Mallee Native Plants

Daisies

No Comments »16th March, 2006; Category: Daisies

Found more cuttings ready to plant on into bigger pots. I am beginning to run out of room. What a nice position to be in. I have a great head start for the Spring plant sale.

Olearia picridifolia (Rasp daisy-bush) is flowering in its pot. Usually it flowers from June to October in the wild. It is a plant about a metre tall, and mine has mauve- blue daisies on it. It is native to most parts of SA in mallee areas, on alkaline soils, as well as WA, NSW and Vic. It is rare to find any of the mallee Olearias in nurseries. They propagate fairly readily from cuttings, and seed is often successful, although not readily available. Members of the various Australian Plants Societies have access to some.

I noticed also that some of the perennial daisies are sprouting again. A number of these die back during the heat and dryness of summer, and sprout when the weather cools, or rain falls. I’ve been caught a couple of times throwing out the contents of a pot, only to spot at the last minute a touch of green, or strong juicy roots. It is often with a feeling of relief that I find that I still have that plant after all.

Favourite Plants

No Comments »15th March, 2006; Category: General, Plant species

My favourite Australian native plants are members of the daisy family, Correas (sometimes referred to as native fuschia) and Eremophilas (known as emu bushes). There are numerous others that I like very much, but those I listed are the ones that I collect.

I joined the Australian Daisy Study Group years ago because I had fallen in love with a local daisy, Olearia pannosa, which is a threatened species I have since found out. I could not believe that a native daisy could have such a large flower, 2 inches or 5cm diameter. I was able to germinate some seed that winter, and have since struck cuttings of the plant. It grows naturally not far from home on the road side and is a lovely thing in flower in mid spring.

It is amazing which plants are daisies. Lettuce is an example that comes to mind. When I did some research on daisies for a talk that I gave, there was a huge list of common garden plants which come into this category, including a few vegetables.

The ADSG is a very proactive group. The first book published by the group was a general book on Australian Daisies, covering a few of the species which fit into this category of plants. Later came one on Brachyscomes, and the last was on Paper Daisies. Currently work is being done on a book on Olearias, like the one on the roadside near here.

The newsletter arrived yesterday, with a new seed bank listing!

Going to “Pot”

No Comments »14th March, 2006; Category: General

I have been planting on the rooted cuttings from the hot house. Can’t keep up with them. There has been a sudden surge of activity in the cuttings and I am wondering if the change in watering pattern has stimulated this. It helps too, that the number of severely hot days has diminished. Will need to be a little more scientific than I have been to work out what is happening.

Potting mix for the cuttings is always a continuing saga. Finding a mix that does not lose itsÂ “wettability”, does not weigh a ton when wet, is open and well drained, is readily available to me without travelling great distances, or paying a fortune in delivery charges… I don’t really want much!

There is certainly a great deal of pleasure to be had in potting on seedlings and cuttings that I have sown and set myself. That goes for the vegetable garden, too!

Grow a Hedge of Natives

1 Comment »13th March, 2006; Category: Caring for Native Plants, Plant species, Pruning Australian Native Plants, Using Australian Natives

I couldn’t have timed it better! The last Gardening Australia programme on ABC TV was on maintaing Australian native plants in gardens, emphasising the importance of regular pruning.

I saw on one of the Lifestyle TV programmes some time ago the suggestion of using Westringea species as formal hedge plants. The programme showed these trimmed hedges as ‘fences’ separatingÂ garden areas and it looked great. Again the best results were achieved by constant early trimming amd light pruning to maintain the leaf cover well down on the plant before it developed woodiness. The Westringea fruticosa (Native Rosemary- called this because the appearance is like the herb Rosemary) forms do lend themselves to this treatment very well.

The Westringea species that I know best for this purpose are

Westringea rosmarinifolia (Native Rosemary, white to mauve flowers)
Westringea fruticosa
Westringes fruticosa ‘Highlight’ (variegated leaves and mauve flowers)
Westringea fruticosa ‘Morning Light’ (variegated leaves and white flowers)
Westringea fruticosa ‘Smokie’ (grey variegated leaves, white flowers, smaller growth)
Westringea ‘Jervis Gem’ (small dense bush, mauve flowers, use as you would English Box)
Westringea ‘Wynyabbie Gem’ (mauve flowers)

All of these will grow well in alkaline soil, all can be planted in coastal areas and all are hardy plants once established.

Correas and Pruning

6 Comments »11th March, 2006; Category: Caring for Native Plants, Correas, Pruning Australian Native Plants

I found some more Correa cuttings which had grown roots, in the hot house. Sometimes they strike readily, other times they will actually send out flowers and the odd new shoot but when potting time comes there is not a root to be seen. Grevilleas will do this too, I have found.

If I have to trim the roots of the cuttings when potting on, I will often tip prune the plant at the same time, or take a little more of the top to balance the root system that is available to the plant.

Last year we had a trip to Ngarkat Conservation Park, near Keith in the upper South East of SA. It was winter, the first rains for the year began that weekend, and the area had had a bushfire through it in January of the same year. Despite the lack of rain we found the locally occurring Correas had sprouted abundant new growth from the base of the plants at ground level. The top of the plants were a few charcoal twigs.

This made me feel that it was worth experimenting with quite severe pruning of the Correas which I had neglected in the garden. I forgot about it last spring. I am watching for the new growth to appear this autumn and will try a few of the late flowering plants, rather than lose the flowers this year. Thought I would cut back to the last three of four buds on each stem and see what happens. I will have nothing to lose really as the plants are quite scruffy. They will have to be chopped back or pulled out.