Tag Archives: gardening

Plant Collector: Lilium formasanum

An update on this story is in Banned Plants. Somewhat to my embarrassment, it appears that Lilium formasanum is on the pest plant list in NZ and banned from sale.

The last of the lilies to flower

The last of the lilies to flower

The last of the lilies for the season is flowering now. Lilium formasanum hails, as older readers and plants people will know, from the island of Taiwan, which was formerly known as Formosa. It is another trumpet type of lily. Ours are all seedlings scattered through parts of the garden now and essentially white. Some forms have more of a pink to purple flush or streaking on the backs of the petals. The stems can be tall at up to 1.8m so it is easiest to have them growing amongst other plants which can give some support. I admit our self sown seedlings tend to flop around and need to be leaned up against nearby shrubs where there are some available.

As with lilies in general. L. formasanum prefers full sun but is not fussy about soil types. In fact it is not fussy about much at all and gently seeds down through our open woodland areas, flowering freely in late summer. By open woodland, I mean a high leafy canopy which allows good light levels but no direct sun. Unlike many other bulbs, formasanum does not take long to flower from seed. Where it has seeded down naturally, we think that it flowers two years from seed but according to bulb expert, Terry Hatch, if you gather the seed when it is ripe in autumn and sow it in early spring, you can get it flowering by late summer. That is a quick turnaround though you will only get a single flower, not the cluster in that first year. Its light foliage means that it will die down gracefully in autumn and yes it does have a scent, though only a light one.

First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.

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Garden lore

“As for roses, you could not help feeling that roses are the only flowers that impress people at garden parties; the only flowers that everybody is certain of knowing.”

The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield (1922)

The value of growing your own veg

In strictly economic terms, the costs of growing your own vegetables can exceed the money you will save, particularly if you are buying plastic bags of potting mix and compost, fertilisers and sprays. Add in an hourly value for your labour and the economics look even more questionable. But of course the pleasure of harvesting your own vegetables and fruit, as well as the taste, the freshness, knowing what has been used on both the ground and the crops and the better nutritional value of eating straight from the garden far outweigh economic considerations.

That said, one of the predicted outcomes of the current drought is that the cost of buying fresh vegetables will skyrocket so it will be more economic now than before to grow your own. That is as long as you have water to spare for the vegetable garden. Asian greens will give you a very quick turnaround and you can be cutting tender young leaves in a matter of a few weeks. You can also be sowing salad greens and now is the time to get winter vegetables into the ground. They do their growing before winter and then hold in the ground when temperatures are low so that you can harvest when required. It is a bit late for root vegetables, though fennel is worth a try. The classic winter veg are the brassicas (cabbage, cauli, broccoli or cavolo nero for the sophisticates), winter spinach, silver beet and the like. Just remember, you are going to have to water thoroughly and often until the rains return.

First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.

Plant Collector: Calliandra, probably eriophylla

Calliandra (probably eriophylla) - like a strawberry pink starburst

Calliandra (probably eriophylla) – like a strawberry pink starburst

Oh my but the calliandra has been putting on a wonderful impersonation of candy floss (fairy floss) in recent weeks. What is more, this is its second flowering for the season. We are impressed. This plant is in the never-never land of our former nursery area where it has survived on complete and utter neglect, having rooted through from its pot. It is beyond transplanting out to the garden but fortunately we have a few grown from cutting which we will be rushing out to prime spots after this summer’s performance. We just don’t have too many areas in the garden which are hot, dry, desert-like even, frost-free and bearing much resemblance to its homelands of Arizona, Texas and Mexico.

If we are right and it is C. eriophylla, its common name is Fairy Duster, though it is sometimes referred to Mock Mesquite. The flowers are clusters of stamens almost like starbursts. Calliandras are members of the legume family (peas, please) which is evident when you look at the fine, leguminous foliage. They are apparently most attractive to humming birds which is not a lot of help to us here, though we wouldn’t mind some exotic humming birds added to our list of introduced species. Some calliandras are herbaceous (leafy, clumping plants) but this is one of the woody shrub types. It is probably our long, hot, dry season this year which has seen it flower so very well in both spring and again in summer.

First published in the , and reprinted here with their permission.

About the butterflies and the bees

Single flowers like the white cosmos and semi doubles like the aster provide pollen and nectar

Single flowers like the white cosmos and semi doubles like the aster provide pollen and nectar

Were my Mark to have his life over again, he might equally choose to be a meteorologist or a lepidopterist instead of a plant breeder. But as he only has the one life, he is destined to remain merely a weather-watching butterfly enthusiast. It is butterflies this week.

As a country, we are a bit deficient in the butterfly stakes. Moths we have a-plenty and very beautiful many are but the jewel colours of butterflies are in short supply. I have even seen Mark, in a fan club of one, admire the fluttering of cabbage whites around the summer garden.

When he found a beautiful Blue Moon years ago, he became very excited and tried to make a home for it. I have only just looked it up and informed him that his Blue Moon was a male and could never have laid the eggs he hoped for. The females are modest brown but the male was gorgeous. We figured at the time that the Blue Moon had been blown over from Australia but I see they are now to be found in parts of this country so maybe they will turn up here to enrich our lives at some stage. Plant portulaca, though it needs to be the right one.

A stinging nettle turned up in a prominent spot of the veg garden this summer and we are pleased. It can stay and we may encourage a bigger patch of them to form because that is what is needed to bring in the admiral butterflies. We know next door but two had red admirals and was working on yellow admirals last year so we are optimistic. It is just a shame their host plant is so off-putting.

Monarchs, the most rewarding common butterfly on offer in this country

Monarchs, the most rewarding common butterfly on offer in this country

Essentially it is the monarchs which are the most rewarding of all and which have become part of our way of life here. The earlier obsession that saw Mark successionally sow swan plants by the kilometre (I am not exaggerating – I paced out his rows one summer) have passed. These days we have plants seeding down and naturalising with just a bit of topping up from fresh seed as required.

Nasty yellow aphids

Nasty yellow aphids

Nasty yellow aphids are an ongoing issue. They suck the sap from plants and can weaken them to the point of death. After trying various ways to control these critters, Mark is pleased to report that there is a spray that works. It kills the aphids without harming the caterpillars. Nature’s Way, a product from Yates. It is not organic, despite its reassuring name, but it is targeted and appears to be safe to use. Nature’s Way is a fatty based spray. In his capacity as my in-house technical advisor, he thinks that the organic canola oil-based Eco Spray from Tui should also work in a similar manner. Both sprays will need repeat applications every few weeks to achieve control. If you only have one plant and are vigilant, you can probably squash the aphids (digital control) but that is not practical on larger plantings or out of control infestations.

It is not the caterpillars that have exerted the greatest influence over our gardening here. Leaving swan plants to seed down in corners around the garden is the easy part. It is the next step – food for the butterflies.

The fashion for minimalist gardens (so last century now) which has morphed into the clean lines of prestigious modern landscaping using large swathes of the same plant in monochromatic monocultures, is one of the unfriendliest types of gardening as far as butterflies, bees and insects are concerned. Most insects need nectar and pollen and that means flowers with visible stamens. Green, sculpted gardens don’t do it.

If you follow the British garden media, you will have noticed a very strong drive to promote gardening which supports eco systems rather than imposing unfriendly garden styles on nature.

Single and semi double blooms offer the most to both bees and butterflies

Single and semi double blooms offer the most to both bees and butterflies

All this means flowers, particularly single and semi double flowers. A single flower form has one row of petals arrayed around a sunny centre of stamens which usually means pollen and nectar. A semi double has two rows of petals so looks to be a fuller flower but still has that life supporting centre. Full double flowers only have petals visible and are of very limited or no value at all to insects, including our butterflies and bees. This is not to say you should shun double flowers. You just need to make sure that you have a good representation of singles and semi doubles as well.

Generally, there is plenty in bloom during spring and early summer. We target flowers for summer, autumn and winter to keep the butterflies around. If you lack the food for them, they will just fly away. These days our vegetable patches are a major mix of flowers and produce. This tumble of plants may not appeal to ultra tidy gardeners, but our patch is full of bees and butterflies and many lesser appreciated but valuable insects. We are also factoring in the need for food for butterflies and bees in the ornamental gardens.

You know you are succeeding when you get monarch butterflies wintering over in your garden and when you have plenty of bees buzzing busily. Not only is it better for the balance within nature, it adds vitality to the garden.

First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.

Garden lore March 8, 2013

Lawns tell lies. The grass will almost certainly survive the current drought

Lawns tell lies. The grass will almost certainly survive the current drought

Surviving the drought
As the drought conditions bite deeper, keep to priorities for water use. Vegetables have the greatest need. Dry conditions can force plants to bolt to seed early (their instinct under stress is to survive by ensuring seed set) and in some cases the produce becomes bitter or woody. Water the soil, not the plant because it is the roots that achieve the best uptake. Watering in the evening reduces how much will evaporate immediately and when you are not watering the foliage, it won’t encourage diseases. If you overhead water by sprinklers, do it early in the morning to give the foliage time to dry.

Most of our common herbs are Mediterranean in origin so are well used to being dry in summer. Don’t waste time and water on them.

Lawns can survive a remarkably long time without water, despite their appearance telling lies. Annuals will bolt to seed early and perennials will pass over more quickly. Trees, shrubs and hedges should all be fine unless they were recently planted from mid spring onwards, in which case you may wish to give them a drink.

Do not mulch your garden now. It will slow down the absorption of water when good, steady rain arrives – which it will at some stage. Mulch can keep water out as well as keeping it in. Just take heed and get a good layer of mulch on at the right time next spring.

First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.