November 25th, 2021
THE GOOD EARTH
Grafting Techniques part 1 & 2
If you’ve ever grown a tree from it’s seed, such as an orange lemon or avocado, you probably were disappointed by the result.
I daresay, that firstly, it took a long time for it to fruit, and when it did, it was nothing like the fruit that the seed came from.
After all apart from the novelty factor of being able to grow a tree from a tiny seed, the time involved isn't really worth the effort. So what to do instead?
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| Lemon tree |
- Switch to grafting methods.
Grafting is a method that would vastly improve the result all round but the word itself sounds terrifying if not complicated!
There is after all the possibility that you'll end up slicing of the tip of your finger with the super sharp budding knife, or at the very least drawn blood from the deep wound that resulted from a slip of the wrist.
I confess to having done that.
Practice makes perfect and I would recommend wearing gloves before attempting to do any type of grafting.
So What is Grafting?
Grafting is a swag of techniques that involves having a root stock that is happily growing in the ground or in a pot, whose upper part you will cut off completely.
Next, you attach a scion, a piece of plant whose features you really like, such as fruit size and flavour.
- The scion has to be a particular size and be related botanically speaking to the rootstock. That means you can't graft an apple onto citrus rootstock, because apples are in the family 'rosaceae' and citrus are in the plant family 'rutaceae.'
There are of course plenty of other reasons why you want to try your hand at grafting.
Some of these are to improve disease resistance such as for roses or fruit trees or dwarfing.
Dwarf trees are the result of grafting a scion from a tree of full size fruit onto dwarfing root stock.
- Margaret describes cleft grafting where the scion's base is cut as a 'V' and inserted into the same length slit into the rootstock. The cambium (green wood) of each must be aligned.
TIP:If you’ve never tried grafting, make sure you get the right tools before you start.
You’ll also need the correct root stock.
Let’s find out more by listening to the podcast. I'm talking with Margaret Mossakowska of www.mosshouse.com.au
November 6th, 2021
PLANT OF THE WEEK Number 5
Scientific Name: Billardiera scandens
Common Name: Appleberry
Family: Pittosporaceae
Native Habitat: found mainly along the east coast in a variety of commnityes such as coastal heath and sclerophyll forest.
Description:A twining climber or groundcover.. Pale lance shaped green leaves have wavy margins.
Height-Width: 1.5 x3 m
Flowering: September to December. Pendulous bell-shaped flowers on branch tips, similar to correa flowers.
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| Appleberry flowers. photo courtesy David Midgley |
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| Appleberry fruit |
Fruiting: Oblong berries appear on the bush in summer while the plant continues to flower. At first green to purple that turn yellow when ripe. Taste is similar to green kiwi fruit. Size is similar to sultana grapes. (Those that are elongated having been treated with gibberelins.)
Position: Full sun or part shade. Will become more sparse in shade.
Attributes: Long flowering and fruiting period. Requires watering and regular pruning in cultivation.
- Suitable for container growing. Regular tip pruning in this situation will result in a small shrubby plant.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been focussing on bush tucker plants, some of which you may not have heard of before.
The appleberry is no exception because even though it can be found in national parks, most people would walk by and not realise that it’s a bush tucker plant.
For Sydneysiders, it can be found in Lane Cove National Park.
Let’s find out more by listening to the podcast.
I’m talking with Adrian O’Malley, native plant officianado and expert.
There are many bush tucker plant nurseries that supply these plants online and are able to post out to most areas of Australia.
If you have any questions or feedback or have some information to share, drop us a line to realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR PO Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675 and I’ll send you a packet of seeds.
November 6th, 2021
PLANT OF THE WEEK Number 2
Scientific Name: Atriplex nummularia
Common Name:Old Man Saltbush
Family: Chenopodiaceae
Native Habitat: found in semi-arid and arid areas of Australia.
Description:-grey-green leaves on a somewhat woody shrub. Dioecious-separate male and female plants.
Height-Width: 3 x 2-5 m
Flowering: small white flowers occur throughout most of the year.
Fruiting:rounded fruits.
Position: Full sun and tolerant of some shade.
Attributes: Dry tolerant once established due to the extensive deep root system that extends to 5m deep and 10m across.
- The leaves impart a salty flavour if your dry and crumble them and sprinkle on food.
Possibly, listeners would be familiar with the term ‘old man saltbush’ or even have seen this plant growing somewhere.
But I daresay, you would not have heards that parts of this plant are considered bush tucker.
There are many bush tucker plants that are not that well known and this is another one of them.
- The Department of Primary Industries NSW recommends the following for farmland.
"Shrubs are grown in hedgerows as block or alley plantings across the farm to provide high-protein green feed during periods of feed shortage."
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| Old Man Saltbush: Photo courtesy DPI NSW |
"Shrubs are grown in hedgerows as block or alley plantings across the farm to provide high-protein green feed during periods of feed shortage.Not recommended for areas with less than 300 mm average annual rainfall, or more than 600 mm average annual rainfall."
In the home garden, if you’re first planting out old man saltbush, don’t expect it to survive without any water at the start. After the first warm season, then it’s good to go on just what falls out of the sky in rainfall.
Let’s find out more by listening to the podcast with Adrian O' Malley horticulturist and native plant expert.
September 27th, 2021
Part 3: The final Countdown
In the last 5 years Glenice and husband Phil, have made so many improvements to the soil .
A very difficult spot that experiences 40 degrees C temperatures in summer and winter temparatures below 0 and even minus 5 degrees C at times.
A hard clay soil that had been compacted by heavy vehicles driving over part of it for many years.
The planting also included these very tough and hardy plants.
- Teucrium fruiticans- also known as Germander, is a very hardy small evergreen bush in the mint family with grey stems and undersides of the leaves. 1.2m
- Phillyrea angustifolia . Drought, heat, frost and salt tolerant. Phillyrea are olive related which explains their toughness-dark green glossy leaf with serrated edge, making a contrast to the other silvers in the bed. Height to 2.5m, slow growing. Alternative to English box. can be kept to under 1m in height
- Aloes
- Other succulents
- Beschoneria yuccoides-Mexican lily, is a perennial succulent with a rosette of slender strap-like leaves that can grow to 1m in length.
- Rhagodia spinescens Salt bush-Small, native shrub with silvery, grey triangular foliage growing to approximately 1.5m. Tolerates all soil types and coastal conditions
- Atriplex nummularia, commonly called Old Man Saltbush, a large grey shrub to 2 m tall and to 4-5 m wide, with brittle woody branches
Glenice said in her post that
She said of the garden that;
We used a rotary hoe to break up the soil before planting.
Spread/dug through gypsum and watered in liquid gypsum
Dug through premium garden soil and compost.
Mulched the area with fine grade pine bark, sugar cane mulch, straw and tea tree mulch.
Continued fertilising any new plants with composted animal manure pellets and liquid fertilisers every 2 to 3 months.Continued to give any plants in the area a deep slow water by hand to ensure they receive a good amount of water closest their roots.
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| Garden at the Berkshires-photo Glenice Buck |
- Selected plants that will cope with the tough conditions that area hot and dry conditions.
- Over planted the slope- I planted out all the plants with closer spacing than recommended as they will help protect and buffer each other in this tough location. They will grow, settle in and get established more quickly together.
- When you're dealing with tough locations like this you also need to have patience and give the garden soil time to take in all these improvements. Soil preparation is very important and you should try to hold off planting before the soil is ready - haha! try telling a gardener to do that when there is open soil / spare space in the garden. I didn't wait!
I'm talking with Glenice Buck Landscape designer and Arboriculture consultant.
September 27th, 2021
Part2 Tough Garden Bed
In the last 5 years Glenice and husband Phil, have made so many improvements to the soil .
- We used a rotary hoe to break up the soil before planting.
- Spread/dug through gypsum and watered in liquid gypsum
- Dug through premium garden soil and compost.
- Mulched the area with fine grade pine bark, sugar cane mulch, straw and tea tree mulch.
- Continued fertilising any new plants with composted animal manure pellets and liquid fertilisers every 2 to 3 months.
She said of the garden that they did this process listed above ,every year for 5 years but it wasn't until the 3 year mark that there was a turn around in plants being able to survive.
Without those years of soil preparation, the plants would not have been able to thrive.
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| Miscanthus transmorrisonensis |
Planting Palette Glenice used for this area - lots of silvers!
- Miscanthus transmorrisonensis-Evergreen Feather grass, evergreen leaves to 80cm tall by 100cm wide fountain-like mounds
- Panicum virgatum ‘Heavy Metal’ or Blue Switch grass is special for its dramatic, metallic blue foliage and for its strong upright habit to around 140cm.
- Senecio viravira- a beautiful rounded evergreen shrub with silver-white dissected leaves topped by soft lemon flowers. One of the best silvers. Sun loving and drought tolerant. 80cm x 100cm.
- Artemisia Powis Castle- a hardy, bushy, low growing shrub that has very attractive, soft, silvery grey, deeply divided foliage
- Olea europaea 'Piccolo' suits really tough conditions - drought, frost, poor soil, no irrigation. Grows to 2m
- Teucrium fruiticans- also known as Germander, is a very hardy small evergreen bush in the mint family with grey stems and undersides of the leaves. 1.2m
- Philorea
- Aloes
- Other succulents
- Beschoneria yuccoides-Mexican lily, is a perennial succulent with a rosette of slender strap-like leaves that can grow to 1m in length.
- Salt bush
- Atriplex nummularia, commonly called Old Man Saltbush, a large grey shrub to 2 m tall and to 4-5 m wide, with brittle woody branches
I'm talking with Glenice Buck Landscape design and Arboriculture consultant.
August 30th, 2021
Scientific name: Leptospermum lanigerum
Common Name: Woolly tea tree
Family: Myrtaceae
Etymology: leptos, meaning slender, and sperma, meaning seed.
lanigerum, is named using the Latin word for wool-bearing, describing the silky hairy leaves and hairy buds, shoots and young capsules.
Height: 3m by 3m wide
Location: any soil in sun and will tolerate heavy shade. Frost hardy to -7C
Description: Dense shrub to small erect tree with persistent fibrous bark on larger stems, smaller stems shedding in stringy strips.
- Not all tea trees have green leaves, and this one has pewter grey or silver tiny leaves with typical 5 petalled tea tree flowers.
- May be limbed into a small tree. Light summer water though very drought adapted. Excellent background shrub or screen or large informal hedge.
Takes well to pruning as the leaves are tiny and the more you prune the bush will become more dense.
Listen to the podcast to find out more
I'm talking with Adrian O’Malley, native plant expert and officianado
August 30th, 2021
pt3
Scientific Name: Westringia fruiticosa
Common Name: Coastal Rosemary
Family: Lamiaceae (mint family)
Leaves: green, with a covering of short hairs giving the plant a silvery tint . Leaves are up to 2 centimetres long, narrow and pointed and set closely in whorls around the stem.
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| Westringia 'Grey Box' |
Flowers: Appear in my garden from September onwards with November seeing a main flush. Typical of flowers in the mint family either in white or pale mauve with a couple of reddish spots near the throat of the flowers. This is a bee guide for Aussie native bees.
Looks like rosemary but it isn't and Adrian regards it as the 'murraya' of the Aussie native plant world.
Tough as 'old boots' seen hugging the cliffs and down to beach level, either prostrate or several feet high depending on situation.
A useful garden plant that has been hybrised extensively.
Westringia "Aussie Box' and 'Grey Box' is a great alternative to box hedging.
TIP:Adrian recommends use mechanical shears instead of electric or battery operated shears for better results when pruning
Listen to the podcast to find out more
I'm talking with Adrian O’Malley, native plant expert and officianado
August 30th, 2021
pt 2 Silver leafed plants
Scientific name:Rhagodia spinescens
Common Name: Aussie flat bush; spiny saltbush
Family: Chenopodiaceae
Height: 0.5-1.5m tall by 1.5-4metres wide.
Flowers:January -April, tiny cream panicles, fairly insignificant.
Conditions: frost and mildly drought tolerant, best suited for temperate and semi-arid regions.
Location: tolerant of soil types and will grow in full sun or dry shade.
Uses: prune to shape as a hedge or leave to make a groundcover.
Quite a vigorous grower and hugs the ground so makes great habitat for native reptiles and small birds.
Ozbreed has a compact form makes a great ground cover and performs better if it is pruned annually or more often if a manicured look is desired. 30-50cm x 1m wide
Listen to the podcast to find out more
I'm talking with Adrian O’Malley, native plant expert and officianado
August 30th, 2021
PLANT OF THE WEEK
All About Australian Native Plants with Silver Leaves.
Plants with grey or silver leaves are adapted to a drier environment because the colour of the leaf better reflects the sun than green leaves regardless of the size of the leaf.
This in turn means the plant uses less water for its functions.
There's usually more to the story as is the case with eucalypt trees having a thick waxy coating that makes the leaves look silver or grey in the first place. This waxy coating is added protection from the sun's rays.
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| Eucalyptus perriniana |
Mature leaves are often different from juvenile leaves not only in shape and size but orientation.
Mature eucalypt leaves hang vertically to reduce exposure to high levels of radiation and water loss.
Silver leaves don’t just have to be about small shrubs and ground covers, there’s some beaut examples of silver leafed gums.
pt1 A Couple of Eucalypts with Silver Leaves.
- Two great silver leafed gums were our picks:Eucalyptus perriniana and Eucalyptus cinerea
Silver leaves can be so attractive in the garden, in the vase or just in the landscape.
The add texture and structure to a garden. But they also can brighten a dark spot in a garden where dark green would just disappear in the gloom.
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| Eucalyptus cinerea |
Other fabulous silver leafed eucalypts
- You could also try Eucalyptus pulverulenta, known as the Silver-leaved Mountain Gum.
- There’s a dwarf form of this one called Baby Blue which only grows to 3m.
- The Silver-leaved Mountain Gum is an unusual Eucalypt (especially for eastern Australia) because it hangs onto juvenile foliage into maturity. Plants rarely produce adult leaves.
Listen to the podcast to find out more
I'm talking with Adrian O’Malley, native plant expert and officianado
August 24th, 2021
Edna Walling and Bickleigh Vale part 2
Last week, I introduced you to Edna Walling was one of Australia’s most influential garden designers of the 20th century.
The people that live in the village of about 20 homes, are all in love with Edna's design principles.
In spring, the gardens are like fairlyland, with flowering wisterias, crabapples, flowering cherries, birches, hornbeams. hawthorns, plums, apricots, oaks and elms .
"Edna Walling had a free and easy attitude to garden maintenance and she believed that every window of a house should have a view of the garden, to create the effect of bringing the garden into the house."
Edna Walling came to appreciate Australian flora more and more and started to incorporate many native species in her designs even early on.
I talk again with Trisha Dixon, garden author and photographer.
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Grafting is a swag of techniques that involves having a root stock that is happily growing in the ground or in a pot, whose upper part you will cut off completely.
