I'VE often longed to garden in a climate with a decent annual rainfall.
Not too wet, I don't yearn to live on the perpetually sodden west coast of Tasmania, but enough to keep my garden nicely damp through winter and lushly green over summer.
Ah well, be careful what you wish for. What feels like an entire summer spent weeding has made me think maybe a Mediterranean climate isn't so bad after all.
At least I wouldn't need a machete to hack a path through my startling jungle whenever I want to pick a few flowers. On the bright side, the soil is perfect for planting autumn bulbs.
Autumn crocus or colchicums (C. byzantinus) bloom in late summer on bare stems, each corm producing a cluster of large, pinky lilac, chalice-shaped flowers over several weeks, followed by broad, strappy, conspicuously ribbed leaves.
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C. autumnale has open, starry flowers and adapts to a wide range of climates. Growers occasionally offer the rare, double white form 'Alboplenum'.
Other autumn bulbs include the easy autumn snowflake, Acis (formerly Leucojum) autumnalis with white flowers tinged pink; pink, white and scarlet nerines; and the little species cyclamen C. hederifolium with pink or white flowers and beautifully marbled leaves, great for ground cover in shade.
I'm getting my skates on here, as all need to be planted this month (see suppliers below).
Roses are loving the wet summer although black spot has finally caught up with me despite my best efforts with wood ash mulch (see The Land, December 2, 2021).
If you're desperate, Yates Liquid Copper spray does the trick. A few roses are miraculously clear, including the ever-reliable icebergs and my favourite striped 'Cabana'.
Wisteria needs summer pruning in February, including the everyday purple Chinese wisteria (W. sinensis) and its elegant Japanese cousin (W. floribunda) with longer racemes of flower.
There's no need to be scientific, just get those long whippy shoots off; pruning back to spurs to encourage flowers is done in winter.
February is a lovely time to collect seeds, in plentiful supply thanks to prolific flowering earlier in the summer.
Hollyhocks, sweet peas, honesty, poppies can all be harvested now. Seeds of biennials like foxgloves and campion (Lychnis) can be sown now and should make nice big leafy clumps by autumn.
Mid-summer is a good time to take cuttings of your favourite frost tender perennials like fuchsias, pelargoniums and tender salvias including the 'Wendy's Wish' series that drop stone dead at the first hint of frost.
Take semi-ripe, 'heel' cuttings from a side shoot that has some new growth emerging from the older growth. Select a shoot about 15 centimetres long and pull it gently from the stem to include a 'heel', a small slip of stem.
Strip most of the leaves, leaving a couple at the top, and insert about one third's length into a gritty potting mix.
New roots should form within the next two months and your plant will be ready for the garden next spring.
- Autumn flowering bulbs are available from Garden Express www.gardenexpress.com.au and Hancocks Daffodils www.daffodilbulbs.com.au
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