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Re: Self care by growing a garden

Has anyone ever had these Red Hot Poker (Kniphofia) plants @Smc @Former-Member @Shaz51 ?

I have always liked them (they look impressive) - yet I've never had them.

They were more common, years ago - seem less common now.

I haven't seen any in gardens recently.Flowers by the Sea | Salvia Mail Order Nursery

 

Re: Self care by growing a garden

The red hot poker that was in the back yard when we moved to our house had not been looked after and I soon got rid of it @Adge . The Velt lilies have a similar style flower, I probably would not have bought them but feel as there are plenty scattered throughout the garden they are useful and I can make a mass display of them.

Re: Self care by growing a garden

To clarify @Adge  when I mentioned the red hot poker had not been looked after, it was a big clump with heaps of dead foliage with some prickly asparagus fern woven throughout it.  Was not as attractive as the well maintained plant in your picture.

Re: Self care by growing a garden

My Jasminum mesnyi (Jasmine) is flowering - I'm so happy, because I have not seen flowers on it in ages.

It's a type of Jasmine (species) has has no Scent (perhaps the oJasminum mesnyi – plant – Plantslive – Buy Plants Online Indianly one).

 

Re: Self care by growing a garden

This is Jasminum polyanthum (pink flowering Jasmine) - it is strongly scented.

Sadly I haven't had one of these in many years (it died).

The pure grey sand (for soil) here, hot dry Summers (no rain at all) up to 43C - make it hard to establish many plants.

 

Jasminum polyanthum

Re: Self care by growing a garden

That is my kind of jasmine @Adge (No scent) 

While I like them to look at they give me dreadful allergies. 

Re: Self care by growing a garden

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Re: Self care by growing a garden

Jasmine flowers (eg Polyanthum) give many people allergies @Determined So do Freesias (apparently), I love Freesias.

That yellow-flowered Jasmine (mesnyi) won't cause you any allergy problems (no scent).

Adge

Re: Self care by growing a garden

Ended up getting some onion, leek and pansy seedlings today along with a "snowball tree". 

 

Viburnum opulus sterileViburnum opulus sterile

 

 

Re: Self care by growing a garden

Been busy the past couple of days with assorted "clean up" jobs. Pruning, some with secateurs, some with a saw. I've got some fruit trees that haven't been pruned for too long, and they've grown so tall that the cockies and the possums are the only ones to benefit from most of the fruit. Am working on bringing them back down low enough to both cover and to reach the fruit.

A big old buddleia had collapsed over a side fence, ages ago. Being an old fashioned post and wire fence (farm fence style) with scrap corrugated iron additions to the lower part and scrap steel plus wire netting oddment additions to the upper half, the buddleia had bent over the top half. So that's now been cut down to a stump, and the wire has been pulled back into shape, with some "rustic" extra supports made from some of the fruit tree branches.

I chopped up the little twiggy bits, and along with some weeds I pulled out, I put them along part of the pathway that I'm progressively covering with mulch. Then I've topped up over that stuff with tree shreddings from a local arborist. I'm making little pockets of soil in the sides of the path as I go for planting little groundcovers (mentioned previously). So the latest one to go in is a Labradorica violet, which has tiny puple-green leaves and little mauve flowers. Generally, it doesn't grow any taller than maybe 5-7 cms, so it'll be a good "spillover" groundcover.

I'm edging the path with second hand bricks that are part of our building materials stash. With our renovations "indefinitely delayed", I figure that if I put them to good use in a place where they can be easily retrieved when needed, I solve both my "unsightly storage" and my "need edging materials" problems at the same time. (Alternate edgers will be easy enough once everthing's had time to settle into place.)

And I've abandoned plans to make a PET bottle greenhouse... I've got a homemade polycarb sheet one now, and a glass one coming from my parents' house at some point. So a stash of bottles I'd been saving for that purpose have gone into the recycling bin. They were stored up in a disused animal pen under our big gum tree, and I need to clear out that area for further aborist work, namely taking out some of the lower branches of said tree. I've also got flowerpots stored in that area, and more building materials, and most of my potted plants, so I've got a lot of clearing out to do. Need to get it done ASAP so that the tree pruning is finished before the local birds start investigating nesting sites. Last year we had two magpie chicks raised in that gum tree, don't want to spoil their fun this year. 🙂

Viola labradoricaViola labradoricaInspiration pic for groundcover paths.Inspiration pic for groundcover paths.