Gardening

Jess Kay has kindly offered to write about
and from her experiences with her garden
in Kays Lane, located on an East facing slope of the Warby Ranges.
She is also providing most of the photos -
all to the benefit of the Gazette readers:
♥ Thank you! Editor

• to the Gazette

• Other Gazette readers are of course also welcome to send in their gardening stories! ♣

• to the Our Environment page


Hibiscus in Glenrowan?	*A Time for Planting Trees*	Wonga Wonga Vine
*Water Retention*	*Costa Rican Blue*	*Bearded Iris*
*Tulips from China*	*Salvia Madrensis*	Weed Control: Oxalis
*Flowering in Winter*	Tree Dahlia	*Daphne*

• read the Benalla Garden Club newsletter - editor: Jess Kay

• These articles may be printed from this page by high-lighting the article you would like, right click and select "print preview" - then choose "as selected on screen" as printing option.	• Should you have any problems with printing something you want, please *e-mail the Gazette* with your request. ♣
Gardening is for pleasure - we need to accept things are not always as we would like and also rejoice in the successes, enjoying the moment.

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	Flowering in Winter
	Winter has arrived and with it a multitude of jobs to be done: Feed the soil, not the plants. That is where all the action starts. An excellent soil conditioner for all seasons and all plant life is Seamungus. This can be applied every 6-8 weeks and will give wonderful results in the health and productivity of flowers, vegetables and natives. It is most economical bought in large bags from a produce store like Landmark in Benalla. Follow with mulch so that it can start to break down by spring, again feeding the soil. This can be topped up prior to the harsh summer. Broad beans should be planted by now. When they have been harvested and have finished their productive life, cut off just above the ground and leave. Plant a tomato beside the stump from teh bean and it will provide nitrogen for a flying start for your summer crop. photo of salvia: Jess Kay
Pictured is a winter flowering salvia “Madrensis” which grows to about 2.5 meterss tall and is a magnet for birds like the eastern spinebills and honeyeaters.
	In flower now is the purple tree dahlia. Anne Tatts has a lovely one in Seige street. When they have finished flowering and are cut back, a piece of the trunk with two nodes on it can be taken and planted either horizontally or vertically, for a new plant. It will eventually form a very large tuber similar to an ordinary dahlia, but much larger. The trunk is hollow and brittle, so it needs to be planted out of the wind, and where it can be tied to a support. There are also white and pink varieties which are quite expensive.
	photo of tree dahlia: Lynne Rutter
	Daphne will be in flower soon. Pick the highly perfumed flowers and put inside. By doing this you are pruning at the same time. Share a bouquet with a friend and brighten their day. When taking cuttings in December, take them from unflowered shoots which have grown since last winter. They should be 8 cm long and preferably have a heel. Nip off the lower leaves, and cut the top leaves in half. ♣
	photo of daphne: Elizabeth Jardina
June 2010

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Weed Control: Oxalis
Jess Kay has got a recipe from Betty Williams for a mix which will kill oxalis: • Mix 1 part sulphate of ammonia to • 2 parts sand. • Sprinkle lightly over the plants. • Repeat in 3 weeks if necessary. Betty Williams is another local gardener who has looked after the lovely rose garden in front of the Old Police Station in Siege Street for years - with the help of other volunteers. Jess Kay tells the Gazette that "the mix was used to get rid of oxalis in the rose garden and the results were amazing". ♣
	botanical name: Oxalis pes-caprae; common name: soursob; classified as noxious weed in Victoria as well as other states.

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Wonga Wonga Vine

Spring! – It has arrived bringing with it wonderful rain, and renewed hope that the plants we have nurtured for so long may at last have the opportunity to thrive and survive. Pictured is the Wonga Wonga vine, a hardy evergreen native which rewards with a blanket of creamy white flowers in early October. An ideal vine for covering unsightly sheds - I have mine on a gate as a windbreak - or an old stump. It can become a nuisance if you let it take over, but if you cut it back to the shape and size you like just after flowering, you have no worries. If you have an old Hill's hoist you don’t want, plant one at the base and train it to a trunk until it can be spread over the top wires, creating a living umbrella, a lovely place to put a seat and enjoy the summer shade. ♣
	October 2009

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	Tulips from China
	The photo here shows a variety of tulips which comes from China - you might be able to see from the photo that the flower is a more open type than the Dutch tulips. Jess Kay has these yellow ones in her garden. They are now past their best and Jess is interested to see what happens next year as these Chinese tulips multiply by creeping along the ground. Jess continues, " These tulips love cold winters and hot, dry summers. I bought them from Lambley Nursery at Ascot near Ballarat." Lambley Nursery does mail order and they have a website - maybe try googling them? ♣
	September 2009

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Growing Hibiscus in Glenrowan?

Yes, you can grow hibiscus in Glenrowan.

The Hibiscus "Surf Rider" shown in the photo is one for pots only. The photo was taken on the 31st of May this year, just one day before winter. If you have this hibiscus on the North side of the house in Winter and the East from Spring on, this is your reward!

I also have several in the garden, but because I am on an elevated site the frosts do not effect me as much as folks living in the lower levels. ♣

July 2009

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Water Retention

Gardening exhibitions, TV programmes and literature on the topic are all trying to seduce us to have gardens of rock, gravel and plants that might survive on another planet. Fair enough, but give me the horticultural abundance of planet Earth any day!
We have all been tested to the extreme by the continuous drought, but we have also learned valuable lessons. Native plants are by no means exempt from heatwave conditions, it would seem a lot depends on the position. Park Lane Nursery in Wangaratta has well priced natives, and are very knowledgeable.
Two products I have found invaluable in my garden are Seamungus and Hydrocell.
• Seamungus are pellets made from seaweed, fish waste and manure. This is a natural tonic, not a fertilizer, which can be used all year round. In small quantities it can be expensive (20kg. bucket is approx. $37) but a big bag which I bought from Landmark in Benalla was much cheaper.
• Hydrocell is a water retention product which looks like broken polystyrene pieces, but is soft. The Wodonga Council did a trial with Hydrocell with their tree planting and found it most successful. Check for the best price on this, it can vary.
Hydrocell comes in a large bag, which MUST have a hose put into it to wet all the particles, otherwise it can be inhaled. The foam absorbs and retains the moisture, attracting plant roots which then grow through this. I had used water crystals for years, but found that the plant root grows to the gell then stops. Hydrocell retains the moisture, but the roots extend through and down, therefore producing a stronger and healthier plant. ♣

June 2009

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The Ever Popular and Drought Tolerant Bearded Iris
	photo: the Bearded Iris variety 'Cheesecake & Pumpkin'

We have always been told to plants iris with the rhizomes above the soil so they can be exposed to the Winter frosts. Wrong !!!
Speaking at a garden day at Tatura recently, Barry Blyth advised to cover the rhizome with
1 to 2 cm of soil - any more and flowering will be diminished. This is not so important in the northern hemisphere, but in Australia the rhizomes can scald during Summer if they are left uncovered.
Barry Blyth was visiting from the Tempo Two specialist iris nursery in Pearcedale, Mornington Peninsula, which exports approx. 35,000 rhizomes all over the world each year.
Cutting back the foliage is another no-no: Do not cut it back in Summer! The foliage is there to produce flowers for next spring (same as for daffodils). Cutting back the foliage in Summer reduces next year's bloom by 15% - just pull away the dead foliage to tidy them up.

The best time to plant is immediately after flowering, December through to March. Later planting is also OK but the bloom percentage next spring will be reduced. I find that when I plant early in Summer, I will lose some rhizomes due to our extreme Summers so I tend to wait till the Autumn break.
The best piece of advice Barry Blyth gave was “Whatever works for you”, and I think this applies to everything.
Spread some lime in Autumn, fertilize in Spring with a slow release fertilizer such as Osmacote which must be worked into the soil. To just spread on the surface is like humans having a pantry full of food in tins and NO CAN OPENER, as Barry Blyth said. Thought that was great. ♣

July 2009

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A Time for Planting Trees

Our Winter season is a good time for planting trees, particularly the deciduous ones which we want for shade in Summer, but will let the sun through their bare branches in Winter.

One such tree, Claret Ash, is showing Autumn colouring in this photo - a tree which grows well here in Glenrowan.

Jess Kay has some advice for planting:

Proper Preparation and Planning Prevent Poor Performance:

Every garden has different soil and different problems.
Mine is granitical which retains no moisture,
so preparation before planting is a must.
My motto is the 6 Ps: “Proper preparation and planning
prevent poor performance”. ( I find that this can be
applied in all aspects of life really!)
A large hole is dug, into which goes my kitchen compost
bucket with tea leaves, vegie peelings, torn-up cereal
packets etc. Add manure (plenty of wayside bags of
horse or cow manure available for $2), any small woody
clippings, hair from the cat’s brush -
anything that has been alive: All this creates organic
material as it breaks down.
Just before planting, I also add fertiliser like Seamungus
and water retainer like Hydrocell, mix it in and plant.
Water well, stand back and watch it grow! ♣

A good watering trick when planting a tree for shade:
Lay an agri pipe with slots in it in a circle around the bottom of the planting hole and let the other end stick up out of the ground when you have filled back in around the young tree.
This will allow you to water down the pipe to the root system, encouraging the roots to grow downwards, finding deep moisture in the soil.
The first two years will see the tree well established.

June 2009

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Costa Rican Blue

This lovely blue perennial is a Salvia called Costa Rican Blue.

Here in Glenrowan the sun can get a bit harsh so half sun/shade is good, and this salvia needs very little water.
Costa Rican Blue Salvia flowers from autumn to spring - and the honey-eaters swarm to it!

There are hundreds of varieties of salvia,
and I find that most will thrive in our climate.

see Salvia Fact Sheet on ABC's Gardening Australia website

May 2009

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