Gazanias .... like rays of sunshine in a garden!



It's Summer here Downunder and our 'wet' season has started with a bang!   During December, which is the first month of our Summer, we experienced weeks of showery rain with thunderstorms, then a cyclone passed close by dumping torrential downpours of rain and over the whole month we had endless weeks of gloomy grey skies ... it's this time of year that one of my favourite perennials really struggles. 

Yes, it's true that Gazanias are heat tolerant, sun tolerant, drought tolerant .... so it definitely suits my dry tropics garden for most of the year.

Here in the southern hemisphere Gazanias are perennials and one of my all-time favourites.  Any sun-loving plant, that thrives in hot weather and survives on very little water is a welcome addition to my garden.

Right now, though, hot dry sunny spots are hard to find ... and the clumping Gazanias in my garden are not showing as many bright cheerful faces as usual. 

Usually these bold colourful sunrays burst open at sunrise and then close up for the night.  But when the sun is hiding behind a thick grey cloudcover that blankets the entire sky, they hide their bright shiny faces.

Our 'wet' season is such a hard time for these plants.  Too much water causes them to rot and too little sunshine means they start to die back.

I have finally learned my lesson regarding growing Gazanias here in my particular spot of north-eastern Australia.  Whilst they thrived all year round during the many drought years out in the garden beds, when the usual 'wet' Summer seasons returned just over two years ago, I had to re-think the way I used Gazanias in my garden.  There were huge clumps of them filling quite a few corners of my outdoor garden beds and I lost them all after the torrential rainy seasons soaked the ground for weeks and weeks.

So, now I have them planted in my garden beds only from Autumn through to Spring, which is our 'dry' season, but when the Summer arrives, they go straight into pots.  Doing this means I can now keep them going from one year to the next in this particular corner of the world!

I'm joining in the Today's Flowers meme today, so please pop over and visit this wonderful meme by clicking on this link: Flowers From Today

I'm also joining Noel's meme  Hot, Loud and Proud ...



... and Mary's meme Mosaic Monday



Neomarica longifolia - Yellow Walking Iris

When I say 'iris' most people think of bearded irises or flag irises ... these are commonly recognisable types.  But in my part of the world these plants cannot grow.  There is, however, one lovely iris that I have found easy to grow in a tropical garden.

It's the 'Yellow Walking Iris'.  This sun, heat, humidity and drought hardy plant stays green all year and grows in grassy clumps to around a metre in height . You can see clumps of Neomarica to the right of the photo below. 

I have lots of it growing in the protected environment of my greenhouse garden and in the shaded beds under my pergola, but it is also growing in full sun in some of my outdoor garden beds.  It is safe to say that this plant will tolerate the full spectrum of light, from full sun to fairly deep shade, although more sun always equals more flowers. It can even be grown indoors.

However, I find, the best location is a place where there is bright broken light.  When it is growing outdoors in the full sun,  the leaves do get a little burnt and perhaps don't look their best.  In spite of this, it is commonly used by landscapers for outdoor garden spaces ... we have lots of it growing in the beds at my school.

The sword like leaves grow in a fan shape, and are around 1 inch wide.

The plant flowers intermittently all year, peaking in the spring and summer. The delicate iris flowers are bright yellow with mottled brown spots.

Nearly open .... 

Open ...

Each flower lasts only one day, but another flower will quickly take it's place the following day.

As the flowers fade, tiny plantlets with air roots develop on their stems, and as these mature, their weight causes the leaves to bend down and touch the ground (ie ‘walk’).

The young plants then root and start the process all over again. If left to itself, after a few years, even a small clump of Walking Iris will ‘walk’ for quite some distance!

You can easily snip off the plantlets when air-roots appear, and either replant them for new plants, or just get rid of them – either way, clipping them off will promote more flowering.  The new plantlets will take 1 - 2 years to bloom, depending on climate and care.

Although Yellow Walking Iris will tolerate dry conditions quite well, it prefers moderately damp (but well drained) soil. Mulch is not necessary, and if it is used, it should not be heavy or packed closely around the bottom of the plants, as the rhizome roots may rot if soil is too moist. Water more often in warm months, keep fairly dry when cool.

Portulaca grandiflora - Sun Jewels

It's truly a jewel of a plant for any tropics garden ... Portulaca grandiflora is a  fabulous ground cover. 

It's low growing with rather fleshy leaves and brilliantly coloured flowers.  There are so many stunning colours ranging from white ...

 through to yellow ...

 orange ...

purple, pink and apricot.

 Some plants have bi-colours.

They are happy to grow in dry and hot conditions ... they love the full sun and a well-drained soil ... and they thrive on neglect.

It's a plant that doesn't need to be coddled.  Just water them when they're a bit dry and feed them lightly even now and then.  When it gets a bit leggy and looking rather scraggly, give a trim.  On top of all this, they are easily propagated ... just break off part of the stalk that's about to flower or is not flowering and stick it in some propagating mix or even straight into the ground.  It's that easy!

All Portulacas need sun for their flowers to open. The flowers of older varieties closed up around noon. But most plants sold today have blooms that stay open all day, only closing at night and on cloudy days.