Returning from the coast recently, in despair over my drought-decimated garden, I was heartened to see a gleam of pink in the dry shade of a crab apple tree.
Galloping across to discover what had actually managed to flower amidst the dismal desiccation, I found a clump of Naked Ladies, Amaryllis belladonna, their nodding pink trumpets telling me that life goes on even in the hottest summer.
Better yet, nearby I found a few of their elegant white relation, Hathor, which is slower to multiply but equally pretty.
If you have both but can’t always remember which is which, when they’re out of flower, pink Naked Ladies have purplish stems while Hathor’s are pale green.
They last equally well when cut and their scent is stronger indoors.
Continuing on my walk, I was encouraged to find that although some plants looked a bit droopy, plenty of others had come through the blistering summer with aplomb.
Trees are a great asset and country gardeners are lucky that we can grow what we like, however large, without worrying about power lines or blocking a neighbour’s view.
Cedars (Cedrus species) are magnificent trees and coming from the Mediterranean, can take any amount of heat.
My Blue Atlantic Cedar (C. atlantica ‘Glauca’) with upswept branches and the gently weeping Deodar (C. deodara) are now well established and look lovely in late summer when covered in cones, though to date I haven’t had seedlings.
Junipers are also good in the heat and the Chinese Juniper (J. chinensis) has come through the summer well.
It has a broad, conical shape and lacey, blue-green, dense foliage that makes a good windbreak.
I have a couple of fast growing, taller, much narrower trees sold to me as J. chinensis “Spartan”. Their foliage is identical in shape and colour to my Chinese Junipers and smells the same, but the trees are covered in cones, so whatever they are they aren’t junipers, which bear berries.
Junipers are also good in the heat and the Chinese Juniper (J. chinensis) has come through the summer well.
Strangely enough my Irish Junipers (J. communis “Hibernica”) are easily my best tall, narrow conifers, far neater than the Italian Cypress (C. sempervirens) that comes from a more appropriate climate, but whose youthful pointy, columnar shape is soon distorted by splaying branches.
Among broad-leaved evergreens, the Irish Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo) is flourishing, covered in greenish strawberries that will shortly turn bright red and keep the birds happy this winter.
When you think of the Irish climate, money back if it doesn’t rain, it’s a mystery to me why these Irish trees perform so well on the sunny Central Tablelands, but there you go, there’s no accounting for nature.
Best deciduous trees at the moment include medlar (Mespilus germanica), covered in its weird, leathery fruit (great for jelly), golden rain tree (Koelreuteria paniculata) with bronze, urn shaped seed pods, Malus “Gorgeous” with lots of small crab apples and my ever-faithful Pistacias (P. chinensis), slowly turning orange and scarlet and weighed down by berries.
So, although many small plants vanished over summer, as long as I have these trees the garden will survive.