Our garden is slowly coming along!
Jun. 23rd, 2011 12:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moonvoice posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
oz_native_gardeningWell, things are just starting to flower in our garden. And the Lechenaultia biloba, which I only put in a few weeks ago, already has flower buds! So that's taken really well in our soil. HUZZAH. It will have lovely blue flowers. I find myself hoping they won't flower when I'm on holiday!
Our 'no water' garden. It looks really scruffy right now, because it's due some re-mulching. But the plants are all thriving, and require NO water for 9 months of the year. The other three months, about 10 plants only require watering once a week, maximum. The rest require no water 12 months a year. They need a twice yearly sparse distribution of low phosphorus release fertiliser designed for local natives, and they're all Australian, and many are endemic to the SW corner of Australia, and stunningly beautiful. They attract native flora and fauna (and parasites and pests! - but this being said, many of the plants have developed their own ways of dealing with these pests, which makes the garden an interesting ecosystem to observe).
The sprawly thing you can see in the foreground on the right is an Acacia. Acacia spathulifolia. It is perfect for many Western Australian gardens that have sand or well-draining soil. It will also grow on laterite/limestone soils (our fossilised, impoverished sand-dunes in the Perth metropolis), and in coastal regions. It's about three weeks away from flowering. And then the whole thing will blaze yellow.
Grevillea. I can never remember the variety, unfortunately, but the bees (and everything else on the planet), love it!
Acacia merinthophora in tentative flower. Also known as the Zig Zag Wattle.
Acacia merinthophora over the brilliant crimson Lechenaultia formosa, which has been flowering for a month now, and will continue to flower for maybe another two. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the camera cannot capture how vividly red this Lechenaultia is. It is a stunning, lovely, flowering groundcover. I just wish it was easier to get. It's very hard to find, even though it's endemic to the South-West corner of Western Australia.
Lechenaultia formosa. It's a crime it's not more well-cultivated. Once established, it requires very minimal watering during heatwaves only, and flowers like this.
Thryptomene baeckaecea. Prostrate form. From Lullfitz nurseries. There's an even lower form available, and a tall form. This flowers intermittently throughout the year but most happily in Autumn and Winter. It's such an interesting, unique looking plant. Once established, it is an extremely vigorous and will happily throw down more and more roots from shoots, meaning that if you like propagating from cuttings, this is the groundcover for you. It's ridiculously hardy, and will seek out areas of space that you wish covered, it can also be walked on and will take light foot-traffic. This requires no watering all year once established, even during heatwaves. I highly recommend seeking it - or any of its variations - out if you want to xeriscape in Perth.
x-posted to my journal.
Our 'no water' garden. It looks really scruffy right now, because it's due some re-mulching. But the plants are all thriving, and require NO water for 9 months of the year. The other three months, about 10 plants only require watering once a week, maximum. The rest require no water 12 months a year. They need a twice yearly sparse distribution of low phosphorus release fertiliser designed for local natives, and they're all Australian, and many are endemic to the SW corner of Australia, and stunningly beautiful. They attract native flora and fauna (and parasites and pests! - but this being said, many of the plants have developed their own ways of dealing with these pests, which makes the garden an interesting ecosystem to observe).
The sprawly thing you can see in the foreground on the right is an Acacia. Acacia spathulifolia. It is perfect for many Western Australian gardens that have sand or well-draining soil. It will also grow on laterite/limestone soils (our fossilised, impoverished sand-dunes in the Perth metropolis), and in coastal regions. It's about three weeks away from flowering. And then the whole thing will blaze yellow.
Grevillea. I can never remember the variety, unfortunately, but the bees (and everything else on the planet), love it!
Acacia merinthophora in tentative flower. Also known as the Zig Zag Wattle.
Acacia merinthophora over the brilliant crimson Lechenaultia formosa, which has been flowering for a month now, and will continue to flower for maybe another two. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the camera cannot capture how vividly red this Lechenaultia is. It is a stunning, lovely, flowering groundcover. I just wish it was easier to get. It's very hard to find, even though it's endemic to the South-West corner of Western Australia.
Lechenaultia formosa. It's a crime it's not more well-cultivated. Once established, it requires very minimal watering during heatwaves only, and flowers like this.
Thryptomene baeckaecea. Prostrate form. From Lullfitz nurseries. There's an even lower form available, and a tall form. This flowers intermittently throughout the year but most happily in Autumn and Winter. It's such an interesting, unique looking plant. Once established, it is an extremely vigorous and will happily throw down more and more roots from shoots, meaning that if you like propagating from cuttings, this is the groundcover for you. It's ridiculously hardy, and will seek out areas of space that you wish covered, it can also be walked on and will take light foot-traffic. This requires no watering all year once established, even during heatwaves. I highly recommend seeking it - or any of its variations - out if you want to xeriscape in Perth.
x-posted to my journal.
