Caring Your Bougainvillea

Caring for my bougainvillea has been a journey in foolishness right from the start. In essence it was more about my lack of respect for this plant that almost bought it undone.

My disrespect for bougainvillea began as a result of myths I had heard from other gardeners. Their 'wisdom' expressed that these plants needed very little to care to help them grow and once in the ground would virtually look after themselves. Their comments were partly right, but there are a heap of things that gardeners can do wrong to ensure these plants won't succeed.

Our faux pas was to plant it at the same time as many other plants in our new garden bed. I had trellised some wire along the fence to give it some support - which was good - but then inadvertently planted some faster growing plants in front of it.

It wasn't until our front garden makeover that we discovered this plant even existed having not seen it for nearly two years. The amazing thing about this bougainvillea was that while it had been ignored, hidden and competed against, it still survived. Sure, it didn't grow and it never flowered - but it was still alive.

So, this season I decided to ensure that this battler of the warmer climate garden was permitted its far share of growing opportunities. And it has not let me down. At the beginning of spring, some five months prior, it weighed in at a little taller than 60cm. Today, it has surpassed the top of the 6ft fence and has branched out along some of the trellis wire. Plus, it is even flowering.

And not to get too confused with the semantics, the bougainvillea picture above is not of its flower. Its merely the colourful bracts that we all admire. The flower is hidden inside and is quite small and insignificant.

So, what changed in the care that I gave this plant that allowed it to succeed?

1. It started to get some light - the lack of sunlight is the reason most gardeners never enjoy the colourful bracts flourishing on the bougainvillea. If yours, and this one wasn't, isn't getting at least 6-8 hours of sunlight per day then forget ever seeing colour on this climber. Cut away competing branches to let some light in or move your bougainvillea if you must.
2. I removed its competition - while bougainvillea is a fast-growing climber, it will struggle to get the water and nutrients needed if planted with other vigorous fast-growers. If similar speedy plants are grown near it you will need to ensure that top-ups of soluble fertiliser and required water is added.
3. I changed my attitude - caring for a bougainvillea wasn't high on my list of things to achieve in the garden. I expected that once it was planted it would take care of itself. And while that is predominantly true, I have had far more success this season while nurturing it than in the past couple of ignoring it.

While I failed to care for this bougainvillea in its early life - and had there been a Department for Plant Cruelty I'd be punished severely - it has been most forgiving. I look forward to sharing more pictures with you in the coming years - and maybe a story of how it took my appreciation for granted and took over the garden completely! Who knows?

Read More..

100 Plants Which Every Garden Should Have

Val Bourne from the UK's Telegraph has boldly gone where no other garden journalist would dare tread - creating her list of the Top 100 Plants Every Garden Should Have. The reason it's bold; a list of must-haves is incredibly biased to personal choice. Not to mention that many of these plants aren't available for most of the world's gardeners or they won't grow outside of the UK's climate.

All that aside, this is a great list and if you've some spare time to indulge in a little garden porn then flicking through the gallery of each plant is worth your while.

Val has broken the Top 100 down for each season. Eryngium giganteum, Knautia macedonica and Astrantia major 'Roma' for the summer garden while Galanthus 'S. Arnott' and Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Blue Spire' will brighten your winter blues. Not to mention 25 must-haves for both Spring and Autumn this list of 100 is sheer delight.

BTW - just for the record, of the 100 plants Val listed I only have a solitary 1 growing in my garden - Gaura lindheimeri. I feel so inadequate (sniff!..)

Read More..

Your Wild Bird Feeders Are Making a Difference

Most gardeners install bird feeders for the sheer pleasure of having wild birds enjoy their gardens. We plant bird-friendly plants, keep cats and other nuisance pets locked up and even make the effort to keep trees in our gardens for them to keep out of harms way.

Yet it appears that by installing wild bird feeders in our yards is having an even greater impact than we first assumed. It is, in fact, giving them a greater chance of survival.

Sure, this may seem an elementary observation. Of course feeding birds is going to help their chances of survival! Duh! However, for reasons that we may not initially contemplate, feeding wild birds is helping them breed better as well.

This article reporting on research from the University of Exeter clearly demonstrated that birds that are fed throughout the winter months are more likely to lay earlier - and lay more. It also showed that the parent birds were more robust and able to deal with their fledgling chicks.

However, calls from the other side of the equation remind us that this could be a problematic practice. Fears are held that migratory birds will face increasing competition from winter-fed wild birds. But this very argument seems more like the 'playing of God' than real concern for either bird camp. Which one should have the upper-hand? The migratory birds who've just enjoyed their sojourn in warmer climes feeding their faces on plentiful food supplies or those who stuck around scavenging for a morsel to remain alive?

Needless to say, while many have argued that bird feeders are ruining wild birds from their normal hunting, it now appears that we are helping them survive. And this is a good thing.

Read More..

Hydrangea flowers are our soil's litmus paper

When we talk about hydrangea flowers which part of these extraordinary blooms are we referring to? Do we mean the large ball shaped flower seemingly suspended about a salutary bunch of offset leaves? Or, are we suggesting the individual colourful bracts that make up the whole?

Actually, hydrangea flowers are neither the massive dome-shaped bloom or the bracts that make it up. No. hydrangea flowers are the minutiae encased within the tonal bracts. But let's not be semantical!

So for this post we're going to take the view that hydrangea flowers are the dome-shaped blooms that catch our eye the moment they unfurl. And for the most part we're going to be looking at why their colours differ so vastly even when they are grown on the same bush in the same location.

H.macrophylla is the most common of the hydrangeas - probably the one your grandmother grew in her garden. It's responsible for many cultivars and differ in flower colour from heavily pigmented blues to pinks and reds and every shade in between. The bushes, mostly grown as perennial shrubs, can also range in size from 1-3m in height and similar width dimensions.

What I like most about hydrangea flowers is their ability to change colour. While a chameleon will change colour to fit in to its current habitat, hydrangea blooms change colour because of their habitat - namely their soil pH.

We've all heard the legend that adding some rusty nails to the soil surrounding your hydrangea will turn the blooms blue. In effect, this is quite possible as the rusty metal will increase the soil's acidity and alter the hue of the blooms. However, I'm not sure that putting rusty nails into the garden is a positive enhancement. It's great if you know exactly where they're located and how many you emptied into your garden. It would be disastrous for your children to find them before you did - and they found them in the bottom of their little feet!

Rusty nails aside, there are ways to alter the colour of your hydrangeas and this is where they become the litmus paper for your garden. Ours, for example, is delightfully pink - the colour demonstrating an alkaline soil - and it makes sense because our rhododendron planted next to it is struggling (R.'s appreciate slightly acidic soils).

Changing Hydrangea colour Pink!
If you're blooms are mostly blue and you'd like a change then the goal is to alter the pH of your soil. Note: achieving this in containers is far simpler than trying to make this happen in your garden soil - but it's still very possible.

Raising the pH level means adding lime - dolomitic lime to be exact. A few handfuls over the soil surrounding your plant every 3-4 months should ensure that the pH balance raise beyond 6-6.5. If your soil is a clay-based loam you may find that every 6 months is more appropriate and for sandy soils possibly every 2-3 months.

Changing Hydrangea colour Blue!
Blue hydrangea flowers are the seemingly be-all-and-end-all of the bloom colours. Our desires far more favour trying to reach this colour than the pink. Fortunately it's just as easy to achieve, but again you'll have more success in a container than your own garden soil.

To increase the acidity of your soil in favour of blue flowers you will need to add some aluminium sulphate. It's not a hard trace element to get hold of and most nurseries would stock it. The application would be as per the producers directions but usually a teaspoon or two in a 9l watering can would suffice. This is then applied to the plant during its growing season.

If your soil is as alkaline as mine then you might want to consider beefing it up with some home-made compost well before the season starts. Even mulching your hydrangeas with lawn clippings would be a helpful practice.

If you're looking for more resources on hydrangeas and how to change their colour try this site.

Read More..

A Challenge to the Gardening Blogging Community

Bloomingwriter's blogger, jodi DeLong, issued a challenge to the gardening blogging community to show where they are on the world's stage. Well, here I am in beautiful Busselton, Western Australia.

Busselton is a coastal town 220km south of WA's capital city Perth. With a mere 24,000 residents it's not exactly your bustling metropolis. But it does cater for most things and if we can't get it here, then Bunbury, a short 52kms north, makes up the difference.

For climate and gardening conditions, Busselton is second to none. Even with Austin's 18 garden bloggers they still fall far short of our blog per capita ratio of 1:24000 (Austin's is more like 1:83000) which proves that we are far more into gardening than this US city would let on.

Basically, Busselton is built on a flood plain 2m above sea level. The hills that surround it provide the necessary water for many of our low-lying wetlands and is diverted away from the town through a flood-mitigation program. Much of the water runoff also leeches into the soil and refills our vast Yarragadee Aquifier. This aquifer is the source of all our water consumption.

The town's history was born through the shipping of timber from Geographe Bay. While the bay is a safe harbour it's very shallow and required the building of an almost 2km long jetty. Shipping ceased soon after Cyclone Alby tore through the region in the early 1970's and the jetty has now become a tourist attraction and the source of much contention to who will foot the bill for maintenance.

Chookie from Chookie's Backyard asked about info relating to our founding 'amateur botanist' Georgianna Molloy. While there's much written about this great pioneer you will get a very different story about her from many people who live in Busselton. Whereas she should have been honoured for her gardening work she is reasonably vilified for introducing the arum lily to our moist wetlands. All because she thought they looked wonderful in her English garden back home.

Gardening in Busselton is not as easy as it seems though. Sandy soils that leech nutrients faster than a greyhound on race day and soil alkalinity from the ocean's salt, take their toll. But once the soil's been built up with rich humus there's not a lot that won't grow in this environment. Hot summers reaching into the mid 30's C and mild winters with minimum's still above 0° C ensure gardeners don't give up easily.

Read More..

The Water Garden Landscaping TIps

by Carlo Morelli

There are a lot of new trends surfacing in gardening, and water gardening is one of the new interests. Water gardening can include waterfalls, ponds, streams and fountains, all of which can be combined with lighting, plants, and fish. Water gardening need not have a pond or natural water source moreover, it could be a plastic tub, plastic lined shallow in the back yard or, almost anything that will hold water.

An important consideration in planning a water garden is the choosing a location. Plants and fish both need plenty of sunlight, places in direct light away from trees and bushes are the top places. This will also help prevent leaves and debris from collecting in the water.

When planning for a water garden the next step is to choose the size you want. This depends of course on the resources you want to dedicate to it, how much money and time you are willing to spend. A water garden can be expensive if you go for a big garden filled with plants, rocks, fish, and lights. Also think about your property's size, which will also affect amount of time you'll spend maintaining your water garden.

Aquatic pond plants can be free floating, submerged, or marginal. What type you select is a matter of aesthetics and preference. Some plants are known for their scents, some for supplying oxygen keep the pool healthy, and some are just picturesque. Remember that the plants should only cover about half of the water, especially if you have fish. Fish are not only nice to look at; they're beneficial in that they help keep debris at a minimum and help in controlling larva and other insects.

One of the big challenges in water gardening is maintaining water free of algae. Algae problems are usually the result of nutrients in the water from feeding fish too often or over fertilizing plants. By cutting back on feeding and fertilizing, adding more plants, putting in a pond filtering system, or replacing the water with fresh water, algae is easily controlled. If a pond is constructed correctly and maintained properly algae problems can be kept at a minimum. All garden pools, no matter the size, require some maintenance during the year. With proper planning you can create a healthy equilibrium between living and decorative features of a water garden that can almost care for itself with simple maintenance inputs from you.

Read More..

Planning Your Flower Garden

by Lisa Sousa

You've wanted a flower garden for such a long time. They just add so much color and interest to your yard. You have waited in anticipation through the winter to start digging a place for a flower bed, purchase and plant your bulbs, seeds or plants, and to reap the many benefits of a well cared for flower garden. But maybe you need some tips and ideas for getting started. Here are some helpful hints for you to get going on that special gardening project.

It is wise to plan out your flower garden before getting your flowers. The fist step is make a sketch of your house, garage, trees, and any other buildings or landscaping on your property. An important consideration is the direction your property is facing as well. You don't want to plant a flower garden, and then find that it doesn't get enough sunlight for the flowers to grow. Flower gardens are also best when planted on a level or gently sloping ground because the water runoff from steep slopes will cause the soil to erode.

Another thing to consider would be the style of flower garden that you would like. Flower gardens can be straight or curved in shape, formal or casual. Your house can be a guide on deciding on your particular style. For example, if you have a traditional house, then a symmetrical, formal design might be for you. If you have a country-style house with gingerbread trim, then a less symmetrical and more casual planting maybe for you.

The next step in planning your garden is to decide what kind of flower beds would be desirable to your yard and you. A flower border is set against a backdrop such as a house, shrubs, or the edge of your patio as well as other places such as property edges. This choice of flower bed is a good option for those with smaller yards. Another type of flower bed which will work well with bigger lawns is called an island bed. An island bed is a flower bed that is planted in the middle of the lawn itself so it will give the effect of a splash of color washed up on the lawn itself. It is best to plant the taller plants in the middle of the island and to have the smaller plants around the them so they will look great on all sides. It is advisable though, to avoid making the island too small and having it made in the middle of the yard when the yard is otherwise empty.

When digging your flower bed, be sure to consider the width of the flower bed, so that it will be wide enough to accommodate the front, middle and back layers, and provides enough room for your plants to grow. As a rule, the longer your flower bed is, the wider it should be as well. Most flowers need well drained soil, so it is advisable to avoid locating your garden where there is standing water after heavy rains or during a spring thaw. The exception to this woud be when plants that can tolerate boggy soil conditions are desired. You should take the sun exposure into consideration as well because this is key to your garden planting. Some plants like full sun while other love shade

After the flower bed is dug up, and the landscaping is in place, the next thing to consider is the plants themselves. Do you want to have color throughout the year or only in certain seasons? Do you leave town in certain times such as the mid summer? If this is often the case, be sure to obtain flowers that are low maintenance during those times, such as mid summer or that bloom in the springtime. Flowers that bloom in late summer, as well as a few shrubs and trees that provide great autumn color can also add beauty to your garden through out the year if year round enjoyment is desired. Light-colored flowers, evening-scented plants, as well as garden lighting, can make your flower garden into a pleasant evening retreat after a long day at work.
Now for the fun part of planning your garden begins. The overall color of your garden is very much based on your own personal tastes. However, there are a few guidelines to follow. It is not a good idea to add too much contrast or too many colors to your flower bed due to the fact that these colors will cancel out each other and will give a visual overload. However, if the contrasts are used in moderation, it can add some spark. Colors can also reflect mood as well as the seasons themselves. Hotter colors such as reds, oranges and yellows work very well in mid summer, while the soothing effects of lighter, pastel colors go well with the springtime of early summer. Or perhaps you would like a single color garden is more to your tastes.

With careful planning and preparation, you can create a spectacular spectrum of color and fragrant scents right outside your door for you and your family to enjoy.

Read More..