My New Garden : Progress 16 - Feb-Dec 2011

“To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.”
-Mahatma Gandhi

 

February started off really well, with lots of rain still, and some unknown aloes had silently sprung up next to the new garden path. My Cycad, Cycas revoluta (Sago palm) planted in 2007 was healthy with many new leaves and seemed happy in the protection provided by the semi-shade from the Celtis (white stinkwood) and the wind-break provided by the Tiger Grass behind it.

The Echeverias I had transplanted had taken beautifully and I was hoping for lots of babies.

After good rain for most part of the year, in October we had a HUGE hailstorm, wiping out all but the hardiest plants. Luckily the Bulbinella, which had spread beautifully in the new herb garden, was amongst the survivors. Their lovely, slightly-scented yellow flowers were a joy to behold and makes a great pot-pourri to spread in the chicken nest boxes.

The trees that I had planted seven years ago were now quite large, reaching heights of seven meters and my garden has now changed from a sun garden to a shade garden, resulting in me having to uplift and transplant many of my plants to sunnier spots. But the Hydrangeas were revelling in having a bit more shade and were already flowering early in October.

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The Phormiums, on the other hand, do not seem to mind the extra shade and have bushed out nicely. But they do get a couple of hours of full morning sun.

Phormium, also known as New Zealand Flax, is a genus of two plant species in the Xanthorrhoeaceae family. One species is endemic to New Zealand and the other is native to New Zealand and Norfolk Island. The tough, sword-shaped leaves grow up to three metres long and up to 125 mm wide. They are usually darkish green but sometimes have coloured edges and central ribs. Cultivated varieties range from light green through pink to deep russet bronze. The rigid flower stalks can be up to five metres long, projecting high above the foliage. In November (in New Zealand) they produce clumps of curving tube-like flowers which turn bright red when mature. These produce unusually large quantities of nectar to attract all nectar feeding birds and insect. Unfortunately mine hasn't flowered yet...

 It's December, mid-summer and HOT! South African summers can be excrutiating, but luckily the Highveld (Gauteng) has some of the best weather in the country. Temperatures over 33°C are rare, but I start feeling the heat at 30°C, and today is one of those days! The Aloes, however, were lapping up the heat and I'm actually considering transplanting them to a sunnier spot as their current location has been over-taken by shade, affording them only late-afternoon sun.

December is Hydrange time and they were now in full flower. They're not called Christmas roses for nothing here in South Africa! Over Christmas, instead of decorating our tables and mantels with ivy and red berries, Hydrangeas are everywhere, making for a really festive season.

The couple of Marigolds I had planted have spread all over the garden, popping up in the most unexpected places and providing lovely bursts of colour even in the shade.

I ended off the year by making a new pathway between the Phormiums and the Cape Reed grass. It was getting difficult to reach plants in the centre, so Chrissie and I put down a brick pathway in some open space and filled up the gaps with some river sand, adding an edging of big rocks to keep it all in place.

What a pleasure being able to get from one side of the garden to the other without having to walk right around, especially when dragging a hosepipe!

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My New Garden : Progress 15 - Jan 2011

"In search of my mother's garden I found my own." 

-Alice Walker 

It's hello to a new year and January always seems to be a quiet month with nothing much to do except for cutting the lawn three times a week! and watching the garden grow. So I hung up a couple of garden ornaments and decided to put in some Marigolds. They always provided welcome splashes of colour. 

 Some flowers I painted on a square of glass

 Some knick-knacks I attached to a circle of wire

The Weavers were going strongly at their nest building, even though I thought it was a bit late in the season. But they're a joy to watch, so I never complain!

 I just love it when lots of rain brings beautiful mushrooms to the garden. Then Chrissie gets strict instructions not to disturb them and to mow around them.

I also decided to plant some Nasturtiums near the Marigolds as well as in pots. I thought it might be a bit late in the season, but these grow so quickly that I decided to take the chance.

And it wasn't long before the seedlings were already sprouting their first flowers! I decided to keep one or two in pots and the rest were transplanted out into the garden.

And so our hottest month of the year came quietly to an end. In the next couple of weeks it will just be a last sprinkling of compost and some final trimming before Autumn sets in and my garden starts slowing down, getting ready for her well-deserved winter rest.

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My New Garden : Progress 14 - Apr to Dec 2010

"To find new things, take the path you took yesterday." 

 -John Burroughs 

 The garden at 7am after lots of rain

Autumn was almost finished and in April we were still having lots of rain! Even though the temperatures were cooler, the garden absolutely lapped it up. We have very deep and well-drained top-soil and the water seems to disappear like a flash, sinking deep down, leaving the top layers dry, so rain is never to be scoffed at!

The winter was fairly uneventful, the frost having killed a couple of my weaker plants, but by spring the Monkey Tail Cactus was in full bloom. It always seems the colder the winter (as long as it gets enough water), the more beautiful it blooms.

November 2010 was when I planted my first Agapanthus in the front of the garden, having rescued it from too much shade in my bathroom court-yard garden. I was hoping that it would spread and cover this bare area, which it actually did.

I also started a new herb garden, with Bulbinella (Bulbine frutescens) being the first. I put in about 10 plants spaced fairly far apart as I know how well they spread, but they looked so utterly lost in this big space. This wonderful indigenous plant is, like Lavender, an outstanding remedy for minor burns, cuts and abrasions, and insect bites. Simply break off a leaf and squeeze the juice or jelly onto affected areas.

November chores included transplanting my sorry-looking Echeverias from full shade to this sunny spot next to the herb garden in the hope that they will return to their full glory again.

For the first time in many years I also planted Hydrangeas again. The four (expensive!) little bushes looked all lost in the allocated space but I thought that, seeing as Hydrangeas can get quite large, rather suffer now than having to cut them down later. And by December the little bushes were already covered in many lovely flower heads!

 

My Cycas revoluta (planted in 2007) was still bearing witness of the winter in December, not having lost it's bottom leaves yet. But I don't cut those off, they serve as protection during winter time.

The spot that I had filled earlier in the year with Hen 'n Chickens and some indigenous grasses seemed to be a bit bland, so I added an old terracotta pot and a couple of stepping stones and pebbles, just to provide a bit of character. That ended the year off nicely for me and I was looking forward to next year's adventures, joys and mishaps.

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My New Garden : Progress 13 - February 2010

"An addiction to gardening is not all bad when you consider all the other choices in life." 

February in the garden was a quiet month seeing as that Chrissie and I were on top of most chores (except the mowing of the lawn - with so much rain it needed to be cut twice a week!) and I'd been spending some time tending to my Bonsai and pot plants in and around the house.

A Philodendron in my bathroom - can't make up my mind whether it needs trailing or should I just leave it hanging? 

The English Ivy sprouting some lovely new growth 

We don't mow the grass at the pond - leave it long for Torti, the tortoise and Molly, my resident mole snake. When it's longer in winter, it also provides cover for them from the cold of winter and frost.

The pond turned slightly green with all the rain we had 

Molly the Mole snake enjoying some sun at the pond 

Having Molly around is a pleasure - she's beautiful, about 1.7m in length, a golden yellow-brown and, above all, a great deterrent to the rats plaguing the pond area. But Molly and the Brown House Snake is where I draw the line - In the past couple of weeks I had already rescued and evicted two Rinkhalses (Spitting Cobras) from my garden (the pleasure of my garden only to be enjoyed by Mollie, my resident Mole Snake or the Brown House Snake - all others like the Rinkhals and the various Adders are summarily evicted!). Chrissie, my gardener, immediately takes a short-cut home when she sees I'm busy catching a snake for safe delivery to a dam nearby us.

Rinkhals - Spitting Cobra (Hemachatus haemachatus)

Torti, my Leopard tortoise having her breakfast 

The Kiepersol (Cabbage tree - Cussonia paniculata) fully recovered from last winter 

In my bathroom court yard everything was lush and green and the sword ferns needed some trimming back, but I decided to wait until after winter for that.

My Pachypodium looking lush and green - she is always brought inside for winter 

I'm looking forward to Autumn - cooler but still warm days and a whole different colour palette in the garden.

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My New Garden : Progress 12 - Jan 2010

 

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“Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain.” 

In 2010, the new year kicked off well - we had a tremendous amount of rain for about 2 or 3 months and everything grew like wildfire. The sword ferns below needed to be thinned out they were so rife - luckily they are easily transplanted to some other empty corner.

The indigenous grass in between the Celtis africana and the Acacias offered lovely cover for the tortoise and for Molly, my resident Mole snake. 

The Hen & chickens grew so prolifically, it seemed to be pushing the log ahead of it! 

The new erigerons I planted spread nicely and soon covered this empty area. 

The fat, open florettes of these Echeverias attest to the great amount of rain we had.  

Gardening in the heat of January in South Africa can be quite a challenge. Hot temperatures and the baking sun soon dries out the soil and I use plenty of mulch and straw to cover the ground in between and around plants. It doesn't make for the greatest look, but is absolutely crucial if we do not get plenty of rain.

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Blissful Chooks closing down

Hedgie's Nature Journal

I'm removing Blissful Chooks from this blog and all the posts that were here and future ones about my chickens are moving to my Nature Journal, where I feel they will fit in perfectly. But I'll still be blogging about my girls, so I do hope you will be visiting me there and keep up with my chooks and their escapades as well as all the other wonders of nature.

I started this blog in 2009 purely as a record-keeping exercise for myself for the progress on my new garden when we moved here in 2004 and which I'm not sure if anybody finds it particularly interesting! smile! and I will probably continue with that for a while. So if you are a chook- and nature-lover, I'd love to see you over at Hedgie.

Bye bye and see ya at Hedgie!

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