Calendula officinalis aka pot marigold a greet self seeder in my home garden

Calendula officinalis the plant that keeps on giving

Calendula or pot marigold is a very popular and common annual flower in many ornamental gardens throughout the world. In fact it is so commonplace that I found inconclusive results as to which region this plant originates. Some sources say Europe and others India. It can grow to about 80cm tall in extreme cases and can be used in mass plantings as a complete ground cover. Calendula has many medicinal, companion planting, culinary and even cosmetic uses which I will write about in another blog entry.

Self seeding 

I planted Calendula in one of my flower beds at home a couple of years ago and it is still going strong to this day. Being an annual plant Calendula's tactic for reproductions is to produce as many seeds as it can which fall to the ground after the flowers are done. The flowers are at their best in spring and summer however in Melbourne they can pretty much have some sort of flower on display all year round. The seeds have an interesting shape and remind me of little dried and curled up millipedes. The first year they sprouted in my garden from self sown seeds I originally thought they could be forget me not seedlings (forget me nots are a bit of a weed in my area depending on whether you like them  or not). Luckily I suspected they could be Calendula seedlings and let them develop into full plants.

Escape artist

Calendula is such a successful self seeder that it can escape if you let it. It is not fussy about soil conditions and I have seen it growing in my Macedon garden in between pavers where the soil would be quite poor. If you want it to self seed as I do then leaving a few plants to die off naturally will ensure they are perpetual garden residents. If you don't want them around any more it is important to dead head or pull out the plants once they develop seed heads (see below the picture below).

Calendula flowers in my Macedon garden during early summer.

A close up of a Calendula seed head loaded with seed. If you don't want any more pot marigolds then you need to make sure these little seed bombs don't hit the ground.

The pros and cons of self seeding plants

Self seeding plants

This summer I've noticed several self seeding plants popping up in the garden at home and at work.

Self seeding weeds

In some cases self seeding plants are seen as a nuisance. The definition of a weed is 'a plant out of place'. This means anything that self seeds that you think of as being a nuisance can be classified as a weed. The trick to managing self seeding weeds it to remove them before they grow seed thereby eliminating their method of reproduction (easier said than done). Examples of notorious self seeding weeds are dandelions, plantains, clover and many others.

Desirable self seeding plants

If a self seeding plant that has miraculously grown all by itself is desirable then there is nothing more magical than watching a plant you love materializing all own its own. One of the best things about a desirable self seeder (apart from the fact that you have had to do nothing to grow it) is that they are sometimes superior to plants you have sown yourself.

Examples of desirable self seeding plants

One example of this is an echinacea plant that sowed itself at my work garden. The funny thing is that we were trying to grow this particular form of echinacea but it only grew very small. We couldn't keep the poor little thing alive and forgot all about it. The next season a massive Echinacea plant sprouted up less than one metre away from the original one on the opposite side of a path that separates the two locations. The self sown plant is huge (almost twice the size of the original). Another example is a massive sunflower that self seeded also at work. It has to be the biggest sunflower that I've ever seen. The plant grew without any help whatsoever and the single flower head was huge (see the picture below). The other very popular example of self seeding is that of self seeding edible plants (parsley, chives, chard, lettuce and many others).

Annual flowers are by nature great self seeders. Annuals (lasting only one year) obviously need to be good self seeders to keep propagating themselves. Annuals I have at home that have done this include amaranthus, pansies, sunflowers and hollyhocks. Hopefully next year I can add poppies and calendula to that list.

This is the seed head from the self seeded sunflower. Unfortunately it was in bloom when I was on leave from work so I couldn't get a picture of it in its full glory. I'll save all those seeds and plant them at home next spring.

Amaranthus that grew itself in my home garden. Note all the annuals in the background that I've purposely left to run to seed. They should add to next years warm season annual display.

Below is the humble pansy. These little troopers keep reproducing themselves year after year. Heaps of them sprouted in my annual bed of my Macedon home last spring.

Spring has sprung in my Macedon garden 2013

Things have been really busy on the garden front this spring (hence the lack of October blog entries). My private weekend gardening jobs have really picked up due to the change of seasons and I've been cutting down jungle thick front / backyards almost every weekend. My first weekend with no jobs was one which I planned to do my own lawns and other garden jobs but I was feeling burnt out garden wise and the garden has suffered as a result. The lawn is getting quite long with plantain weeds sending up their flower spikes everywhere. The weeds in the garden beds have started to grow steadily but luckily they are not as bad as they could be due to some really early spring weeding that I completed.

That said, I have kept on top of a few other garden goals at home other than the mowing and weeding. So far I have made sure that I plant some seeds every weekend and it is starting to pay off with lots of veggies and flowers shooting up. The veggies done from seed have been bush beans, climbing beans (blue lake), loose leaf lettuce and Galangal (well technically not a seed but a planting nonetheless). All have sprouted bar the Galangal and I am really hoping that it does grow because I have never grown or tasted it. On the flower side of things I have lots of sunflowers popping up from seed I collected from last years flowers that I planted in Parkville (click on this link to see them when in flower http://aggregata.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/lillies-echinacea-and-sunflowers.html). I've also been nurturing the herb garden at home and finally have a good selection of herbs at hand for cooking. Another really pleasing sight in my garden are flowers that have self seeded from last years annuals including black Pansies and Hollyhocks! I really hope the Hollyhocks take off and tower above the rest of the flowers come summer. My Garlic crop looks almost ready so I should be harvesting in a few weeks or so. Unfortunately some animal nipped the tops off a  quarter of my Garlic crop (looking at the animal tracks I think it may have been a Wombat). Whatever it was it came back 3 times at night but since then has not returned.

All in all this spring has seen many successes in terms of growing new plants and a few inevitable failures along the way but I guess that is part of the learning experience. I think this weekend maintenance on my home garden is a must or things will really start getting crazy. Time to start pushing the old mower :)

A mass of cottage flower goodness

This picture of the Kniphofia flowers was taken early spring (maybe the first week). I'm really glad this plant flowered as it was a bit of a gamble as I've never seen any growing in the colder Macedon climate. The good thing is that I had these flowers showing for much longer than the Kniphofias in Melbourne. The down side is that the foliage of the plant looked a little stressed due to winter frost. 

Another early spring picture of my Tulips with Aquilegias in the background. These Tulips were planted last year and came back with a vengeance. 

The Garlic is looking really strong this year. I have been eating the small bulbs and planting the bigger ones for the last 3 years in the hope of producing a better crop.

Polyanthus flowers are still going strong.

I planted lots of Violas this year and this one is my favorite. I love the colouring it reminds me of fire.

Heaps of yellow and also orange Calendula flowers are starting to burst.

One of the big success stories are my Snow Peas. They are really heavy croppers. One of my daughters rushes out to pick them every morning and there are still lots left over when I get home from work. Here is a link to when they started out http://aggregata.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/snow-pea-climbing-frame-construction.html. There is also Broccoli, Broad Beans and Bush Beans in there.

This unassuming little fellow is one of many pansies that self seeded from last years flowers. 

Not sure what this beautiful plant with the pink flowers is called. It must be something incredibly common as it grew from a 'cottage garden mix' of seeds. Unfortunately I lost the packet so I can't identify it. I'm sure one of my fellow gardeners will know its name....... Several months later I was told this goes by the common name of 'Corncockle'.

Below are Aquilegias that have been going strong for 2 years now. I got them when I was working at Stephen Ryan's nursery 'Dicksonia Rare Plants' on Mount Macedon. They were growing in the path like a weed and a fellow employee suggested I take them home and plant them.

Icelandic Poppies that I grew from seed are still popping open. They really are an awesome flower and keep opening up one after the other for a long time.

My better half loves planting Australian natives in the front yard and the Grevilleas are on show right now. 

This is the very first rose from the David Austin rose bush that I won in a competition earlier in the year. It is not much to look at now as it is just unfurling but in a few days it should be in all its glory. I never used to like roses but since after winning this and another in a competition I have become quite obsessed by them.

My 'herb boat' the SS Herbsman is fully loaded with Lettuce, Coriander, Continental Parsley, Curly Parsley, Oregano, Chives, Rocket and for some strange reason Brocolli. The frame in the background is for my climbing beans. My god look at the length of the lawn. Its as though the boat is sailing on a sea of grass.

There it is, my favorite pocket of the garden in its entirety. Rambling, out of control and absolutely packed with plants both edible and ornamental. Just the way I like it.

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.

My Macedon garden winter update

WINTER IN MY MACEDON GARDEN

All plant growth at my home garden in Macedon is starting to slow as winter is finally here. It has been a while since my last entry as I've had several colds lately and have been busy with other things including my horticulture study. On top of that we have had heaps of rain here lately and some of it has been really heavy to the point where I was worried about small seedlings getting damaged. To be honest I find it quite difficult to get outside and garden at home in the winter especially after a day of gardening at my work in Parkville. Nevertheless I suppose I have accomplished some things over the last month at home including cutting the lower branches off my dreaded Cypress tree in the front yard and also propagating some new plants. Almost all the garlic I planted some weeks ago has now sprouted and it looks like I will get over 130 bulbs at harvest time. I have discovered that there is a food swap service at the Woodend market near my home town where you can take produce and swap it for other food products. When my garlic is harvested I'm going to go there are swap some of it for other things as I'm sure I'll have lots more than I can eat. I am also still trying to nurse an Australian native frangipani tree through the cold Macedon winter. Lots of people have told me that you can't grow them in Macedon but I'm hoping that if I can get it through the frosts of winter by protecting it with polythene then It will be big enough to survive the next winter on its own.

I loved this winter Iris the moment I saw it in Parkville. I propagated several of them by division about a year ago and bought them home to Macedon last year and for the first time they are now flowering. I'm not sure exactly of the species but I think it is called Iris histrioides.

To be honest the pictures of my Acer palmatum (Japanese maple) were taken a few weeks ago and they are now bare but I couldn't resist showing it off in its autumn glory.

This is the view from my lounge room of the maple. I wish I had pictures of it when it had more leaves on it. These sort of trees really excel in Macedon compared to in Melbourne. The cooler weather here really makes them (and any other similar deciduous trees) colour up really nicely. 

My Nasturtiums which I propagated from seed are really booming in the cold of winter.By the time it is flowering season I'll have heaps on them on show.

The good old scarlet broadbean plant that sowed itself from last years fallen beans is still kicking along nicely. 

Below is my Kniphofia plant that I obtained from Parkville by dividing a clump. Its grown very large in the year since I planted it and is due to start sending up its flower spike any day now. I'm a bit concerned about those yellow spots and tips. Not sure exactly as to what they are.

 No it's not a garden bed full of weeds, it's my annual flower bed with small seedlings planted in it. I lost some of the seedlings due to the really heavy rain we had here not long ago.

Below is my treasured native frangipani (Hymenosporum flavum) in its protective plastic covering.

This is what it currently looks like. It is about 1 metre tall and is indigenous to Queensland and New South Wales in Australia. I really hope I can get it to grow into a mature tree. The first time somebody showed me this tree it was in full flower and I could smell its perfume from over 10 metres away. 

 

I've been a bit obsessed by succulents lately and below is one of many that I have propagated from cuttings. I don't know the genus or species.

 

 Two of the several Aeonium cuttings I did in April this year. They have all grown roots and are displaying healthy growth. The link on how to propagate them is below if you are interested.

http://aggregata.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/how-to-propagate-aeoniums-from-cuttings.html

 Another different type of Aeonium growing well from a cutting.

After publicly disliking Geraniums (or more accurately Pelargoniums) for many years I found one that I couldn't resist taking some cutting from and planting them in a large pot outside my daughters bedroom window. I let the cuttings dry for 3 days (probably not ideal) before planting them. I was worried they might not work but I'm fairly sure they have grown roots. Pelargoniums are famous for being one of the easiest plants to strike from a cutting.

 

Well this next picture to most people could well be the most boring picture of a plant in the world however when I first saw this I was really excited. That is because it is the first of my Clivia seeds to sprout above the level of the potting mix. It took just over 3 months for this to appear as Clivias are notoriously slow growing plants. A link to propagation instructions is below.

 http://aggregata.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/clivia-seed-collection-and-propagation.html 

This little trooper is 1 of 2 Streptocarpus plants I propagated in March last year. I'm not a fan of these and had to prop them for my horticulture studies. I haven't done anything to care for them and they have somehow survived. I think I might actually show them some love and pot them on to a larger home.

Last of all is 1 of 2 garden beds loaded with garlic. It is all doing very well and it should be a bumper crop at the end of the year.