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Liza
gardening consultant
Waterloo, Belgium
6 Jun '06 11:06 pm
I am speechless! The colours are pure magic! Gorgeous!But I wouldn't wish to walk in the freeze at all right now... We are just escaping from that thing over here...
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Dixie
garden enthusiast
Waikato-New Zealand
carpet of gold7 Jun '06 5:20 pm
We had our first real frosts of winter this week .The first photo is of a carpet of magnolia stellata leaves .They are showing lovely fat buds ready to herald Spring .On the right is a curved bed of hydrangeas -no longer blue ,but beautiful in their subtlety .Growing over the archway is Jasmine .On the left is a fence which supports rose 'Alberic Barbier' ,with agapanthus along it ,and my must-have helichrysum 'limelight'.
Dixie.
Last edited by Dixie on 7 Jun '06 5:32 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Dixie
garden enthusiast
Waikato-New Zealand
Gingko7 Jun '06 5:28 pm
Probably my favourite tree in all seasons -the Gingko --Underneath I have a yellow wave flax (a must in my garden) and a fern , and a Uetersen rose ..Lots of daffodils are peeping up now under the carpet of golden leaves .I also have fuschias and lamium as a border .The long fence at the back (only part of showing) is where my 'Albertines' provide a magnificent display in late Spring.
Dixie.
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Jack Holloway
Passionate Gardener
SEQUOIA FARM Haenertsburg South Africa
Mature plants!7 Jun '06 7:50 pm
Hi Dixie!
What strikes me first is what beautifully mature specimens your Magnolia and Gingko are! What age are they? Mine are both approacing 17 years now: the Magnolia is a 3m shrub and the Gingko - admittedly growing in almost full shade these days - is a spindly tree with a stem as thick as my upper arm only. It is a little bit lost, really, and only truely comes into its own in its short but magnificent autumn season.
I love hydrangeas and the way they change; one of my first memories of the forum is your pic, because just then I was photographing the gorgeous jade shades of the late summer blooms.(I include a pic specially for you from that time!) They remain lovely with us, especially when protected from sun scorch and in a wet summer, until the first heavy frosts, becoming more and more subtle as time passes. Now however they are burnt by the cold and seem quite lifeless.
Thanks for the pics - your garden has all the qualities of relaxed lushness I love!
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moosey
head gardener
winter9 Jun '06 5:20 pm
Jack, You are a winter fan! I admire you for this, I always suspected you were a genuine four-seasons gardener! As for the shortage of newspaper for mulching - I have wisely decided not to raid my neighbour's rubbish bins, so at the moment I've put down the rotted straw without the newspaper layer. It will be easy to slip the paper underneath - when I get it. One of the things I enjoy about winter is the mulch business. LOts of New Zealand natives are evergreen, too, and hardy enough to cope with some frost, so the foliage in winter always stands out - the flaxes look gorgeous, when there's nothing to compete with them!
Happy winter gardening my friend.
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Dixie
garden enthusiast
Waikato-New Zealand
Advice please9 Jun '06 5:54 pm
Could I ask advice of Winter gardeners ,please .I am able to get some old sawdust with well rotted calf thingish .I want to put it around my dormant things such as cannas and similar perennials.If I put a thick layer on top ,will they rot underneath when wet? Or should I just put the sawdust around them ,and leave the crowns ?
Dixie.
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Jack Holloway
Passionate Gardener
SEQUOIA FARM Haenertsburg South Africa
Mulch or not9 Jun '06 7:35 pm
My instinct is to not do any feeding in the winter - how about mulching in spring? However I see that Moosey does much mulching now (Don't try saying that after one-too-many!) Unless you are protecting them from the cold: half my cannas are in the coldest most exposed spot on the farm (-6 degrees C) and hey - it has just occured to me! - that the reason they were very disappointing this year has nothing to do with the need to lift and re-energise the soil, but with winter-cold damage. No wait - last year we didn't really have a winter  Now I understand why gardeners tend to fret instead of serenely enjoying the fruits of their labour...
Here's my simple (serene) answer: Beware the rot!
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Jack Holloway
Passionate Gardener
SEQUOIA FARM Haenertsburg South Africa
Withdrawel symptoms13 Jun '06 1:34 am
Before I get back to my marking, I must just share these week-end pics with you: Taubie, my most beloved dog ever, caught unaware and displaying her classic profile - she does not like cameras! And a sunny winter reflection.
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pumpkin
compost executive
Auckland
....13 Jun '06 7:53 pm
Jack, your lake is another world....
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Well - the first three weeks of it, anyway! Here is a pic taken at 6.30 this morning with outside temperature's low enough for a very solid frost meters up into the trees - our heaviest to date. If you are surprised at the amount of light at 6.30 am two weeks before the equinox, remember that I am only 50km (30 miles) South of the Tropic of Capricorn - that is more or less in line with Alice Springs or, in a Northern hemisphere context, about like the Aswan dam in Egypt or Havana in Cuba. Of course Southern Africa is mostly a high plato, and our altitude here is about 1450 m, which explains our temperate climate!
Unfortunately it is not as well developed and detailed - I could just about count the sheets of newspaper Moosey was putting down to suppress the weeds in the Welcome Garden...
