Spring is just around the corner?

Well, even if RHS starts with "Spring is just around the corner" in my garden Winter is not willing to "pass away".  We experienced in the last 10 day two heavy (for us) snowfalls (15 resp. 20 cm). So, even if the temperatures didn't drop to much unter the zero, I'm happy that the new Australian corner is well coated.

The single Grevilleas are protected with a double layer of non woven fabric. At night, with just little lighting from the streetlights, they resemble small ghosts visiting my garden.

Usually I protect just few corners. Xerophytes, South African and few Australian plants. Even several species that in the books are quoted not to survive minus (celsius) temperature, have no troubles during normal winters in my garden. Moreover, I tried some subtropical like Hedychium coronarius. With some care, 10 cm of mulch and some branches to fix the mulch material, it survived -10°C two years ago!

Yes, it's still Winter, but some species like this Hakea, are just willing to flower, no matter the outdoor temperatures and the snowfalls. In the last few years I protected this species with non woven fabric, but than I realized that I had every Winter misst the flowering time. So now I have a small specimen as back security copy in a container in a cold frame, and I enjoy the lilliput small but scented flowers. 

Grevillea lanigera is also a Winter flowering species. I wait a couples of weeks, than I'll disclose this 1.5 x1.m meter large flower falls. 

Well, this green non woven fabric is not very elegant. Some other materials used to protect the plants have more fashionable results, sometimes with the help of the snow.

I have several species of domestic and feral animals that visit my garden. From the harmless hedgehogs, to martens, foxes, badgers, deers and cats. So I need to protect some plants taking care that the result should also bee acceptable from an aesthetic point of view. This is a Drymis lanceolata Mt. Wellington. Sometimes I reuse old birdcages like this one (from an animal welfare point of view these cages were and are a nonsense!). 

One of the South african borders is well protected from the snow. Few centimeters of snow are not dangerous, but the constant high humidity for weeks would kill the plants.  On the left a Protea subvestita, one of the more cold and humidity resistant Protea species. In Fall 2014 I had to reduce dramatically the size, because it began to cause troubles to the traffic ....

In most regions with mediterranean climate, snowfalls are rare. This is the reason why several species are not structurally build to compensate the weight of the snow. In some cases like Dendromecon rigida or even with Quercus suber, just few centimeters  are enough to break down branches.

Dendromecon rigida. Rigida from Latin "rigid" means rigid or stiff. Well to be "rigid" in regions with heavy snowfalls is not a positive adaptive mechanism.

This is even more harmful. This happened in the night despite my preventive job to reduce the volume of the branches and to fix the main branches.  

Well, as said, even Spring is around the corner, I still have some weeks to prepare myself and my garden tools for the action!

I will have to wait a little bit before I can prepare my miniature parterre to accomodate the citrus trees. Last year my box hedges experienced heavy attack from Cylindrocladium buxicola and Diaphania perspectalis turning myself from happy plantsman into a desperate plantsman. 

Second mild winter (until now)

After the winter 2013-2014, with minimum temperatures in my garden of only minus 3°C, everybody would be tempted to try with even more tropical plants. But a clever gardener known that one single night may destroy the work of an entire year. So in May 2014 I just transformed the "pots and containers room" into an Australian corner basically Grevillea species with some other plants. I had planned this since I got plants from The Desert Northwest Nursery (http://www.desertnorthwest.com).

The alpha and omega if you would like to be successful with the cultivation of proteaceae is the soil. It must be very very free draining and with an acidity of 5 to 6 pH. To simulate the bush in Australia or South Africa I use sand, lava, pumice, charcoal, and some soil (it is important to incorporate some organic material, so the pH will be more stable).   

Well, the Summer and Fall 2014 were very rainy in Switzerland, it was like what I experienced more than once in Cornwall…. At least I had not the stress to water the young plants. After a week, the plants still trying to acclimatize in the new soil.    

Theoretically now my northwest garden corner is finished,  I have to adjust only some details. Right my last tentative with a tree fern, if I lost this one too, than my garden is not the right place. 

These are the first flowers of Grevillea miqueliana subsp. moroka. 

Winter 2013-2014 warmer than expected and more from 2014

Well in December 2013 I was sure that I had to take the least pictures of my Anigozanthus Hybrid. In fact these Hybrids can just take a couples of °C under zero for a few days. But this winter was so mild that, knowing it in advance, I had better to spare my time and not protect the subtropical plants at all. Well, everyone knows better, after...

Next picture shows the Anigozanthus in May 2014.

In the background on the right you may recognize a Banksia serrata and a Hakea nodosa with mass of pods. Interestingly these pods do not shed the seed until stimulated by some external conditions, like bushfire.

Ok, this as nothing to do with plants, but still (in the background you see a big cherry tree from the next-door neighbor garden. This is the so-called "Patrouille Suisse" from the Swiss army. At Magadino (Locarno) airport, not far away from my house, it was a big air show Cielo aperto over two weekends to celebrate the 75 years of the airport and the 100 years of the Swiss aircraft. 

Even days without sun, and plenty of rain, the Botanical Garden Isole di Brissago is worth a visit. Last May perhaps due to the mild Winter the Telopea speciosissima was gorgeous. This picture shows one of the plants with some inflorescences at the end of the flowering period.

Back in my garden, still raining, the first flowers of Lilium pyrenaicum are not shy at all and they show their beautiful structures.

This is the south wall of the house of my news next-door neighbors. They virtually do not need any heater system, as the house is extremely well insulated. But the picture should shows the 2014 flowering wonder of my Hesperaloe parviflora.  On the same picture there is Amaryllis belladonna. Quite interestingly, Amarillis in known to need a lot of warmth and sun. Well the Summer 2014 was all, but not warm and sunny!

Just before Winter cold will break my dreams...

This December weather is quite mild and we have experienced just a couple of days with -1°C during the night.


View of one "Australian" border with new plants (Spring 2013)


This Spring I transformed a corner of an Australian border. I lost two years ago some Banksia and other Australian species, so I had space to fill with new species. Between new Banksia I planted a small Anigozanthus hybrid. I was not performing a special display until september. It than started to grow and bloom like no other that I ever cultivated.  For sure it will die with our winter temperatures, but let's see and at the moment I have this nice display for Christmas time!


Banksia canei fruit. 


My "old" Banksia canei dies least summer aged 16. I'm not quite sure that this is a normal age to die for a Banksia, but our climate conditions hare fare not so similar with Australian weather... I hope that some of the seed will be viable and germinate next spring.


 

Sterile seeds from Mutisia subulata

Some Mutisia, and I'm now in South America, are performing quite well in my garden, still as is known for these species most of the seed are sterile. Propagation is successfull using cuttings.

Clematis balearica from Mallorca

Last November I visited Mallorca for a couple of days. Mallorca is more interesting to visit in early winter and spring than in summer (the number of tourists is also significant reduced!). One of the species blooming in winter is Clematis balearica. Miles of walls are nicely covered by this climber. In my garden it climb on a  pomegranate.  If you visit Mallora do not miss the Botanical garden of Soller, an hotspot!! (www.jardibotanicdesoller.org).



Keep green fingers and enjoy Christmas

This is the Christmas tree from the small community Cugnasco-Gerra in Southern Switzerland. The Children and their Teachers from the local school did an excellent job. In the center you may recognize a young linden tree that gives the name at the restyled square.

"Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are" Alfred Austin.

Stewartia pseudocamelia

Spring is approaching

These last days I found some bodies of proof that spring is no more far away. In my greenhouse some orchids have already started new growth and  some are blooming. My cocoa tree has also started with new growth and perhaps I can expect some flowers in the next weeks. I also found few old fruits on my Myrmecodia echinata, I have missed the blooming days and also the opportunity to harvest fresh seeds.

In the cold house all the proteas and bankias are training their engines to start quickly with new growth. Regarding proteas I missed the opportunity to take some pictures of Protea burchelli and Protea punctata.

In my veranda, after years of patience, my first grafted Avocado Brogdon (by myself) is decorated with hundreds of flower buds. I have also a small Casimiroa edulis that started blooming this year for  the second time (I have no clue about the cultivar).

Also some bulbs have started growing. Tecophilaea cyanocrocus in my cold frames are already blooming, outside they timidly sprout between the gravel.

Not only plants are "resuscitated", also a huge variety of pests enjoy the nice weather!



Cymbidium insigne subsp. insigne.







Tecophilaea cyanocrocus.





Phaseolus caracalla seeds. Four months to ripen!

 


Persea americana Brogdon.

 


Casimiroa edulis.



redspider web and (not in focus) mealybugs on resting Erythrina humeana.