New GC & more plants

9 comments

This is a test blog, to see if I can include a photo, as yesterday I wasn’t able to. This is a photo of my recently-planted Mary rose, now covered in buds. It has grown so quickly!

My OH has been working hard on getting the rest of the new side fenceline border dug out, ready to plant up, but a trellis, arch & gate still have to go up, before I can get the bigger-growing plants into this curved area. Thinking a rhododenron with a robinia tree behind, & some more old roses might look good in this corner. I just need to check out if there is enough room for the robinia & what conditions the rhododendron needs to grow well.

I have now planted up the greater part of that new side fenceline, so now it is a matter of waiting for everything to grow. At last I have a peony, which I have wanted for over 15 years, & it appears to be growing well since I planted it over a week ago. Lots of other things in there …. russell lupins in a variety of colours …. foxgloves in white & in pink …. some groundcover campanula in white & in blue …. several aquilegia of various sizes & in various colours (one of my favourite plants) …. a number of old roses in shades of white & pink …. some osteospermum in three different colours (a favourite of my OH) …. some taller campanulas in blues & purples …. two lobelia Queen Victoria to give a splash of red …. 2 nz native groundcover fuchsias …. & another groundcover Felicia Variegata …. some lovely daylilies …. two lovely nz native small phormiums in wonderful colours, & a few others that sitting here I just cannot remember.

As some rainy days had prevented my OH finishing off the digging out of that new side fenceline bed, we decided on Saturday to drive over to the city of Wanganui, which we both love, to visit a big GC which we had never been to … a 35 min drive through lovely hilly countryside. As we drew up in the carpark of the Springvale GC, the first thing I saw was two lovely clematis montana, one in white & one in pink, on a wall in front of us.

We soon discovered what a fabulous GC this is, with lots of native plants, including palms & beautiful tree ferns, & some quite unusual plants …. plus a great selection of gifts & christmas decorations & a lovely cafe to have lunch.

After lunch at the GC, we drove away with a good-sized Dicksonia (nz tree fern), a nz native Grevillia ‘Robin Hood’ plus 2 smaller varieties of nz cordylines (cabbage trees) … one in green which grows only up to 1m x 1m & the other in a very rich purple which grows up to 2m high, so will fit in will with my tall green cabbage tree in my back garden & one I recently planted, a deep red cordyline which will grow up to 3 metres high. Also came away with an unusual chocolate-purple aqueligia for my side border. We then drove down the main shopping street of this lovely Victorian city, as I knew from past years that there would be a lovey floral display of hanging baskets. I wasn’t disappointed.

Back home again, after a lovely few hours in Wanganui, & we were able to set out our new purchases into the corner of our back garden which we have designated to be our nz native area. This will be accessed via an arched entrance onto a path which will eventually wind its way between an avenue of shrubs on one side & nz native shrubs, small trees & ferns on the other. This area is the next we shall be working upon .. some of it gets afternoon sun, some of it is in semi or dappled shade, which only gets sun for around half an hour very late afternoon, so no real heat in it … quite a large area to work with running in an L-shape along the side & back fences. The only planting in this area at the moment are two arum lilies, a pink nz native pittisporum tree … both against the side fence …. & a nz native cabbage tree which will grow to around 7 metres tall, with a recently-planted red cabbage tree which will grow to around 3 metres tall. Our new fern tree which will grow to around 5 metres tall, will be planted in this semi-shaded area next to these, along with the two smaller cordylines in green & deep purple. The Grevillea will be planted further along where it will get several hours of sunshine.

• 26 Oct, 2011
• 12 likes

More blog posts by dwyllis