracked by that job also. Everything comes in waves in the Nursery. Zillions of jobs needing to be done now, and then periods of watching things grow until the next wave of potting on. (Until I visit someone with a native garden and plants presenting cutting material).

Sometimes I feel like Peter Cundell on the ABC TV gardening programme, Gardening Australia. Put a pair of secateurs, or loppers in his hands and the personality changes as he attacks plants with glee. He is usually pruning, while I go mad taking cuttings.

The above reminds me of a friend whose plants always looked wonderful, in flower or not. She was a self confessed mad pruner but without the tools. She made a practice of constant tip pruning of all her native shrubs. That is, removing the top growing tip containing a couple of leaves. This forces the plant to make new growth back along the branches. As a result, flowering is much improved because of the greater number of shoots on the bushes. It often looked as though she had used shears to trim the plants.

I remember seeing her after one Plant Sale with a basket of plants and before she had got back to her car every one of them had been tipped pruned. “Can’t help myself!” she said.

It is a hint I often pass on to customers at Plant Sales. People are often disappointed with the appearance of native plants as they get older. They don’t usually have time to prune at a particular time in the plant’s seasonal growth. Tip pruning often solves this. The exception to this is for a plant which has a naturally upright habit, where tip pruning could ruin the shape of the plant.