A hint of Spring

Winter is a wonderful time in Australia and each day brings something different. We have had a very dry year and as a result, we are now on water restrictions. However, winter has brought us some good rain, although not enough to re-fill all the dams and reservoirs. In the garden however, it has been enough to get us by.

Today is like a beautiful spring day. The early morning frosts are enough to kill the germs but do not bother the plants I have in my garden this year. Everything is doing so well, it is a pleasure to see nature at work, helping all my plants to survive. As I walk the garden today, some of my Ixia species are flowering, Ixia capillaris and Ixia marginiflora.

As well, the beautiful Veltheimia bracteatus, with their lovely dark leaves which look like they have been polished.These have done very well in the garden and flower profusely. Happily, I might see some capensis flower again this year.

Romulea flava, with its lovely yellow flower is also in bloom and adds some color to the wintery days.

While we have had many mild frosts this year, we have only one severe frost which has done minimal damage. Even the Tree Dahlia, which is hit hard each year by frost, has not been affected this year. The plants have not grown too well this year, because of the drought situation through the spring and summer but the flowers have been brilliant, usually starting around May and going on through June and July. With both the pink and the white flowering tall in the front garden, we get lots of comments from the passerby.

Many of the Camelias are starting to bud as well, usually on the shady side first, until the complete bush becomes covered in splendid blooms. They create a nice hedge along one side of the fence as I keep them clipped just to the top of the fence and this keeps them in a good shape.

One of my favourites is coming into bloom at present. This is the lovely Chasmanthe and I have a few beds of all the varieties - bicolor, aethiopica, florabunda and the lovely yellow variety duckettii. These are one of the hardiest bulbs I can find to grow. They thrive on neglect and really take no looking after. I have some planted in polythene fruit boxes and I move them around the garden each year to create a new spectacle in a different part of the garden. At the end of the season, I store them away after drying them out and I bring them out again the next autumn. This does not bother them at all and I usually split them up and create more "garden beds in boxes" to place in different parts of the garden

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