In My Garden Today - Blue Day

 I noticed a common choice of colour in my wander around my garden today.....

Hydrangea, Native Violet, Petunia, Calibrachoa, Chives, Lobelia, Hydrangea detail.

I've called these Blue Blooms because they are all described as blue on their labels or reference books. I would probably call them all purple though in any other context.

At this time of year there are other blue flowers in bloom: jacarandas, agapanthus, duranta, wild violets and lavender flowers, but sadly not in my garden. 

Illustration MAY LOVE EACH DAY, MAKE GLAD THY WAY pot of violets, published by Raphael Tuck and Sons, 1903.  http://tuckdb.org/postcards/64199 in the Public Domain.  Photos Megan Michie

In My Garden Today - Kangaroo Paws

 The Kangaroo Paws in my side front garden are blooming away at the moment.  It turns out it is quite difficult to take a photo that shows what they are like en mass. When seen in person they stand out better from my neighbours houses and form a psychological screen, if not a physical one.

I used to think of the furry finger like growths as the flowers but they actually open to reveal the small flower inside.

I think these are "Bush Pioneer" and "Bush Endeavour" from the "Bush Gem" range, which are hybrids bred for good form and disease resistance.  I didn't plant these and I am basing this on my memory of labels found in the garden when I was pruning last year. Since they have been here for many years and have had plenty of time to grow new offspring from cross pollinated seed, they may not be true to form any more in any case. 

There is good advice about caring for Kangaroo Paws at the following links:

Gardening Australia Website: Fact Sheet: Kangaroo Paws 

Waldecks Kangaroo Paw Care Sheet

Aussie Green Thumb : Pruning Kangaroo Paw

The Bush Gem range was bred by Angus Stewart and he has information and a video on his site, Gardening with Angus, about their care:

Plant Search: Kangaroo Paw

Kangaroo Paws Anigozanthus Bush Gems Landscapers

Everything I've read about their care recommends enthusiastic pruning twice a year, and say that a prune directly after flowering will likely produce a second flush of flowers - so that is next on my gardening tasks list.

If the plants are pruned before the flowers have died completely, new stems and flowers are encouraged to form in the same flowering season.  Cut off any flower stalks that have started to look tatty at the base of the stalk, above a leaf node, with a 45 degree cut. Look out for active buds on the stem and don't cut below them.

Angus recommends cutting the flowers above a dormant flower bud low on each stem as soon as the first flowers open. The buds with grow out and give a second flush of flowers, and you can enjoy the cut flowers inside in a vase.

The other pruning should be after the flowering season, and should be more drastic, cutting the whole plant close to the ground to encourage new growth of leaves and flowers for next year.

Photographs Copyright by Megan Michie

In My Garden Today - The Trick with Princess Lilies

These are my Princess Lilies which are flowering at the moment.  I am still coaxing some to produce more than one flower stalk (and there are two with no photographable flowers at all) but they look pretty impressive here in a strategically constructed collage.

I absolutely adore Alstroemerias, so for several years I have given myself an advanced Dwarf Alstroemeria (Princess Lily) for my birthday which is in November.  Each plant had one beautiful flush of flowers that had set in the nursery then faded away and ended up in plant heaven, despite the promises of copious flowers over a long period on the label.

But last year I learned that they do not like being buried too deeply as they shoot directly from their underground rhizomes, rather than shooting from stems above ground.

So I bought a set of little Princess plants online, at an end of season sale....and having been careful not to bury them too deep (the temptation to compost or mulch over the top is great but I am sticking to the rule) they have survived to this year and are bigger than when they arrived in little tubes wrapped in a parcel, if not as big as I'd like.

Because their growth comes from the rhizomes just below ground, the temperature of their soil and roots is important, so choose their postion and mulch carefully.  If the soil gets too hot the plant may produce many blind shoots without flowers, or become dormant altogether.  Once the weather cools in Autumn they should start to produce flowers again.

Ramms Botanicals who market Princess Lilies in Australia have an information sheet at http://www.ramm.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Alstroemeria-Princess-Lilies7.pdf
and there is another at the Garden Express Site where I bought mine -http://www.gardenexpress.com.au/alstroemeria-growing-notes.html

Each Princess has her own name, and I have Fabiana, Oxana, Camilla, Theresa and Letizia.