June 2006

Late in May I organised for a concreter to come and quote for constructing the new terrace that I designed. Unfortunately the original constructor wasn’t able to do it as he planned but put me in touch with another who came and quoted (at $500 less!) and early in June started work.

The area to be terraced was right outside our French windows to the Monet Garden and was covered in scoria. This is the way the dogs go out to their enclosure and when they rush in they brought clouds of dust with them. A red film of dust covered all surfaces thru the house but in particular the big room. Dusting in summer was a daily chore.

We hoped that by laying a concrete terrace the dust problem would go a way and we would also have a nice entertainment terrace for the summer evenings as it faces west and will catch the stunning sunsets we get up here.

Peter came round with his two work mates and set to immediately levelling the area, building the form work and barrowing in lots of gravel. By the end of day one most of the form work was done and by the end of day two all the form work was completed and the area ready for pouring.

Early on the third day a huge concrete truck arrived and sat on our driveway and they barrowed numerous wheelbarrow loads of concrete onto the new terrace. It was levelled and then the pattern was laid and the oxide spread. By the evening it was completed and while we weren’t able to walk on it for 24 hrs it looked fantastic.

The area ended up being much larger than expected and the steps down into the garden rather grand. We decided that to edge the terrace we would plant some terracotta pots up and we needed to put in a feature plant both at the bottom of the steps and also in the Monet Garden. We weren’t sure quite what yet but we knew we would find something.

The effect on the house was instantaneous – there was no dust and the dog’s feet were much cleaner despite the fact that the bobcat that did most of the initial levelling of the area had torn up all the grass in the dogs enclosure. We were delighted. The other effect it had was that the big room appeared even larger as the patterned paving mirrored the tiled floor in the big room and as a result brought the outside inside and the room just seemed to go on for ever. In summer when the doors are open it will make the room look like it stretches for 10 metres or more. It will be perfect for the entertainment terrace we have been wanting and even in winter we can now see the twinkling lights of Ballarat from the terrace thru the trees.

I take several gardening magazines both for the information and also for inspiration. In one, The English Garden, I saw a pergola planted with apples one side and pears the other and instantly realised that it would be a marvellous feature between the rose garden and the potager. I spent some time on Wednesday thinking about the construction of the arched walk way and drew up some plans. It wouldn’t need to be really strong as fruit trees are self supporting and the arches and wires are there to just train the branches. It would be a different matter if we were constructing a rose arched walk way – roses depend on the support of the arches and a fully mature rose on an archway can weigh 3 tonnes!

It was my aim to have heritage fruit trees and I contacted several nurseries after a bit of research on the internet. One heritage apple nursery I discovered on the web sent thru a lot of info including a long cultivar list of apples available for purchase this winter. Quite a few of them had already sold out (they start taking orders in August!) but there were still some good ones left. I had planned to have two heritage cooking apple trees (such as Brambly Seedling) and two heritage eaters (such as Cox’s Orange Pippin). While these are widely commercially available in England the apples are not so available here in Australia.

The Bramleys had unfortunately sold out but I could still get Cox’s. I spent an age on the web checking and cross checking info on the available apples and decided that as Cox’s are not the most disease resistant heritage apple I initially decided not to go ahead with ordering the Cox’s. Its our aim to garden as much as we can organically so we will not be spraying the fruit trees unless it is absolutely essential to do so. After ongoing research I ordered Lord Derby or Peasgood Nonesuch for the cooking apple and Lord Lambourne or Court of Wick for the eater.

I also wanted heritage pears but this was not a problem. While apples have undergone much breeding and improvements, heritage pears are still the preferred commercial varieties as a general rule. A trip to a garden centre would sort out which ones I was going to plant.

For a long time we have planned to double plant a peach and nectarine in the area between the rose garden and potager. Double planting means that they compete for water and nutrients which slows down their growth dwarfing them. We couldn’t have a full size peach tree there for it would shade the potager too much but a dwarf one would work nicely but peaches aren’t grown on dwarfing stock. Double planting two together solves the problem for us. According to the book I have on fruit growing in Australia new peach and nectarine varieties are released each year and I was going to go along with a modern variety. That was until I checked out Flemings website (Flemings being the largest tree nursery in Victoria) and they have several old peach and nectarine varieties which are still considered to be the best on the market. After further research I decided to source Nectarine Maygrand and Peach Double Jewel.

July 2006

At the beginning of July we heard about a nursery that was closing down. We rarely visited Baird’s Nursery as it was hideously expensive although the stock was good you ended up paying a huge premium. They had a 50% off clearance sale for some weeks and this really still wasn’t cheap, although much more realistic prices. To clear the stock they had closing down 100% clearance auction. We were very lucky as we went there first on a busy Saturday during a break in the weather to view the lots only to discover that the sale was at 12.00 Saturday not on Sunday as we thought. We did a careful reckie and marked several lots down for consideration and then went off to do some of the other things to come back shortly after 12 to watch the start of the auction and see what prices things went for. Well, they went for very silly prices – for example a 3m tall mature weeping cherry went for $50! It was priced at over $200! We knew that we were going to get some bargains. 3 of the lots we marked were weeping maples of different cultivars and most lots were in multiples of three of each tree.

We nearly froze there – it kept on raining and the temp was a mere 9.0 degrees but felt much colder with the wind and rain. Unfortunately the auction was held outside not undercover. I’m sure that kept quite a few people away which worked in our favour – having said that there were clearly some very keen gardeners there and there were more than 50 people at the auction all the time often more.

To cut a long story short we ended up getting 9 weeping maples, 2 Snake bark maples, a Norway maple, 3 Golden Full Moon Maples, 3 flowering dogwoods, 3 Philadelphus (Mock Orange), 4 Berberis Silver Beauty, 3 Hawthorn trees and a Forest Pansy. All up this at normal prices would have cost us nearly $3k. We got it all for a little over $800! It took M three trips in his car to take it all home! Fortunately his car is like the Tardis and we layered the plants in the boot or it would have taken many more trips in his car to get them all home.

The following day was cold and wet again but we did manage to get into the garden and placed the new plants for planting. To accommodate them all we had to extended some more beds but by lunchtime the extended beds were marked out and they all had positions although they were not yet planted.

All the weeping maples were placed in the main garden as were the Golden Full Moon Maples which need to be in dappled shade or the sun burns the leaves. The forest pansy is going to be planted near the carpark/ courtyard surrounded by the berberis and the philadelphus have been placed all about the garden. The snake bark maples, Norway maple, the three dogwoods and two of the hawthorns have gone down into the New Forest and the best of the hawthorns is going to be planted next to the large Albertine rose bush.

The trees were pretty mature and come spring the garden will be a picture but nothing like what it will look in the autumn – the garden will be ablaze from the photinia hedge to the bottom of the Monet Garden! The colour in the New Forest will also be a picture and as the trees there grow more mature the display will only get more amazing.

I have to say that I did feel a bit odd cashing in on someone else’s misfortune – the prices we paid were not even close to wholesale and over all the nursery must have made a huge loss. But having said that we have now the makings of a truly special garden and one that will go on being special long after I’ve gone – Japanese maples reach maturity in 50 years and many of the trees in the New Forest will live for over 100 years! I have long thought that we don’t own land, we are custodians of it for a short time and that we should leave it improved for future generations. I feel that we are indeed doing that on our property and as our plans continue will further improve the property.

With the new forest now developing rather quickly I had to think about access.  We have planted trees in both the middle paddock and also the top paddock. Access to the middle paddock was either by climbing a stile over the fence in the Monet garden or climbing thru the fence next to the big tank. I have been wanting to remove the fence by the tank for a long time and had it on Warren’s list of things to do for the entire time he was here – unfortunately it never got done. I bought a pair of fencing pliers which are heavy duty pliers and cutters which cut the wires easily. Coiling them up wasn’t quite as easy and proved to be quite a task. Once I did that I wanted to see how difficult it was to remove the star pickets – they came out remarkably easily. We now have access to the middle paddock with great ease! I then had a go at the other fence between the middle paddock and the top one - it has barbed wire and netting and as a result wasn’t quite as easy to remove but it did come out.

The New Forest has been planted as a lop sided U and at the first opportunity I cut a path in the paddock grass to the open area and I plan to keep that close cut too so it will form a sort of glade. I’ve seen mown paths in my garden mags and they look very effective and while its not quite as effective currently in time it will. I would like to scatter wildflower seeds in the paddock which would look fantastic however Marcus is concerned that it might not be ecologically sound particularly as we are so close to a scenic reserve. The glade will eventually include Japanese maples and Crepe Myrtles but we have to wait for the other trees to grow and provide shelter and shade first – it will be about 5 years before we can do that.

Again in one of my garden magazines I found an advert for a wooden arbour that would make a great gate to the rose garden. We had seen lych gates for sale at over $2000 and while they were very much the sort of thing we wanted we weren’t prepared to pay that much for one. The arbour was made of treated wood and strong enough to hang a gate on (one of the pictures showed it supporting a seat). As it was a tenth of the price we ordered it and it arrived a week later as a flat pack on the hugest truck that has ever come down our driveway! As he arrived by himself I had to help in lift the pallet off the truck – my back didn’t appreciate that. The fun and games started when he tried to leave – he took a 100 point turn to get his truck round and then he got stuck on the corner. To cut a long story short it took him 30 mins to get round the corner and in doing so has churned up our drive way quite a bit. Not too happy but it will recompact down in time.

The following day I assembled it and then at the weekend we carried the assembled arbour to the rose garden and dug holes for the legs. As we didn't have he rapid set concrete we just sat the arbour in the holes and had lunch. We came out after lunch to find that the wind had toppled it over on to the roses! Luckily only a small side branch was knocked off and there was no damage to the arbour. After that accident we lay it down and was only put up when we were ready with the concrete which was shortly after.

However, the gate we bought was only 900mm wide and the arbour was 1050mm which posed a bit of a problem as there was too large a gap for the hinges to span. As we needed to keep the rabbits out of the rose garden we tied the gate up with twine from the pea straw mulch bales and that is how it will stay until we figure out how to solve the problem. I might actually have to construct a gate myself to fit the arbour.

The development of the miniature orchard continued and while at Mitre 10 we found a garden arch. As this would possibly do for the fruit walk I found out the cost. I had drawn up plans for a rigid structure made of 16mm steel reinforcing rods that Jules was rather excited about welding together however it was going to be a considerable amount of work and would entail cutting lengths from the 6m rods which wouldn’t have been easy. The arch at Mitre 10 proved to be a very good buy as it was going to cost less than having the one I designed made in reinforcing steel. We bought 4 of them and that afternoon we assembled them and put them in place.

It was excellent timing as during the week I heard that while I couldn’t get the original order of heritage apples I was able to get two very healthy Cox’s Orange Pippins which were going to be sent shortly. I also went to Leith St nursery and reserved 4 pear trees (two Beurre Bosc and two Williams Bon Chretian) and a nectarine (May Grand). I wanted the peach Double Jewel but they had sold out. After further research on the web I selected the variety Red Haven which is a good all round peach – excellent for eating and also preserving. Having put up the arch we picked up the pear trees and the nectarine and selected a Red Haven peach. The specimens they had there were very established and we found a very nice one – it only just fitted in the car! We came home planted the pears in the right position up against the arch supports and they look fantastic as does the double planted peach and nectarine.

I was disappointed that I was going to have to wait until next year for the cooking apples and contacted the nursery to see if he had any returns or non-paid orders for cooking apples. They responded by return to let me know that I was in luck in that one order had been cancelled and it included two Brambley Seedlings – not the best specimens but they were healthy and would grow well. I couldn’t believe my luck and confirmed that I wanted them. My luck continued in that he hadn’t as yet sent my Cox’s so I wouldn’t have to pay two lots of postage. They arrived a few days later and were planted very promptly.

While planting all the fruit trees in what we called the "fillet of land" between the rose garden and the potager, I realised that we had planted quite a little orchard, 4 apples, 4 pears, a peach, a nectarine, a black mulberry, a lime and a lemons. I mentioned this to M and remembering my French I suggested we call it the "Petit Verger" which is French for little orchard. The name stuck and is, I think, rather appropriate with the espaliered fruit trees giving it a more sophisticated and formal look.

Helen visited the garden late that Sunday afternoon and was amazed that the fruit arch walk was in and planted. From conception of the idea to actually realising it only took 6 weeks! I do have to admit we don’t let the grass grow under our feet! Unfortunately that can also be our undoing. In my haste to purchase and plant my heritage cooking apples rather than wait until the following year I didn’t do my research on the Brambleys properly and only when we planted them did I realise that they are “triploid” and won’t cross fertilise the Cox’s – I was going to need a third apple that flowers at the same time as the Cox’s and Brambley to supply the necessary pollen. A crab apple might do but it does need to be in close proximity for the bees to pollinate the other apples. I decided not to worry about it this year and would just let the four apple trees establish themselves and source another apple to plant nearby for the next year.

On one of our visits to Mitre 10 we ended up buying some “rescues” which included 3 ground covers “Silver Mound” and 9 perennial wallflowers (3 mauve, 3 pastel shades and 3 yellow) and 3 lilacs. Last Spring we visited “Eurambeen” an old homestead, partly built in the late 1800s and the gardens were partly designed by Edna Walling in the 1930s. In the garden there were a large number of lilacs in a whole range of colours. I’m particularly fond of lilacs and I asked M at the time if we could collect some more – he agreed. These three were the first of six we bought this winter which adds to the two we bought the previous winter and the two mature ones we have already.

The two bought last winter were planted at the back of the potager and will be used as cut flowers for the house. One of the ones we bought this winter was planted near by, again at the back of the potager, above the rose pillar. Two others were planted on the bank of the drive way between the cherry laurels, one was planted in the Memorial Garden and the remaining one was left unplanted until a suitable place was found for it.

Late in July Marcus took two weeks holiday. This time we had planned to go away and find the sun in Cairns but we cancelled that idea when we put in the new terrace. The holiday was going to be our five year anniversary present to each other but we couldn’t justify the expense when we spent such a lot of money on the terrace and on buying all the plants at the auction. We ended up realising that five years is the concrete anniversary!

As a result we again spent the time gardening and Marcus transformed himself into “Vermillion – Gardening Superman”! We found the To Do list from last winter and added some more to it. All the auction plants had been found a home but hadn’t been planted yet mostly due to the fact that to do so we needed to extend the existing flower beds. This would mean some serious digging and edging with stones. We also needed to prune the 200 roses in the rose garden and do the winter tidy up ie cutting back of the perennials, remulching etc.

Before we launched into the list of things we had to do we went to Rocklyns to buy two climbing roses for the new gate to the rose garden. I wanted the bourbon rose Zephirine Drouhin which is a fragrant double rose in a bright pink. Its particularly vigorous and will cover the gate in a couple of seasons but the best thing is that it is virtually thornless so perfect for a gate. I also needed to get one Falstaff and one Brandy. When we replaced the Mr Lincolns we bought three Falstaff but one of them turned out to be mislabelled and was an Orange hybrid tea not the red English Rose that we expected. Although it was very nice it spoilt the planting scheme so we left it in place until it went dormant with the plan to move it to the cutting garden when we pruned. I needed one Falstaff to fill the gap and another Brandy to plant with the rose we were moving (we managed to identify it on an earlier trip to Rocklyns).

Of course while we were there we found more roses we had to have including the new David Austin release of The Endeavour. It’s a beautiful rose and has been only released in Australia as it thrives in warmer conditions. We bought two and we would easily find a home for them somewhere.

The Endeavour

We also bought two Rosa moyesii ‘Geranium’ which is a single bright red rose to grow thru the species rose next to the dog enclosure. The two Laevegata roses we planted there last year were devoured by the marauding rabbits. Although Geranium only flowers the once it does have the added interest of bright red flagon shaped hips in the autumn and winter. As this has been planted next to where the hawthorn was to be planted we should have some interesting berries to continue the display into the cooler months.

As we were leaving Barbara raced off and came back with a bundle of eight bare rooted roses all tied together but unnamed. It was a case of pot luck – all would be the same but exactly what they were was not known. She thought that they would be pink or red but other than that we would have to find out when they bloomed. We love a mystery and also a bargain (she gave them to us for free) and they too will find a place somewhere in the garden. We went out to just get 4 roses and came home with 16! We just can’t help ourselves.

We started our garden blitz on the potager. We removed all the tomato plants, pruned all the cutting roses, cut back all the perennial herbs and dug the beds over and remulched. This year we are mulching with just the pea straw – it was so very effective in the rose garden and as it breaks down it adds very useful organic matter to the soil. We started the first week of Marcus’s holiday with 15 bales and by the middle weekend of his time off we ordered another 15! In places where there was a persistent problem with perennial weeds, in particular sorrel and dock we first put down a thick layer of newspaper with the pea straw mulch on top – this will stop the light getting thru to the weeds but not stop the rain reaching the roots of the plants. Time will tell if we mulched with the newspaper heavily enough. Since doing it we have discovered that the minimum layer of newspaper is 6 sheets, we only did 3. In places we used cut up cardboard boxes in place of the newspaper – again we will see how effective that is in time.

In the raised beds of the rose garden we had always planned to use groundcover plants to both hid the lower bear branches of the roses and also to stop the weeds growing. In the main garden snow in summer and bugle are a very effective groundcover and weed suppressor. Both in fact are rather rampant and need keeping in check. We did a bit of a tidy up with some sheers and those plants that had roots were transplanted to the raised beds of the rose garden. The snow in summer is a grey leaved plant with white flowers and has been planted under the red roses, the bugle has dark purple leaves and in spring blue flower spikes – perfect for planting with the yellow roses. We decided not to underplant the L shaped beds this year but I have found a place that sells the nepeta ‘Walkers Blue’ in small pots at a very reasonable price – they will need to be as we will need 100 next year!

During the week a work colleague of Marcus’ contacted us and asked me to design a rose bed for them. She had during the summer bought a selection of hybrid tea roses but now wanted to have a full rose bed. I drew up two plans, one using predominantly David Austins and the other using Florabundas. She ended up deciding that she wanted the Florabundas which was a wise choice as David Austins and Hybrid Teas don’t always work too well together. To help here we went out to Rocklyns again and she left with 22 roses and a bill to explain to her husband when he returned from his business trip o/s!

Of course we didn't leave empty handed - we bought another 3 roses - Lamarque, Virgo for the cutting garden (to replace one of the white cutting roses that died), and Pierre de Ronstad, which along with the 16 we bought the previous weekend meant that we needed to extend more garden beds to accommodate them!

During the two weeks of Marcus’s holiday we worked thru to do list:

Planted most of the pots and all the new roses

Pruned all the roses in rose garden and also in main garden and on the drive

Extended flower beds in main garden and planted all the pots and trees and heavily mulched and edged all beds with rocks

Planted one lilac in the cutting garden, two on the drive just above potager, one in Memorial garden and one still to be found a home.

Mulched trees in new forest

Heavily mulched rose garden and cutting garden with newspaper and pea straw – planted bugle under yellow roses and snow in summer under red roses in raised beds in the rose garden

By the end of the two weeks the garden had been transformed. The new beds provided a series of garden rooms and a wide winding path down the garden. We were delighted with the result.

I decided to attempt propagating again – this time I took 12 Rosa Albertine cuttings and 9 penstemon cuttings. The Albertine cuttings were placed in a large polystyrene box and the penstemon cuttings placed in small flowerpots. I was careful to water well and frequently and monitor how hot it got in the green house this time – I didn’t think that it was likely that I was going to cook them as I did last time as it was winter but I wanted to be sure!

August 2006

Early in August again my gardening magazines gave me an idea to research. Advertised was a joggling board which looked like it was rather fun and then I found how much they were. $2000! Gasp! In essence it’s a long plank supported by two pillars which they themselves are on rockers so you get an up and down motion and also a side to side motion. They apparently originated as verandah furniture in South Carolina and were particularly popular with courting couples for the more they joggled the closer they ended up! The joggling board looks like it would be a fun piece of garden furniture but at that price I was going to look at getting it made locally … if at all!

While doing the research I discovered that Going Going Gone were having a sale on teak outdoor furniture. I have long wanted to have a Luytens Bench and for my birthday I ordered it. The following weekend was a sister visit by Lettie and his new beau Pete and they kindly went to Going Going Gone to pick it up for me saving a delivery fee. Unfortunately there was a bungle at the store and the wrong bench was put out for delivery. Lettie and Pete took the wrong bench back to the store. I was very disappointed and after several phone calls to the store they agreed that it was their mistake and that they would pay for the delivery. The bench arrived two weeks later.

The last garden room to be given the winter tidy up was the Memorial garden. The Japanese anemones needed to be cut back and it needed a general spruce up. While I was cutting back the Japanese anemones I took lots of cuttings and divided up a clump and planted them in the windbreak behind the gazebo. I was spured on by my apparent success with the Albertine and penstemmon cuttings which appeared to have taken.

It was our aim before winter ended to plant out all our pots. We had the vast majority planted and there were just a few left to go in. I planted the one remaining climbing rose we had which is a heritage rose called Lamarque, on the verandah post next to the oriental poppies in the west verandah bed. There was already a rose on the post but its not performing very well. It is also a heritage rose, Guinea. I’m hoping that they both will eventually cover that area –both are heavily scented and should look a picture too – Guinea is a deep red and Lamarque is white. The clematis there is a pale blue and it is already sprouting!

I also planted two ornamental grape vines on the verandah posts in the courtyard – they are particularly vigorous and will by the end of the summer have covered a considerable amount of that side of the house which is the plan – they turn a brilliant red in autumn and it should look stunning. I had to be very careful as I dug to not puncture or break any pipes I found. It was lucky that I did go so carefully for I found pipes in all three holes!

M also did some planting – two standard roses which had been in pots by the French windows and a lemon tree in the petit verger. He also planted the Forest Pansy from the auction surrounded by berberis on the bank by the driveway next to the steps to the rose garden. While he was doing it I suggested that that would be an ideal place to plant the last lilac. It was promptly planted.

Having planted all our pots we foolishly went to Growmaster where we bought two white lilacs and a heritage apple tree Fameuse or the Snow Apple. The two white lilacs were to be planted with the Hawthorn between Albertine and the hedgerow rose on the courtyard and the Snow Apple to go in the Petit Verger to correct the mistake I made with the Brambley. The Snow Apple was a perfect third apple tree needed to cross fertilise. I had considered Snow Apple originally but it wasn’t available from Badgers Keep as they had sold out but I was incredibly lucky that Growmaster had one left.

It’s a particularly old variety developed in the 1600s in France. It is known as the Snow Apple due to its strikingly white flesh which is also very crisp. With that tree planted and the lemon tree we found behind the gazebo that we nursed back to health planted in the Petit Verger we felt that the orchard was complete except for a gooseberry bush to go at the very top next to the Black Mulberry. That will have to wait until next year.

Next to the dog enclosure were three Frau Dagmar rugosa roses. We love rugosas for they are very hardy and make a wonderful hedge. We already have the startings of a rugosa rose hedge with a variety of rugosa roses which produce a variety of fragrant blooms and in autumn have large orange hips and interesting coloured foliage. The Frau Dagmars were planted in too much shade and needed to be moved. M carefully pruned them (they have many many vicious thorns) and then moved them to the West Verandah bed opposite the existing rugosa hedge. Three roses won’t make a hedge but they will make a nice edge! Once they are established and doing well, I will take cuttings and maybe we will eventually have a Frau Dagmar hedge.

One of the last projects we planned to complete before winter finished was to make the utility area. We already had the lavendars and rosemary plants but Marcus delayed making the area until all the other projects were finished. Finally he could delay no longer and we bought the Hills Hoist and I measured out the plantings. We unfortunately didn’t get enough cement and as a result the Hills Hoist went up but the low clothes line didn’t so we still have to put that in place and plant the lavendars and rosemarys.

The last pot plant to be planted was a large red camellia. We bought it some 5 years ago and it was a large plant when we bought it. At 1121 it sat on the terrace and gave us a bit of privacy when we sat on the porch. Since coming to 157 it sat on the verandah outside the kitchen window where it was apparently very happy. It had really outgrown the pot and we decided that it should be planted in the garden. This meant extending the shaded island bed yet again to accommodate it. We feared that to get the potbound plant out we were going to have to smash the pot but by gentle brute force we did manage to get it out without breaking the pot or damaging the camellia. It took to its new home well and has not shown any signs of distress or transplant shock at all. It is still to flower but no buds have dropped off which they would if it was unhappy.

At the end of a very busy winter we took stock of what we had done and realised the huge changes we had made – planting 12 Japanese Maples in the main garden, altering the flower beds, planting lots of plants for summer interest including yet more roses but the one thing that bothered me was the gate to the rose garden. The too narrow gate was still tied to the arbour with blue twine and as we move towards the time when the rose garden and potager are in constant use we decided to actually built gate for rose garden! I did a bit of research and found how to do it and it was remarkably easy to make.

While we were at it we also constructed my birthday present - the Luytens Bench which was put in pride of place at the bottom of the main garden where its visible from the new terrace and all over the main garden.

The following day I discovered that I had strained my back badly and all I could manage to do was scatter opium poppy seeds and Johnny jump ups round the garden. M planted three dianthus and red saxifrage, and three small azaleas next to the large red camellia from the terracotta pot. He also planted 40 lilies round the garden. One of my online nurseries had an offer that was too good to refuse – 40 lilies for $40! We already have quite a few around the garden but they are such good and reliable flowers during summer we had to take up the offer. We planted them in drifts in the Monet Garden and in the Sunny Island Bed.

With spring almost upon us and as a result an expectation of more visitors I needed to finish off the new terrace. We had three large terracotta pots and two smaller matching ones. I was keen to have a more formal feel to the terrace and we decided to plant three Cumquats in the larger pots and two box balls in the smaller pots at the top of the stairs into the Monet Garden. Cumquats are frost tolerant and are also evergreen so all year round they will look great on the terrace and when they start fruiting will be quite a feature.

..ooOOOoo..

With so much activity over the winter we expect a quieter spring in the garden, not least due to the fact that we are focusing on the house with the long awaited renovation starting. That said there will still be things that need to be done in the garden and with the warmer weather we look forward to seeing the fruits of our labours. In fact some of those fruits are already showing. All the daffodils that were dug up by Warren and then replanted in the new flower beds started to flower. A real promise of spring.

There were other hints of spring - the Manchurian Pear avenue also burst into flower.

We were also delighted to see the variety of helebores that bloomed:

We are however very concerned by the lack of winter rains. We had about two thirds of what we had last year and we need more to replenish our tanks. We fully expect to have to buy some water in this year particularly as we have planted so many new plants.

March 2006

Early in March we had another ‘sister visit’ so we spent a bit of time in the garden – Warren had collected lots of stones to border some of the newer flower beds and the rose garden but hadn’t placed them so I moved all the stones and boarded the rose garden and the new path in the Memorial garden. M tidied up the grass with a quick mow – but that was more cutting the heads off the weeds than cutting grass as the grass had died months ago – still it looked much better. The last task was to take a couple of limbs off a weeping gum tree and we made an arbour right next to the rose garden. We moved the green seat from the gazebo there and I have to say it looks great. In time I plan to plant a long herbaceous border but that is some years off but the arbour will look down the border when its made. In the meantime it overlooks the rose garden and I think it will be come a favourite place to sit as it is well shaded.

With the summer being so hot and dry we expected an early autumn and we were right. The Canadian Maples turned very early and so did the Acer japonicum in the main garden and provided us with a fantastic display.

Most of the trees had suffered in the heat and with the cooler weather changed colour much earlier than usual. We don’t think that they will die, we certainly hope not – time will tell.

To help the plants we fertilised the plants in late March. We bought three large sacks of Dynamic Lifter and a huge pot of Osmacote Rose Feeder. I flung the Osmacote about and also the Sudden Impact on the roses and M followed me with a wheelbarrow full of Dynamic Lifter. He finished the job the following day and for days I was not able to go outside for the stench!

We also spent some time deadheading the rose garden in preparation for our autumn show – all the roses were glad that the heat is over and spouted like mad. Having had a pretty good display all summer we expected something a bit special this autumn.

March was an exceptionally dry month – we had only one day of rain all month which dropped 15mm. Last year we were able to get into the garden and do some planting and tidying up but with there being no rain any activity was confined to going to nurseries and preserving the kilos of tomatoes from the potager. In mid summer the tomatoes started to ripen and we were thrilled to be able to pick a bowlful every other day.

By March we were picking nearly a kilo a day and by the end of March we were picking 8-9 kgs a week. As supply was outstripping demand I ended up preserving most of them as pasta sauce and peeled tomatoes in tomato juice.

By the end of March, two of the Japanese Maples are turning the most fantastic colour – one a deep red and the other a firey orange. The others are showing signs of turning and we hope we get a good display in the main garden as well as the rose garden.

April 2006

With Autumn now well set in and good rainfall patterns Marcus wanted to plant some more deciduous trees this time in the top paddock. In time we will take out the fence between the top paddock and the middle paddock and the trees planted there will form a new forest. We went to Leith St Nursery and as they were having a sale we went off! We bought a Crepe Myrtle and two Japanese Maples and a very established Pieris. These are all destined for the Shaded Island bed and the Sunny Island bed both of which are going to be remodelled this autumn. The deciduous trees there were not very good so we didn’t buy any for the new forest.

The Sunny Island bed was extended the following weekend. It now forms a crescent including the cut leaf birch. We also extended the verandah bed and the new flower beds now encircle the only flat(ish) piece of lawn in the main garden. We planted a Japanese maple, a Fothergilla major, a forest pansy, a Mexican mock orange and a pieris as the feature plants. Other plants will be gathered together and planted round them.

The Shaded Island bed also got its reno – we removed a scraggy pittosporum, a native bush that was very ugly, a dying crab apple and replaced them with Japanese maples and a smoke bush.

While Warren was here helping in the garden one task I asked him to do was to dig up some clumps of daffodils that had been planted some time ago. These clumps had become so congested that they weren’t flowering. We got a bucket of both normal sized daffodils and also a bucket of miniature ones. When I counted them out into batches of between 10 and 12 I discovered that we had nearly 150 of each! No wonder they weren’t flowering that’s a lot of bulbs in a small area. We divided them up and planted them in drifts and clumps around the new Sunny Island bed and in the renovated Shaded Island Bed. Predominantly the miniatures were planted closer to the house with the larger ones further away.

We also planted another 50 tulips which I ordered from a mail order company. There were 10 each of 5 different colours and these were planted around the base of the newly planted trees. We are so lucky in that it gets cold enough here for us to leave them in the ground and not force them by putting them in the crisper of the fridge. In time when they multiply we will have lots of tulips round the trees (I planted lots last year) and drifts of daffodils throughout the garden.

We finished the initial planting of both beds and heavily mulched with pea straw. Last year we used pine bark but unfortunately it wasn’t the most effective mulch. The rose garden was completely mulched in pea straw and it was amazingly effective – the rose garden was irrigated only about 8 times during the long hot summer and we put it down to the fact that the pea straw mulch was very effective. There are draw backs – its not as tidy as the bark mulch and it isn’t as fire aware either. One of the most annoying things is that there are peas still in the straw and they germinate and you get lots of pea seedlings growing – at one stage in the rose garden we had so many that we looked like we were growing our own mulch! However pea straw does breakdown relatively easily and when dug into the soil adds great organic matter which pine bark doesn’t. In fact pine bark is fairly acidic and as it slowly breaks down it changes the pH of the soil significantly. The volcanic soil here is already on the acid side of neutral so we don’t want to make it even more acidic if we can avoid it.

The following weekend we went to GrowMaster and bought 6 trees – three Canadian maples, two claret ashes and another Liquidamber – these have all been put in the New Forest along with other trees we had collected over the past couple of months including three small liquidambers, a copper beech and a tulip tree. All these trees are well known for their showy colours in autumn but they are also lovely trees for the other seasons too particularly the copper beech and the tulip tree which in 7 years time will flower with tulip like blooms. In the meantime while we wait for it to flower we can marvel and the extraordinary shaped leaves and the butter yellow they turn in autumn.

In mid April Tim, Marcus’s eldest brother, and his wife Liesa moved into their new architect designed house. They are not gardeners at all and the majority of their double block is taken up with the large house and a tennis court. However, they do have flower beds close to the house and around the deck. They asked me to draw up some designs for a low maintenance garden. I was thrilled to be asked and we had a long discussion about what they wanted and if they had a vision of what they wanted. While they didn’t really know what they wanted they did know what they wanted it to look like. As the house is very modern and the walls are rendered a pale grey they felt that monochromatic colour scheme of basically white with silver foliage on the path ways and blue-green from the foliage of pencil pines and rosemary with was appropriate.

I drew up plans which they really liked and we were given the go ahead to purchase the plants. The large bed that faced north and ran the entire length of the house from the front door to the deck was to be planted up with ground cover roses with a pale pink rosemary hedge under the window. Next to the front door larger scented shrub roses. Around the deck were phormiums, agaves and yukkas giving it a bit of a tropical feel and the east facing bed from the drive to the front door which is fairly shaded we decided on white single camellias, with a Mexican mock orange at the front door providing both white flowers and a beautiful scent in spring.

In two weekends we had purchased all the plants and Marcus had dug them in. It was an instant make over almost like Backyard Blitz! I didn’t take any photos as the roses looked like sticks and the postage stamp sized lawn hasn’t been laid yet but once it has established itself I will be taking photos for the diary.

In early spring we went and saw the garden ‘Birchwood’ which is in Mt Helen and only 5 minutes drive from our house. We were so impressed with the garden and the fact that the owner was so willing to chat and share her experiences we promised ourselves that when it was going to reopen in the autumn we would go and see it again.

We took Marcus’s Mum, Helen, with us and the garden is such a joy. She has worked very hard to produce a garden and clearly spends lots of time in it. The birches were just changing but the Japanese maples and other deciduous trees were in full autumn colour and looked wonderful.

We spent a long time chatting to her and asking what some of the plants were as we weren’t able to identify them all. There was one tree that was stunning and she told us it was a Tupelo. I decided there and then that I wanted one!

The must have Tupelo

She has 4 damns on the property and each one of them was down to the bottom. She has struggled to keep the water to the plants as we have and she confirmed that it was a dreadful summer with much less rain than usual. However they believe that the more normal winter pattern has exerted itself and we should get a good wet winter. Here’s hoping.

After visiting the garden we went out to Rocklyn’s Rose Nursery which re-opened that weekend after their summer closure. Barb and Ron are delightful and we love going there not just for the roses but for a chat. They too have struggled with water and as a result were having a sale to clear their stock. This was incredibly fortunate for us as we were out there to pick up a few roses for us for the new garden beds but also for Tim and Liesa’s garden. We walked out of there with 8 ‘Margaret Merrills’ and 6 Meilland Albas for Tim and Liesa and 2 Abraham Darbys, 2 Mayor of Casterbridges and one Retoute for us. We also identified the orange rose that was sold to us as the red Falstaff – its Brandy. It’s a lovely cut rose and we will be moving it this winter to the cutting garden.

May 2006

By the end of April it turned very wintery and thru out May it rained every day of the month except for 6 days and for most of the time we were up in the clouds. The big tank (which we use for watering the garden) was almost full and the house tank was half full. The rain was welcomed by all.

The only problem was that with such wet weather we weren’t able to do much in the garden. However this did give us time to plan and also to organise a day of planting gum and wattle seedlings down the lane in the bottom paddock. It has always been Marcus’s intention to plant native indigenous gums and wattles down the lane side in the lower paddock making a nature corridor from the Union Jack reserve to the Mt Buninyong Scenic Reserve. Both are very heavily wooded and both have large koala populations but due to old gums not being replaced on private properties once they fell down there were some significant breaks in the nature corridor between the two reserves.

Some months before, the local Landcare group approached us and asked if we wanted to plant up a nature corridor and M informed them that he had already planned to do so. They offered us half price trees which we gladly accepted and then heard nothing more from them. As a result we ended up getting 250 seedlings and the necessary plastic guards and bamboo stakes ourselves.

We gathered together members of the family and altogether we had 7 people planting and guarding while Mick ran Scanky up and down the hill turning the soil over so that it was much easier to plant. After just over 2 hrs all the seedlings were planted and guarded and the cold and tired workers came in to a warm house and a massive Sunday lunch!

I have to say that I am a bit concerned as I saw the nature corridor as a fire corridor linking us to the Union Jack Reserve which biggest bush fire threat to our property. Marcus did his best to reassure me - I remain somewhat unconvinced but Marcus isn’t worried and in time the koalas will be happily romping up the hill and into the scenic reserve.

..ooOOOoo..

After such a good spring with excellent rainfall it was heartbreaking to watch as the establishing plants struggled. Over the summer we lost several trees that were planted the previous autumn including three liquidambers. We also lost the three tree ferns as we just couldn’t get enough water to them for them to establish.

Our attempts to bring summer colour into the main garden will in time work and more drought tolerant perennials will be planted in the verandah bed and in the new sunny crescent bed but our principle summer garden will be the rose garden with the main garden providing interest and colour during spring and autumn. It’s a shame that the main garden doesn’t at the moment show interest in all seasons but as some plants become more established and we source others that will survive on little water more interest will develop – believe me I am far from beaten yet!

Gardening is an ongoing learning process and there are times of frustration when things don’t work out as planned or nature conspires against you. Then there are the times of pure joy at seeing the first bloom on a treasured plant or the vista you planned worked even better than you thought it would.

December 2005

Summer on the mountain is a time for watering and maintenance. This summer was no different except that we had more to water and maintain this year than last. Early in December we had a violent storm with strong winds and hail which did considerable damage to the garden and in particular the rose garden much to our disappointment. New growth was beaten down and broken but roses are resilient and new growth reappeared fairly quickly.

Just before Christmas, Marcus did a flying visit to Rocklyns (leaving me at home to cook for the family feast). He was out there to get two roses as a house warming present (or should that be a garden warming present!) and he came back with the gifts and more roses for us to plant, 2 ‘Charles Austins’ and one ‘Glamis Castle’. Charles Austin is a favourite of Marcus’s – he had two at the old house and it is a vigorous shrub rose with pale yellow blooms. Glamis Castle is a low growing shrub rose with white blooms. Glamis Castle will be planted in the autumn in the rose garden in a gap between Falstaff (crimson) and Evelyn (pale peach). We have not assigned a place for the Charles Austins yet.

On all the verandah posts where we have planted a climbing rose we have also planted clematises. Last year in their first year they didn’t do particularly well, however they clearly have established nicely and we got a lovely display of both roses and clematises in flower together.

We also got a lovely display of lilies – each year we get more as they multiply but we also have had some surprises too where last year there were no lilies this year some have appeared. We can only assume that the marauding rabbits ate them last year and left them alone this year. Out side the French Windows into the Monet Garden some beautiful orange ones put on a particularly spectacular display.

However much you plan and design, sometimes some pure luck provides a fabulous combination. When we moved from 1121 we dug up our lilies and planted them in the Verandah bed. We got a few blooms last year but they were not established. Behind the lilies was a clump of red hot pokers which didn’t send up a single flower head last year but did this year. We incredibly lucky as the lilies and pokers were almost the same yellow. I couldn’t have designed it better had I tried!

December ended in a heatwave and the high temperatures damaged the roses and killed three of the liquidambers we planted over the winter. We didn’t realise it then but they were the first casualties of a long hot dry summer.

January 2006

Throughout January the hot and dry weather continued. The “lawn” died quickly despite efforts to keep it green as our fire buffer. The rest of the garden needed considerable watering regularly. It was heartbreaking to watch as new plants struggled. The flowering dogwood was a regular struggler and various rhodos and camellias also showed signs of not coping. We did our best to keep them going but we were concerned that our water supply from the big tank might not be adequate for the whole summer. We made some hard choices and only the new plants ended up being regularly watered and the others were watered sporadically if showing signs of distress.

The rose garden however continued to perform. There were times when they did need water but the heavy pea straw mulch was very effective and meant that we only needed to water the roses deeply once a week if there had been no rain. Amazingly over the course of the entire summer the irrigation system was put on about only 6 times.

Early in January we went to an open garden, Maranghurk, just 50kms south of us at Meredith. It was an old 1840s homestead which had been added to recently and the gardens were very new and a work-in-progress.

It was very hot by the time we got there – 40 degrees was forecast - and we didn’t spend that long there in part due to the fact that while we were there we smelt smoke. As we were due south of Buninyong and the wind was blowing from the north we thought that we should head home and check that all was okay. En route home we passed the fire which was some 20ks from the garden. This was the start of the Anakie fire which burnt thru the Brisbane Ranges claiming three properties, one of which was the weekender of good friends of ours, Ray and Paul.

The garden at Maranghurk was impressive in its conception but lacked in the execution. I think in part due to the fact that it was still being developed but also they tried too much in a small area and probably with too little water. The rose garden was sunken but was mainly hard landscaping as a result with too few roses – M felt ours was better and I agreed.

There was one border that was fantastic – all silver and pale blue plants – on such a hot day it was wonderfully cool.

The following day we had a ‘Sister Visit’ with Pearl, Xtian, Rowan and David coming up for Sunday lunch. It was another scorching day and they arrived at 11.00 and said that it was significantly cooler here than it was in Melbourne! We knew that we got cooler weather most of the time but nice to have it confirmed.

All being keen gardeners we did a brisk garden tour – it was too hot to spend long outside. We had of course spent some time preparing for their visit but the weather had taken its toll on the plants and the garden was looking far from its best. Mountain and woodland gardens are at their best in Spring and Autumn and despite the fact we have tried to bring some summer interest to the main garden it still remains at its most interesting in the cooler seasons. However we did have a great display in the gazebo bed.

The rose garden was also still looking good in spite of the fact that the strong wind had broken some of the newer shoots and had blown the petals off the older flowers. On Friday there wasn’t a deadhead, on Sunday there were plenty! The potager also was performing – the tomatoes were a jungle, the herbs miniature forests and the cutting roses throwing out lots of flowers.

The pots we planted up on the drive way were also still providing us with colour. The impatiens thrive in the shade which is good for they don’t get much sun on the driveway

Rowan and David came with a generous gift of a Black Mulberry. To fit it in the car they had to take the top off which will mean that it won’t grow into a tall tree but a sizable shrub which is perfect for our miniature orchard we are starting in the ‘fillet of land’ between the rose garden and potager. We have already planted a lime tree and a lemon tree which were growing very well. The Black Mulberry will be planted on the East side of the path up by the hedge and in the winter we will plant a peach and a nectarine too. The peach and nectarine will be ‘double planted’ ie both trees in the one hole. This will mean that neither tree will reach full size which is what we want (two full size trees will shade the potager) but they will develop into a well shaped orchard tree providing us with more than enough fruit over the summer.

January ended with several days of rain replenishing our dwindling water supplies much to our relief. The tank for the house is still three quarters full but the tank for the garden is about one third full. With all the hot weather we watered the garden diligently and each time we do a full water (6 weeper hoses and overhead hand watering of the beds that don’t have weeper hoses) the level drops by about 10cms. We have discovered that 10cms in the tank can be replenished by 10mm of rain falling steadily. A 10mm deluge tends to overflow from the gutters and doesn’t get transferred to the tank. With the steady rain we got we didn’t need to get water carted in as we thought we might.

February 2006

Early in February I drew up two designs for the garden. The first was for a utility area where I can hang out the washing to dry on a clothes line. Marcus hates seeing washing out on other peoples properties and has so far refused to let me put up a line. After a bit of persuasion he has agreed to let me put up a Hills Hoist. I am thrilled. I have gotten very fed up of having clothes airers in the lounge for days at a time. Its not so bad when there's a fire going as things dry quickly but in the summer they don't dry as quickly. I also love the smell of clothes dried outside - in winter they smell of the fire and also of the cooking and in summer just don't smell as fresh as they could. As for the sheets - we hang them to dry in the spare bathroom over the shower curtain rail and over the door.

The new utility area is next to the two tanks which hold the water for the house and the machinery shed. We have three big trellises which will be positioned in a staggered formation; two foremost with a entry way between them and the third trellis further back in the middle screening the entryway. All will have roses climbing over them. In time they will be a feature but totally disguising the utility area. Under the hills hoist I plan to plant lavender and also along one side I shall plant a combo of lavender and rosemary with a wire line stretched over the shrubs so I can dry my pillowslips on the lavender bushes and my tea towels over the rosemary bushes so they will smell extra nice.

The second design was for the verandah on the west side of the house which overlooks the Monet Garden. Currently it is covered in scoria and the dogs bring in so much dust from the area into the house it’s a constant battle to keep on top of it. At the old house we had put down small stones in the back garden and they needed almost as much maintenance as lawn with the constant raking and weeding. Luckily not many weeds grow in the scoria but it doesn’t look very nice and provides plenty of housework with the dust. We initially thought we would have the area paved to match the other verandahs but a quote scotched that idea so I drew up a design for stencilled concrete (that will look like paving) which will provide us with a small terrace and steps down into the Monet Garden.

On a trip to Mitre 10 to price Hills Hoists we also checked out the plants and found liquidambers for $12 so we bought 3, plus a different type of Liquidamber which has slightly variegated leaves. We wont' be able to plant them until late autumn but they were such a good price we had to get them. We love them and have lots already but they go the most wonderful colours in the autumn you can't have too many of them. We also found at long last a Forest Pansy at a decent price - normally they are so expensive but this one needs just a little bit of TLC so was a bit reduced. They too go the most fantastic colours in the autumn and have lovely red flowers in the spring.

The whole of the summer had been a very lazy time in the garden with very little activity other than watering but the season ended in a flurry of activity. Lynn Ann’s brother, Warren, took some time off work to spend 3 months in Australia with his mother and father and to be in Ballarat with LA, Jules and Tanner. He was looking for some pocket money to supplement his extended holiday from Montreal and we found some jobs for him in the ga