Summer flowers

Dahlia and Zinnia flowers

Music by Howard Shore: The Hobbit soundtrack out now on Decca records

Happy Festive Season

Today I will be working in the vegetable garden while listening to J S Bach.

Happy Festive Season to all.  Rejoice greatly!

 

Justicia betonica,White Shrimp Plant

Justicia betonica, White Shrimp Plant

My blogger mate Sandy from the Sunshine Coast once featured this plant which she found growing beside a drain as a 'garden escapee'. I came across it on a nature strip in a Sydney street and immediately screeched to a halt and ordered my work mate out of the passenger seat to grab a cutting. That was last summer and now I have some very healthy specimens growing, flowering and almost ready for sale. This is a charming small rounded shrub growing to about a metre in height with a crown of papery flowers which consist of green veined white bracts from which emerge lovely baby pink flowers. These flowers are produced continually for about six months and have a wonderful texture when handled. I am thinking it would make a great specimen for a blind-fold guessing competition.

Most Justicias will tolerate light frost or will defoliate in very cold winters but are otherwise very hardy and tolerant of shade and dry conditions. Best specimens grow in well mulched semi shaded positions with regular water.

Achillea millefolium 'Ivory Moon'

 Achillea millefolium 'Ivory Moon'

Of the two white Yarrows I have been growing this summer, the other being 'White Delight', this is by far the superior cultivar. The mark of a good variety being upright sturdy stems and large flat 'plates' of flowers. In bud 'Ivory Moon' starts off as a cream colour before changing to ivory white.

White Lightnin' Lantana montevidensis

Lantana montevidensis  'White Lightnin'

Banned but not forgotten, this ground cover Lantana weaves its way between the curved spiked leaves of some big Agave plants and the delicate white flowers look quite charming. Though it does not set seed, it is thought that the pollen from this species may contribute to the continually evolving weed species L.camara which costs the country billions of dollars each year by degrading agricultural land and by causing loss of habitat for native flora and fauna.

Zinnia 'Zowie'

Zinnia 'Zowie' hot pink

This is one of the compact low growing Zinnias which look terrific mass planted in a low bowl shaped container or when used to edge a path. I grew this variety from seed but I have seen it available as 'potted colour' in a Garden Centre. The buds open as a fine pin-wheel or star shape before becoming fully double over the course of a week or so. Zinnias love the heat and are tolerant of dry . Although these low growing varieties are not useful as cut flowers they are tolerant of  strong sea breezes in coastal gardens and those hot northerlies which sees the temperature go up above 35C in western Sydney.

Zantedeschia x elliottiana, Calla Lily

 I am beginning to get a bit cautious about putting a cultivar name to a particular bulb or seed which comes labelled as one thing but looks remarkably like something else when it comes into flower. This Calla lily is called 'Hot Chocolate' which is supposed to be a dark burgundy colour but these flowers look very much like another called 'Pot Black'. I need a Kiwi Calla grower to give me a correct ID as New Zealand is the country of origin of many of these wonderfully coloured summer flowering hybrids. The Zantedeschia  species are native to South Africa, so, like a lot of their flowering bulbs, they need a dry dormant 'downtime' such as over winter in this case.  If grown where winters tend to be wet and cold the bulbs can rot unless you have well drained sandy soil. I grow them in pots and at every stage of growth they look remarkable. The newly emerging leaves are pointed spears ,spotted white and edged with black eye liner. As the leaves mature the stems turn red like rhubarb (pictured below) and look terrific when placed in a clear glass vase with either the Calla flowers or those of a different type. If growing Callas in pots, regular applications of liquid fertilizer encourages the production of more flowers with stronger stems. Bulbs are usually available during winter for spring planting.