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Summer comes to an end:

© Gary Buckley

Here we are at the end of another summer.

This year has seen various climatic records across Australia unfortunately equalled or surpassed; much to the misery of the average Gardener.

For most of the regular posting members here at the Suite, this has kept them busy and more active than this writer for one, would have cared to be.

Here in our feeble garden patch, size; there are still odd species Liliums flowering at the time of writing, along with the delight of crowded colonies of Colchicum and Cyclamens basking under cooling skies. We have also had our first frost for the year.

Brunsvigia and Rhodophiala are beginning to show their true worth as they too gladden our days. After living in Victoria, it looks as though we are going to have to get used to these being autumn flowering delights. With Rhodophiala all you need is a well drained potting medium, fertile, in a good size pot or in the ground, with a sunny aspect and away from cold as this will harm both the leaves and the flower spikes. (Spoken from harsh treatment dealt out when this lazy gardener did not know any better.)

Remember, this and all advise is to be read with your climate in mind, regardless of the Country of your reading. It also depends on which species and varieties you are growing.

Propagation from seed and division of crowded established clumps is best. Seed should be sown as soon as you obtain it, treat the seed as for Hippeastrums. If you have bulbs of Rhodophiala, propagation from offsets should be removed when the bulbs are dormant and potted on. Good sources of these are John Watson and Anita Flores and Jim and Jenny Archibald, and here in Tasmania, Glenbrook Bulb Farm and Hill View Rare Plants.

Some things planted over the last two years have struggled, mainly due to lack of forward preparation.

For most of us, the structure of the existing soil with its micro-organisms needs to be looked at for this is the foundation of plantings to come. ( God, I wish I would follow my own instructions.)

If you know the soil is poor, then depending on your budget, you can import good free draining local loam, remembering that the whole of your garden does not need to be converted overnight into a dream garden. This works well on sandy soils but with clay soils you may need to get in with a rotary hoe and break up the beds, adding sand and well composted organic matter.

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