Sharing a beautiful gardening experience with you.

COUCALS of MOUNT CROSBY

February is the worst gardening month in the year here in Brisbane.  To cheer myself up, I always think of the northern hemisphere and compare their weather at this time.  They would have heavy snow and bitterly cold and I immediately feel better.  At least we can get out and see some beautiful plants in the garden and early morning and late evening is not too bad.  Of course the tropical plants just love the heat and humidity. 

 

The loveliest thing about having a garden is being able to share it and over the years I have enjoyed walking around the garden with many visitors and my grandchildren.  I was walking around the garden with my little 20 month old grandson thinking this is just like when my grand daughters were this age.  They also loved the ‘discovery’ walks, in the rainforest, walking on the rocks and ‘posting’ stones in the Bali lanterns. Thinking, that like the girls he would like to pick a bunch of flowers for Mummy, I picked a lovely long stemmed yellow Gerbera and handed it to him.  He promptly bashed its poor head on a rock until all the petals flew off.  Ah well, maybe picking flowers is not a ‘boy thing’!!

 

WATERING

The Mediterranean plants, like Pelargoniums, particularly the grey leaved plants, e.g. lambs ears and succulents enjoy the dry periods and don’t even mind the humidity, so they don’t need watering.  Everything else needs to be watered in between these dry spells and off course it is good that we have the tanks to be able to catch the water when we do get the downpours.  Now that the ‘big wet’ has arrived we can ease off the watering and think about planting.

 

PESTS

February is definitely feral month, the grasshoppers are on a feeding frenzy, moths and caterpillars are procreating and eating their way through layers of leaves and the beetles are in their element so watch out for these hungry hoards and squash them into fertilizer or spray them with a pyrethrum based spray so that the birds and bees are not affected. 

TROPICALS

The rhizomatous begonias which are grown mainly for their leaf colourations, commonly known as Rex Begonias are another tropical which love this weather.  I do find that in summer the begonias enjoy sitting in a shallow pot of water, particularly if the water dries out daily.  This however must be removed as soon as the nights get cooler (about March in Brisbane).  I grow them in an ordinary potting mix with a bit of compost added that drains well.

ORCHIDS

 There will be some Cattleyas in flower but many will be in bud waiting for the cooler weather also.  The Hardcane Dendrobiums will be putting out flower spikes ready for their autumn show.

 

This is a good time to look at your pot plants and orchids and pot them on into a bigger pot.  Here are some hints for Orchid re-potting:

· Only re-pot Orchids that have either:

o  filled their existing pot or

o  are not looking happy

o If re-potting on, only go to one size bigger pot

o If an Orchid is not looking happy prior to re-potting, it could be:

o Wrong position i.e. too much or took little light

o Wrong potting media or the potting media has broken down

The pot is too big and therefore could be too much moisture

 

· I prefer to use terra cotta pots as these do not heat up like plastic ones

· Terracotta pots preferably with holes in the side to allow air flow

· The medium must be good hard bark that will not break down

· Sift out any fine dust/pieces of bark with a sieve

· The bigger the orchid plant the bigger the size of the bark

· Water in after re-potting and keep watering morning and afternoon

· Keep the new re-potted orchid in a little more shadier position until established

After re-potting keep an eye on them, if you see new shoots you will know you have done the right thing, if the orchid looks worse you will need to re-do it.

 

MAINTENANCE

Early morning can be cool so if you have perennials that need a trim this is a good time which will give you another flush of colour in Autumn.  Prune Salvias that have finished flowering back to thick green stems.  It is also a good idea to put in some cuttings in case you lose any and they will need replacing in 2-3 years.

 

Give Heliotrope, Lavender, Nepeta (Catmint), Pentas and Penstemons a cut back to about half with hedging shears.  Acalyphas and Coleus can be given a light trim with the hedge shears to keep them tidy and compact.  With high humidity and rainfall the plants will bulk up beautifully, but so will the weeds!  It is best to choose a shady area and simply pull them out whilst the earth is nice and soft and before they flower and spread even further afield.

 

Wisterias put on rampant growth at this time of year and can be cut back quite severely.  This will promote better flowering also.  I also cut back all the shoots coming from the trunk and the ones that run on and under ground.  Seeds will be ripening now and can be sown in pots if you want new plants.

ROSES

The roses are also putting on good growth, so give them a light prune once they have finished flowering.  Cut off those long shoots that have not and will not flower at the end.  The petunias, nasturtiums, oenotheras and rain lilies that partner the roses are usually past their use by date by this time so after pruning the roses put a thick mulch over the lot.  This year I used mulch from our palm fronds and with the lovely rain we will have lovely rose blooms for autumn.

 

If you are planning to put in more Roses this is also a good time to decide what to buy and make sure you are on a mailing list if you are planning on buying them bare rooted.  This is the cheaper way of buying them and they usually are delivered about July.

 

I have found the following good in our climate: Duet, Souvenir de la Malmaison, Sophies Rose, Duchesse de Brabant, Molineux, Crocus Rose, Bonica, Burgundy Iceberg, Mrs B R Cant, Monsier Tillier and Crespescule, Lamarque and Mme Alfred Carriere for climbers.

 

VEGETABLES

I am watering a mass of pumpkins as with the heat and humidity nothing else seems happy. The tomatoes have been plagued with the king parrots that love them green and fruit fly so I will leave them until next month.  I have added some compost to the vegetable boxes and will let that lie until March. 

 

Bagging mangos does help…. if you have any left!  I put a paper bag with a tie on any I can reach.  They can be picked green when the dimple at the bottom has filled out and will ripen okay.

 

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Good Gardening

Jan

 

 

 

 

Heliconia Rostrata

Costus Barbatus

Ipomoea

Horsfaillaea

Lagoon Garden with Thalia

(red stems)

Coleus

Crepe Mytrle

Mussaenda

Alocasia esculenta

‘Black magic’

Waterlily

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