It can be really interesting to let hybrids self-seed around the garden as sometimes you get a serendipitous moment. I once had a dahlia obsession and a few bulbs have survived being in the ground for years. Over the time they have been left to seed and die down as I don't want to shake the mildew spores, that appear in autumn, everywhere. So I now have two dahlias that may well fall under the Japanese term wabi-sabi, which roughly means 'beauty in imperfection' along with other profound and deep understandings in flaws as opposed to the western Greek concept of 'beauty in perfection'.




Dahlia self-sown plants

 
The Dahlia self-sown plants, quickly abandoned the idea of having lots of petals which opens up the stigmas and stamens for pollinators to have easy access to. The bumblebees that live in the same hedgerow are very happy with these two plants.



Dahlia single red 

 I really like the pink tips, which become more pronounced as they age, on the dark red, curled petals. This one is about one meter tall.

Dahlia single pink and white. 

  This is the third year this biggie has flowered I was at first disappointed to see those few petals near the center that are short and all over the place. I now have come to love them and really wouldn't want this strong healthy plant any other way. The petals are pink with white stripes and tips. It stands one and a half meters tall.
 There is nothing perfect about these plants, heck you cannot even guarantee that each flower is going to look the same. But they grow well and strong. They have selected themselves out as being the best for the microenvironment they sprouted in. But at the end of this season they will need to be dug up to move a little further along and refresh the soil. I can see already this winter will be the season of digging with a lot of beds in need of a refresh. Oh well I'll have great pectorals by next summer.    

There is so much to do in the garden it is at times a little over whelming. Looking back over photos from the past four years last night, really drove home how out of control things have got. There is in most places two years of weeding to do. But I find it quiet rewarding to unclothe a planting of suffocating weeds. So many have survived the blanketing I am surprised. I have lost all Boronia which will need to be replaced as these are the best smelling of all flowers. It is a big call to make but so true. I can always find space for a Boronia or two, or three, or four ...... But the Boronia losses are all there has been so far. I have started work on the Hebe bank. 



Weedy Hebe



Freedom from the tyranny of weeds Hebe 'Wiri Spears'

 This is a Hebe from the Wiri series. The Wiri series are from the Auckland botanic gardens  breeding program overseen by the gardens curator Jack Hobbs. My 'Wiri Spears' plants have quickly grown to their (supposed) full height of one and half meters in four years. The mix of clay, top soil and stone in the soil that makes up this earth mound has been to all the Hebe's approval. The drainage is the key reason I suspect. 

Flower spikes attract bees Hebe  'Wiri Spears"

  The flowers are very large on Wiri Spears. About 15 to 20 cm long with a nice fragrance. I have read that this can get woody so pruning will help keep it tight. Flowers come straight out of the tips of new growth, which means a good prune at the right time will give more flowers next season as more growing tips are stimulated by the prune resulting in more flowers. I prune my Hebe's directly after flowering which removes a fair amound of seed heads as well. Don't worry about being too proper with pruning, just run some shears over the plant to a height and shape that pleases as they can recover well. I have a Hebe in an old chimney pot that I grew from a cutting 20 years ago and is still going strong after 20 years of pruning.     

The first days of Autumn are here. Still the drought goes on. I got to experience some rain fall at a friends place while there for dinner ( it was lovely ), unfortunately no rain for my garden half an hours drive north. One good thing to look forward to is bright autumn foliage which seems to happen in years of drought. It can go too far where leaves simply dry and wilt to brown. I don't think its that dry this time round.




Winter bulbs in the cold house.

  The most exciting thing about Autumn has to be the first watering of the winter bulbs. I have been growing this collection of mostly South African bulbs from seed for a few years now. At this time of year the bulbs get one good soak and left for a week, checking progress each day - like a man obsessed! I don't give them any water from early to mid summer depending on the bulbs natural dormancy.
 It seems that a rat has taken up residence at some stage during the summer. It is long gone but has left behind some fertilizer and a few feathers from meals. But no attempt to dig up any bulbs thank goodness. It did manage to knock over three pots with first year seedlings. I think I have saved some by re-potting, fingers crossed. Half of my labels are missing. I'm not sure if I should blame the rat or not at this stage. There is a cat that has moved onto the property so hopefully that rat will be taken care of otherwise its the dreaded poison.

Dierama pulcherrimum

Tigridia pavonia 

Podophyllum 'Kaleidoscope'

 Autumn is also the time for gathering seeds from spring and summer flowering plants. I have a handfull of plants that I want to seed this year. The Dierama pulcherrimum is a lovely deep pink/chartreuse shade. The Tigridia is a standard red. I am very curious what seeds will come from the Podophyllum hybrid. If any one has experience of sowing Podophyllum please feel free to leave some notes. 

 I now seem to have done some damage to my foot by getting up on an awkward angle. So no gardening for me the past couple of days. I am not very good at sitting around at all.

 I have a couple more plants to look at today. One from the garden and one from the mountains. I live 15 minutes drive to the mountains and 15 minutes drive to the sea.

At the beach with Kapiti Island out to sea



On the Mountain tops

 

About a month ago I went for a short walk into the bush along a track that follows the Ohau River for an hour and half to a grass clearing where a hut used to stand. As the whole country has had no serious rain since Christmas really, the river was low and I decided to tramp out through the river making the walk/swim out twice as long as the walk in. Along the way I came across an area where many Rata were in full bloom.



Southern Rata, Metrosideros umbellata

Southern Rata, Metrosideros umbellata

 There are about 12 species of Metrosiderous in New Zealand. The most well known is Pohutukawa - Metrosiderous excelsa or the New Zealand christmas tree, due to the fact it has huge red flowers all over the tree at the start of summer. The Rata used to be far more wide spread but with habitat loss and browsing pests it is no where near as prolific as it once was (like a lot of New Zealands native plants). In general Rata is a hemi - epiphyte, another words they seed in a trees canopy and then send roots down to the ground. After many many years the roots join together killing the host tree leaving a Rata tree in its place. This particular Rata is not one of these. This one is very slow growing and very slow to produce flower. It is about 3 - 3.5 meters high here but can grow to an ultimate height of 10 meters. It's not to common to find the Southern Rata in the North Island so very glad to come across it. A good Rata for the garden is Akakura - Metrosiderous carminera. It is a climber that climbs by clinging and flowers in spring. A moist semi shaded spot for the roots with a sunny top for it to climb too will reward you with lots of red flowers in the spring if grown by seed. If grown by cuttings it will form a spreading shrub instead of climbing. A couple of named selections are 'Carousel' and 'Ferris Wheel' both of which are the shrub versions. The red, white, pink, orange flowers of all these plants are actually just lots of big stamens. Check out Project Crimson to help re-establish our summer redness.


 Something from the garden -

Rudbeckia occidentalis '  Green Wizard '

 I love the petal-less green cone flower. There is no way this stands out in the bed. You only really get to love this plant when you are up close with weeding. The gold halo around the black cone is just lovely and the sepals on this one grown from seed are many and a good size. Its a love it or hate it thing with this plant. Have meet a few people who deeply dislike this cutie. 

What's a garden blog with out plants?




Back door garden

  Well not much.... and not much is happening in the garden just yet. We are into our fourth week of no rain. This is the one bed that I had time to give a good going over with some new home made compost, some liquid seaweed and a biostarter to get all that life going in the soil. This bed had store bought compost added to it every few years or so. One of these batches of compost seemed to have locked up the nitrogen and or potassium - basically everything went yellow, limp and died off early. I am so pleased with the results giving me healthy happy plants again. What pleases me most is I have not watered this bed once while the lawn is dying off. Stoked!

 At the moment the Billardiera Longiflora has its berries on display. Its growing well in the semi-shade under a house eve, during pruning time I would say a little too well. This is the least tasty of the Australian bush tucker vines. As you can see from the top photo its a climber that has been given no support as it weaves up into itself and clings to gaps in the logs. It gets a good hair cut each year. I'm thinking of putting up a semi arch to grow it away from the house. The main reason I have this plant is that in mid-spring it is covered in lime tubular flowers that stand out so well against the dark green leaves. When in flower next year expect to see a photo or two.      

An Introduction.... Hello.

 Welcome to my blog. Here I hope to share the progress of bringing my garden back from the wilds and to talk and share the love of plants. I have been very busy the past couple of years and unfortunately my garden has suffered.

 New Zealand is a great place to garden. In general the country is a temperate rain forest with many micro environments all around. Sub tropical in the north through to snow laden winters in the south. I live basically smack bang in the middle at the bottom of the North Island, USDA Hardiness Zone 9. The growth rate of plants is very fast. You can plant out an arboretum and in thirty years or so enjoy a well established forest of trees. So as you can imagine weeds can become overruling in a very short period of time. And man do I have some weeds! Bindweed/Convolvulus is the most relentless beast here, but all the others which send shivers down a gardeners spine co-exist as well. But if I can remove Oxalis vallicola I can remove anything. The key is just keep at it!

Mitzi at Holmley? Well the Mitzi part is in memory of my lovely little cat who as a tiny kitten four years ago literally appeared from no where during the lowest period of my life, unfortunately she got hit on the road two weeks ago. I really appreciate her living with me and miss her a lot as she had quiet the personality. The Holmley part is the original name given to the property in 1898 when the land was cleared of virgin forest and set up as small holdings for railway workers. My garden has never had a name before. I feel really comfortable with this name so Mitzi at Holmley it shall be.

Mitzi aka Meow Meow