Parkville garden spring update

As the saying goes 'spring has finally sprung' in Melbourne and the garden I work in at Parkville is showing signs of new growth everywhere. It is so nice to be working outside with the sun shining on my back. We have had some fairly serious spring weather of late including winds that ripped through the garden at over 100km per hour! There has also been a few days where we experienced really heavy rainfall. Despite the weather the garden is still looking chirpy with new growth popping up everywhere and in another month or so it should start to look its best with most of the warm weather plants in bloom or just starting to pop open. My current favorite garden bed (the annual bed) is finally showing all of the flowers on the plants I planted there in winter. I have sown seeds including giant Hollyhocks and Zinnias in tubes ready to restock the annual bed for later in the year. I will post another update on the Parkville garden in a month or two when everything is firing at its peak.

The annual bed as it was a couple of months ago

 The annual bed as it is now. This time I planted Kale, Pansies, Violas, Cinerarias and Stocks

These Cinerarias look so much more blue in real life than in these photos. They were at their best about a week ago and are now starting to show some signs of old age.

These next two pictures are of the beds at the entrance. The Echium simplex flowers are almost all open. Also visible in the first picture is are some tree Euphorbias (Euphorbia lambii). In the second shot you can see the Hellebore flowers are still hanging on for dear life in the warm weather and behind them is a Salvia leucantha bush we pruned in the winter.

 

Below is a plant called a Sonchus (not sure of the species). Before this plant flowered I thought it was quite boring but now it has opened it sure is a head turner. It reminds me of a giant dandelion and is nudging 2 metres in height.

We have lots of bluebells in various locations in the gardens and they are all open at the moment.

 

One of the classic Melbourne plants, an Azalea.

This spring the Clivias are putting on a much better show than last year. They must have just the right conditions.

I really like this last plant. It is an Alyogyne which believe it or not is a plant indigenous to Australia. I occasionally  come across plants such as this that seem to look anything but Australian and it surprises me. I love the huge purple flowers. 

Winter flowering plants in Parkville

It's a common misconception that plants do not flower in winter. In Melbourne this is definitely not the case and I am a great believer in winter flowering plants they provide attractive colour  in the garden when the deciduous trees have lost their leaves. Although we are now approaching the middle of winter there are lots of beautiful plants in bloom at my work. Strangely the weather has been unseasonably warm lately with several days approaching 20 Celsius after frosty mornings. The warmer temperature makes gardening a lot more comfortably and to be honest I haven't hated the frosty mornings because, in Parkville, I have had lots of physical morning tasks that keep me warm. Of all the winter flowering plants my favorite has to be the Magnolia trees. There is one large specimen in Parkville that, so far, has not lost its buds to hungry possums. Last year it only had a handful of flowers due to bud loss but its looks as though it will fully flower this year.

Magnolia soulangiana. This could be my favorite tree and the flowers are just starting to pop.

The same tree as above. You can see how many flowers have already opened. This time last year we only had about half of what is shown here across the whole tree. Notice the sunny blue winter sky.

Hellebores are also starting to open. We have several different types in the Parkville garden.

Another Hellebore. Not sure of the variety but I'm fairly sure we sourced them from 'post office farm nursery' which is a grower up in Woodend near my home. They have open days on Sundays this time of the year. A link to their website is below.

http://www.postofficefarmnursery.com.au/

The annual bed is loaded with new plants. I planted Kale, Violas, Pansies, Cinerarias and Stocks. I also cannot bring myself to remove that small bunch of violets that have self seeded in the front of the bed. In a mont or so this bed should look fantastic.

I discovered this plant in flower whilst pruning some nearby Wisteria. It is called Luculia and its perfume smells amazing. 

The good old Salvia plant keeps flowering year round not just in winter.

Several bulbs have popped up out of the ground and this Jonquil seems to have beaten them all and flowering first.

Below is a Strelitzia or 'bird of paradise'. These plants are a common sight in many Melbourne gardens. They are tough plants which do not need much water.

Another one of my favs is the Kniphofia plant pictured below. The ones I propagated and planted at home have still not flowered but the ones in Parkville are in full bloom.