Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - January 2015

The past couple of days have been hot, sunny and sticky - ideal for drying the washing but not much else. I can't wait for winter to arrive!

I am a little late, but am participating in this month's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day hosted by May Dreams Gardens the purpose of which is to show photos of flowers blooming in the garden in the middle of the month. 

It's Summer here in Australia at the moment, and there are quite a few interesting things going on bloom-wise. I headed out yesterday afternoon right as the sun was setting (about 6:30pm) to take photos of as many flowers as I could find. I found quite a few!

The bougainvilleas have started growing again in leaps and bounds after I repotted them a couple of months ago. 

Bougainvillea 'Orange Glory' flower bracts

Bougainvillea 'Sunvillea Cream' flower bracts

Bougainvillea (purple no ID) bracts forming

Angelonia getting a bit rangy

Celosia 'Intenz'

The salvias are in fine form at the moment. My latest acquisition 'Wendy's Wish' is still recovering from being planted in the garden (during the recent rains) but doesn't seem to be suffering much for it.

Salvia 'Wendy's Wish'

Salvia ' African Skies'

Salvia 'Blaze of Fire'

Cat's Whiskers (Orthosiphon aristatus)

Marjoram

Anthurium (no ID)

Loropetalum chinense rubrum 'China Pink'

Loropetalum chinense rubrum 'China Pink'

It was a fun challenge to find as many flowers as possible in the garden and take photos in a short timeframe (as the sun was setting the light was fading).

Make sure to head over to May Dreams Gardens to check out Carol's bloom day, and everyone else who has participated this month.

Melaleuca, Callistemon or Bottlebrush?

According to online sources, the Queensland Herbarium has accepted the absorption of Callistemon into Melaleuca. Apparently this is due to Callistemon not being dissimiliar enough from Melaleuca to warrant having a genus all to itself, however the change isn't widely accepted and naming will vary from source to source. I've got a hunch though that the old name will stick, as these things often do.

I think my main attraction to them is their fluffy and intricate flower spikes, with colourful filaments that act as a beacon for the nectar-eating birds that are so prevalent in our corner of the world.

Possibly C. Viminalis?
Not from my garden (picked from someone else's)

I for one will keep referring to it as 'Callistemon' or by its incredibly common (and descriptive name), 'Bottlebrush', because I am stubborn that way.

This photo was taken at O'Reilly's Guesthouse when we visited in 2013
You can't really see it in the photo but there were bees all over it

I have a few callistemons, but the majority haven't rewarded me with flowers yet. The happiest (and most floriferous) by far is Callistemon "Glasshouse Country" which I picked up from the local community fair in 2013.

Callistemon "Glasshouse Country"

It gets hot afternoon sun just about every day of the year, but it doesn't appear to care. It also doesn't get much (if any) supplemental water being in the garden on the street side of the fence - (which tends to be a bit neglected due to being out of sight (and therefore out of mind)).

More Glasshouse Country

The beautiful soft pink flower spikes are pretty, but unfortunately after a couple of days they start looking a bit faded and on the ratty side.

They remind me of fireworks

Another drawback of this one is its susceptibility to the dreaded Melaleuca psillid, larvae and adults of which create a white waxy/webby coating on new growth as they feed. I tip-prune whenever I find evidence of them, rather than spraying, which I think the waxy coating would repel anyway.

Glasshouse Country with active psyllids

Close up of the waxy/webby coating the active psyllids create

Callistemon (no ID) showing psyllid damage via yellow and brown spots

Not all callistemons (melaluecas/bottlebrushes) are susceptible to this nasty little bug - I currently have another five of them growing in various spots (a couple in pots) in my garden, and so far haven't seen nearly as much damage on any of the others - even on those growing less than a metre on either side (a 'White Anzac' and 'Purple Splendour'). One thing in Glasshouse Country's favour is that it hasn't let the psyllids get it down - it always looks quite healthy and has even flowered through it all. Unlike the plant in the last photo, a no-ID cascade-style callistemon that had flowers similar to Glasshouse Country in shape and colour. Its infestation was so chronic that I ended up binning it to put it out of its misery (and save my sanity).

I would now like a very vibrant red callistemon to round out my collection, but before I buy I will be researching its resistance to this pest first. Any ideas?

Wordless Wednesday - Passionfruit Flower

Raspberry Lollipops

There's always something blooming in the the patch I refer to as the 'New Bed'. It's full to the brim with plants, as I am constantly poking one or two of this or that in there (usually when I can't find a spot for something anywhere else).

The New Bed is going well these days, but when we first dug it out it was a dry wasteland and nothing thrived. In August/September 2013 I pulled just about everything out and started again, but this time improved the soil with homemade compost. It made such a difference - the plants love it in there now.

One of the first plantings in the New Bed was the small, but bright, Grevillea "Raspberry Lollipops" (or "Lollypops" depending on the source).

The pot where it would eventually be planted. Back then (Sept 2013) it was in that bed practically all by itself. Not anymore!

Here it is from a different angle - the garden looks very lush and full these days. I took the above photo at the beginning of August 2014.

In some lights it looks hot pink (like above) rather than raspberry (below).

The finely divided leaves are reminiscent of Grevillea "Elegance" (another cultivar I own and love).

According to the label, Grevillea "Raspberry Lollipops" grows to 1.5m x 1.5m and flowers for most of the year. Mine has been busy establishing itself so it can't be expected to flower as much as it's supposed to (which it hasn't). It has put on some more growth recently though, along with the flowers, so hopefully from here on in it will live up to its promise.

More information (and pretty pictures) for Grevillea "Raspberry Lollipops" at Gardening with Angus.

Happy little stars

I was inspired to draw this Spring Star flower (Ipheion uniflorum) from a page in the Autumn 2014 issue of 'Your Garden' magazine.

'Spring Star'
Prismacolor pencils on Strathmore Bristol Vellum

That would normally have been the end of the story, but after doing a bit of reading about them I decided I wanted some for my garden. 

Wikipedia entry: "...a small herbaceous perennial growing from a bulb and producing flat, shiny, green, hairless, grasslike leaves up to 30 cm (12 in) long. The foliage has an onionlike scent when crushed. The stem grows up to 20 cm (8 in) tall and bears a solitary showy flower in spring (hence the Latin name uniflorum - "single flower"). Each honey-scented, star-shaped flower has six pointed lobes up to 3 centimeters long in shades of very pale to deep purple-blue."

I found them quite soon after I started looking - at my local big chain hardware shop (Bunnings) - but as is usually the way, at the time of purchase I had no idea where I would be planting them but figured I'd be able to shoehorn them in somewhere. I ended up putting them in the 'new' garden bed that runs along the patio. The bed gets hot midday and afternoon sun for most of the year so all of the tough plants live there. I planted the bulbs in a spot at the back of the bed where they are currently sheltered by cordylines and salvias. Being terrible at keeping records, I'm not sure when exactly I planted them, but it was definitely Autumn - sometime after March and before May this year. The only evidence of this I can find appears in the photo below.

You can see the Spring Stars' leaves (reminiscent of onion leaves) in the bottom right hand corner.

They are early-Spring bloomers and right on cue, they have started doing their thing (flowering that is). I planted two packets of bulbs - one light and one dark purple/blue. I haven't counted them, but I think the light purple are in the majority. I have read that there is a white variety which I will have to keep a lookout for...

I haven't actually hunkered down to smell the flowers, or crushed the leaves to see if they do smell like onions, but I will take note of these next time I'm in the garden. Apparently they are related to onions - they are in the allium subfamily (Allioideae) which would explain the supposed onion-like scent and leaves.

They are blooming happily amongst an assortment of random annuals and perennials (salvias, primulas, a grevillea and paper daisies). I don't water this particular garden bed very often, as just about everything in it has quite low water requirements, so it is definitely a plus that they are flourishing with minimal fuss.

Another thing they have going for them is that (according to the packet the bulbs came in) they don't need to be dug out and divided each year to keep going strong (unlike some bulbs). I will dig some up and divide them eventually though - to spread them to other spots in the garden and also to be able to give some to my mother-in-law who also collects plants and likes anything with a pretty flower (which this one certainly does).

Cultivation notes (via Tesselaars):

Botanical name: Ipheion uniflora /Tritelea uniflora
Family: Amaryllidaceae
Plant/bulb type: True bulb
Planting time: Late Summer to Autumn
Height: 10-12cm
Depth & spacing: 4-5cm deep & 5-10cm apart
Aspect: Full sun to light shade.
Soil: Well drained is ideal although very hardy and tolerant. We've even seen them growing through bitumen!
Fertilising: In poor soils top dress with a complete fertiliser each Autumn. Eg: Blood & Bone.
Flowering time: From early Spring for many weeks.
After flowering care: No care required! These bulbs are self-sufficient. Simply ensure the bulbs don't become completely dried out during periods of active growth.
Comments: Extremely cheerful and just as hardy. Plant where they can naturalise. They will quickly develop into dense clumps of star-shaped flowers.
Climate: Tropical to Cool.