Bush Foods
1 Comment »25th March, 2006; Category: Bush Tucker
When I log onto Firefox I have the ABC page open up. I noticed in the science programme on ABC Radio National an ad about bush potatoes that was on at lunchtime today. Someone discovered them growing in one of the poorest soil areas of the country and they would be a good food crop for countries where soil is nutritionally depleted.
What made me look it up was the fact that my Solanum centrale (bush tomato) seed is germinating. These are becoming the in thing in restaurants that use indigenous foods in their cooking. I had plans for a separate garden area where I wanted to grow bush tomato, Wild Peaches, Muntries and Acacia victoria, and anything else that would cope with the conditions here. One day I bought some dried lemon myrtle last year to try in fish dishes and in biscuits. This plant would probably have to be a tub plant here. The smell of the leaves is wonderful. Wattle seed is supposed to be good in biscuits also. Haven’t tried cooking with them yet.
I put a number of wild peach seed in individual pots last week. There seems to be no ‘real’ method to propagating these. A friend used a tennis racquet to send them around his block, hoping that they would germinate where they landed. Some germinated at the base of shrubs that he planted, and being parasitic plants, they were well placed to latch on to the roots of the host plant.
I’ve read also that cracking the stone and/or peeling the skin from the kernal, putting the stones in a hession bag and putting behind the garden shed and forgetting them, putting seed in moist peat etc are all supposed to work.
Native Hibiscus
2 Comments »24th March, 2006; Category: Plant species
Knowing that the temperature was going to be in the thirties today, I collected a pile of cutting material to deal with this afternoon. An inside job, where I take over the kitchen table and make a huge mess.
There was some nice material on two varieties of Alyogyne huegelii (native hibiscus), a pretty white flowered form and a ruffled purple form known as ‘West Coast Gem’. Somewhere in the nursery is a pink form also, and my neighbour has a lovely mauve form which flowers prolifically. It also overhangs our fence, which is very convenient for me.
Another native hibiscus is Alyogyne hakeifolia. The flowers do not open fully out, and have a prominent stamen inside, and often a contrasting colour. There are a number of colour forms. ‘Mellissa Ann’ is a bright purply pink, there are also cream, yellow and various mauve/blue colours.
The thing that they all have in common is their hardiness, apart from having pretty flowers. They tolerate lime, drought and neglect. They need to be pruned to keep them bushy. Cuttings are sometimes touchy as they don’t like to be too wet. Once potted on though, they grow like rockets!
More Plant Discoveries
Talk about a return to summer temperatures! We will probably have a mild autumn like we did last year. Which is good as I had fabulous germination of seeds, despite the cooler night temperatures.
A nice surprise to day as I continued to sort plants. I found Correa ‘Clearview Giant’ (has very large flowers, Correa ‘Pinkanninnie’ which has delicate pink bells, and my really nice white Correa pulchella minor. Apparently the minor part of the name refers to the orange flowered forms. I still have not worked these forms out.
I decided to take cuttings off some of these plants that I was finding, “just in case”! One thing led to another and now I have piles of cutting material to deal with. (I also have a bag of cumquats to turn into marmalade!) However that’s what happens when I have secateurs in my hands.
More Plantings
Was sorting plants today, removing from the system the overgrown plants that I want to plant out the front to form a “Mallee Heathland” of sorts. It doesn’t matter that they are a bit scruffy as I will chop about an inch (2-3cm) off the roots when I plant them, and prune properly when new growth begins.
I found the only plant of Templetonia retusa, a prostrate form with apricot flowers. This plant is usually called Cocky’s Tongue because of the unususal shape of the flower reminiscent of a cockatoo’s tongue. It is a pea flower, similar to Sturt’s Desert Pea. I had been disappointed that I must have lost the plant, so it was a thrill to discover it in a box of overgrown plants waiting to be planted.
Another plant that I found was a seedling Correa which now looks like it might be a prostrate form of Correa alba. It will be interesting to see the flower to confirm this. The plant appears to have potential so we will see. I rescued another Correa seedling from a another pot which contained a good plant, and repotted it. That will have to be treated as a cutting as I broke a bit of the root, removing it. I have no idea what that might be at this stage of growth. Another surprise coming.
I have not been impressed with the flowering of two Westringea seedlings, although the foliage is attractive. They will go out into this heathland too, I think.
Sturt’s Desert Peas
2 Comments »21st March, 2006; Category: Caring for Native Plants, How to plant, Plant species, Propagating
I sowed seed of Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa) last week and now have them germinating. I nicked the side of the seed with nail clippers and placed the seed in small individual pots. There may be a few failures, but at least I am avoiding root disturbance.
I find nicking the seed to be more successful than the boiling water treatment. It is more labour intensive having to handle each individual seed but the results warrant it, I feel.
I still remember the first time I saw these growing in their natural habitat. We were heading for Arkaroola in northern SA and pulled off the road to have morning tea. It wasn’t until we were out of the car that we realised that we were in the middle of a huge patch of these plants and the first flowers for the season were just coming out. Fabulous photos (in those days, slides!) gave us great enjoyment later, too.
When you see the environment that they grow in it gives an appreciation of how far the roots must travel in order to survive the summer. The plants are sometimes perennial but probably best treated as annuals. They give a glorious display of their brash pea shaped flowers. Ants will carry the seed around the garden and they will pop up in the spots that you don’t want them but haven’t the heart to pull them out. The self sown ones always do better.
A lot of research has been done on breeding colours for export markets and on the growing of these plants. At one time it was always declared that you did not water these plants in the garden. After all look at where they grow in the wild in barren, parched locations. However, logically, they grow and flower when there is moisture available. So in the home garden they need water if you want growth and flowers. Apparently they do particularly well in self watering pots and also appreciate fertiliser. I haven’t tried this yet. I just want them in the ground, self sowing merrily away! To see some lovely photos of Sturt Desert Peas have a look at this web page.