Back To The Usual Jobs and The Start Of A New One ... My Downunder Dry Tropics Garden Journal - Week 12, 2011

Date:  March 26, 2011

Season:  first month of Autumn and the last month of the 'wet' season

(Gardening Zone:  'Dry Tropics' area located in the northern Tropical Zone/Australia ... comparable to the U.S. Zone 11)

The dreary Autumn conditions have continued.  It's been dark, gloomy and dismal here most days.

The sun only gets the occasional look in!

The upside though, is that when there's grey cloud-cover, it feels slightly cooler and, of course, there's a break from the intense sunshine.  The rain seems to be abating as well now, so we can spend all day outside without running for cover every couple of hours.  

So, given that the arduous task of cleaning up after the cyclone is now over, it was time to get back to our usual gardening tasks and enjoy the company of the butterflies and dragonflies.

As the ground has dried out somewhat my other half did the mowing and whipper-snipping ... and that's a full weekend's job at our place.  So the whole place is starting to look like itself once more.  I, on the other hand, was able to get out into the Shadehouse and Courtyard Garden areas.  These had been rather neglected of late, but with the break in the heat and the rain I've had a chance to do something worthwhile.  It was so enjoyable to be back doing the more typical gardening jobs.

Out in the Shadehouse, it was time for yet another tidy up.  Our 'wet' season provides perfect conditions for Nephrolepis biserrata, the Giant Sword Fern, to go beserk in there and it takes over quickly.  Can you see it climbing over the top of the other plants?  I had ripped out a trailer load of it early in the year and this weekend I think I pulled out a couple more wheelbarrow loads worth.  I do love this monster fern though, as it helps create the lush tropical environment close to our house.

So many of the plants out in the shadehouse have come through the 'wet' and the summer very well with only a few exceptions, which is fabulous when compared to so many other areas on the property.  There has been some damage from the hungry grasshopper hordes ... always a problem during our summers.  They seem to love the Cordylines and the Stromanthe in the shadehouse.

The major casualty though appears to be the potted Coleus that were scattered in amongst the plants.  Most have withered and died during the endless weeks of rain.  There was only one healthy specimen left ... as seen in the photo below.  Still, there are plenty of cuttings that can take their place.  Coleus are one of the easiest plants to strike, so I always have plenty in little seedling pots.

It was a pleasure to stand back at the end of the morning clean-up and take a look around the lush environment of the shadehouse.   I think I was singing!  Here's a little of what I saw ....

 Inky Fingers Coleus and Nephrolepsis

 Dracaena marginata

 Costus productus

Rex Begonias

 Costus or Sprial Gingers

Calathea.

It was also lovely to be able to stroll down the pathway once again ... it's far too dangerous out there during the relentless wet weather.  I slip and slide all over the place and have had quite a few falls, so it's almost become a no-go zone during our 'wet' season.  Anyway, finally I'm now able to see into all corners of the Shadehouse Garden.

Out in the Courtyard Garden it was time to fertilise.  The torrential rainfall really does leach the soil in the pots and it's great to have a break in the rain to be able to give the survivors some much needed sustenance.

There's still plenty of room for all the potted annuals, but I haven't had a chance to pot up the seedlings yet ... I found another job to do!

The cyclone damage and resulting clean-up have left quite a few ugly spots around the place ... and there's one particular spot that's really been irking me no end.  It's at the end of our driveway right next to our carshed.  There was a huge Bauhinia tree in this spot previously and now that it's been reduced to a stump the whole area was looking so bare.

So, not being blessed with a bottomless pit of spare cash, I have to make do with what's already available at my place.   I spent an entire morning putting in a rock edge to this space ... there are rocks aplenty around here!  

I didn't take any before shots, but take it from me it looked bad!

Here's the spot now with all the rocks in place ... you can see the Bauhinia stump (just in front of the gate panel). showing signs of re-growth.

Now I've got the start of another little garden bed ... an opportunity I wasn't expecting.

It needs plant, of course, and they will have to be quite hardy as this is one spot that's going to be a challenge for plants.  It's in full sun, doesn't have any watering system in place, and we're about to start our long 'dry' season, so I need waterwise choices.  At the moment there's a Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Roseflake', an Acalypha wilkesiana and a skinny little Graptophyllum in the bed.  The white Bauhinia is sitting outside the bed.

Some plants I already have:

two Galphimia glaucas or Gold Shower shrubs which have red stems and golden yellow flowers all year round,

a Turnera ulmifolia which also has yellow blooms that last all year

and two Cuphea hyssopifolias which are also non-stop bloomers with their lovely little purple flowers.










So there's the start of the planting.  I've put out the pots to see what they would look like ... and to choose positions for them.  In the end I just clustered them all together.  Of course, the bed needs more work before I can plant them but I'll leave them there to get acclimatised.

I would really love something else that would add that 'punch' of colour.  On the other side of the driveway there's a shrub that's been hiding away ever since we moved in here over ten years ago now.  It was growing under the canopy of some trees and always looked rather scraggley and not all that interesting.    Well ... ever since the canopy was damaged and then removed after Cyclone Yasi, this shrub has suddenly bloomed.

It's still scraggley ... definitely needs a trim ... but take a look at these gorgeous flowers and wonderful foliage.

I think it would look fantastic in amongst all the green and yellow in the new garden bed.  I'm pretty sure it's a variety of Graptophyllum ... and I would appreciate it greatly if someone recognises it and could give me its' varietal name.  I have taken cuttings from this one, but would really love to get mature plants to add to the bed sooner than it will take for the cuttings to flourish ...  Can anyone help?

I was also thinking of adding a couple of these beauties as well ....

... Turnera subulata.  I would dearly love to have more of these around my place.