Grevillea lavandulacea
1 Comment »31st March, 2006; Category: Caring for Native Plants, Grevillea, Pruning Australian Native Plants
I was thinking about the Grevillea species in the last post. The local form of Grevillea lavandulacea, called ‘Monarto’ is an open small shrub with deep reddish pink spider clusters. I noticed in ‘The Grevillea Book’ Olde and Marriott, that this probably should be called ‘Mt Compass’. Whatever the correct name, it is a very pretty shrub.
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)Â of rain. They need to be trimmed after flowering to maintain bushiness.
Grevillea in the USA
I was looking at blogs to do with gardening last night and came across a site called the Golden Gecko written in California (the name attracted me). That’s not too amazing in itself. What hit me in the face were the photos of Grevillea ‘Molongolo’ and Grevillea lavandulacea ‘Penola’.
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.
Daisy Seeds
I own my own small scale nursery and there always seems to be too much to do. I decided that I had had enough one day and thought I would just propagate for myself. Trouble is I can’t walk past a plant with cutting material on it and one packet of seed provides many more plants than I can use. I propagate for the major Plant Sales organised by the Australian Plant Society in Adelaide, and the occasional country market.
Hence the mad flurry of activity at the moment. No cuttings and seed in means no plants later. You cannot decide to go to a sale and not have worked months before to have the plants available. Raising seed is quite successful at this time of the year.
So I was really pleased to see that the seed of two Olearias (daisies) have begun to germinate. One that I prize greatly is a lovely mauve daisy, Olearia ciliata native to the mallee areas and in particular this seed came from Eyre Peninsular, SA. It has germinated within 2 weeks of sowing and I used Regen smoked vermiculite sprinkled over the seed.
There is some evidence that natural rainfall will stimulate germination in native daisies, particularly Brachyscomes. Our recent rains may have helped in this case, but whatever, I am pleased to see it.
Woolly Bush
We had 36mm altogether (144 points). That is a rather useful amount of rainfall and everything is looking great. It doesn’t take long for native plants to respond to this amount of rain getting to the root system.
This morning I collected cutting material from a friend’s garden. She has been on my back about it because two Correas had taken over. The Grevillea thelemanniana (Spider flower) was clambering through the nearest Correa. It is supposed to be a ground cover plant. The Adenanthos sericeus (Woolly Bush) was taking over the path to the chook shed.
I particularly like the Adenanthos. I see people at the Plant Sale doing what I do, that is stroking the foliage because of its woolly feel. It has insignificant flowers, the foliage is the feature of this bush. It grows to about 3-4m here and 2-3m wide if you let it. Tip pruning gives the bush a great shape. It is not the easiest plant to strike as the foliage doesn’t like to be too wet. It has a habit of rotting at the level of the mix. They don’t seem to mind a dry location like this one is growing in and I have also seen them in the middle of the lawn at a local school. What the landscapers would call an architechtural plant.
Have zillions of cuttings to deal with now when I have finished my cuppa. Having a cup of tea and container of plant rooting hormone on the same table can be hazardous to one’s health.
Work, Work and More Work
No Comments »27th March, 2006; Category: General
We had about an inch (25mm) of rain overnight and more today. That’s a thirteenth of the year’s average. Having it fall in such a short period of time is wonderful as it soaks down deep. With mild weather this week I’m torn between potting on cuttings and seedlings, putting in more cuttings and seed and getting out with the mattock and digging holes for plants while the soil is soft and there is moisture to kick them along. I hate having to choose when all are so important in the life of the nursery.
I have taken the opportunity today to be inside putting in more cuttings. The packets of seed have their hands up too! So we just plod along getting as much done as possible and hopefully getting to the end of the main activity soon.
Then I might get on with the rest of the gardening, pruning, maintenance, repairs to the nursery, setting up new growing on areas, getting rid of weeds, making some paths, cleaning pots, setting up irrigation, finish tiling inside, make new curtains, painting inside and out, and with a bit of luck sewing and craft!!
I don’t want much.