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.

Cleaning the slate for my Macedon garden

The heat of Summer is definitely over and Autumn is bringing the cold weather back to my garden in Macedon. Luckily I'm on top of the gardening at home for a change so hopefully this year I will have a nice Winter garden. I've cleared the annual flowers and I bought some mushroom compost and dug it through the garden beds. One major job I'm glad to have completed is the planting of last years garlic crop. In total I've got over 150 cloves planted in 2 beds so that should equate to roughly 120 - 130 bulbs when harvested taking into account a few failures (rotten bulbs). I've got the new annuals growing in pots and some are ready to plant out. The new annuals are cornflowers, larkspurs, poppys, stocks, asters, pansies and snapdragons. The annuals are all growing under perspex coldframes which are ex display cases that I rescued from the rubbish tip. Also I've got 20 Haworthia succulents and several Aeoniums growing in small pots protected from the frost. I know it's not much to look at now but I've essentially wiped the slate clean and in a couple of months the beds will be full with colour.

The empty beds waiting to be planted out



Several Nasturtium plants that my daughters and I started from seed.

This one snapdragon from last year is still going strong the others were finished so I removed them.

An out of focus Rudbeckia. This plant was given to me by Mick from the local Macedon nursery near the general store. I had to do an assignment for TAFE which involved questioning him and photographing plant tags in his nursery. The fact that he gave me a plant after taking up all his time and messing around with his plants says lots about his character. I recommend you visit his nursery if you are in town he is a great guy.

The colframes steaming away on a cold Macedon day.

Several of the Haworthias in their pots. Such great little plants, they remind me of octopuses.

One crimson broad bean plant that self seeded from last years crop. I love it when plants self seed, its such a nice surprise (unless they are weeds self seeding).