How's your flowers, Pops?

[Julia]

Thanks for the reply - I'll cut mine back late this afternoon once it's cooled down a little - scorching here the past few days. I've never really grown annuals or bulbs before, just your standard shrubs, groundcovers etc.

It takes experimentation with annuals to get to know what will do well and what will struggle, especially in our hot summers.

I'd suggest not having any sort of bulbs in the same bed as flowering annuals. I'm not sure what you mean when you say 'autumn flowering daffodils". I've never known any daffodil to flower any time other than early spring, even winter in Qld. They are essentially cold climate flowers, along with tulips, hyacinths, etc.
The other problem with having bulbs in the same bed is that they will probably rot if you're giving that bed enough water to ensure flourishing of your summer annuals. Most people trying to grow cold climate bulbs in Queensland find they flower well only the first year. I've tried lifting the bulbs and refrigerating them until time to replant but it was less than successful and not worth the trouble.

The only bulbs I've found will do not badly for more than one year is Freesia. But again that will rot in summer if watered as you need for eg petunias.

I'll certainly get some thrive and give them a good feed - I have some groundcover roses and ivy geraniums in the same bed that will certainly benefit from a feed also.

The liquid fertilisers are useful for top up nutrition, but you can't beat clearing the bed and digging in plenty of Five in One. This is not just a stimulant to flowering but a soil conditioner which adds humus and nutrients to the soil for healthy root growth etc. Here's the description of the function of this organic product:
http://www.searles.com.au/SoilMixesComposts.html

You can easily apply it around your groundcover roses and ivy geraniums as a top dressing, water well and it will make its way through to the roots.

Mine are planted in a garden bed that I also planted several spring-flowering bulbs in, and I'm considering underplanting them with autumn-flowering bulbs such as daffodils so that once the petunias are finished there'll be something coming up to replace them. Will this work?

As above, imo, no. what you could do is plant the bulbs in pots, putting them in a paper bag in the frig during the summer. Essentially, the conditions which will allow your bulbs to flower will not suit our summer annuals.

What do you do with that bed once the annuals are on their last legs? I don't really want parts of my garden bed to be bare for part of the year as it's right outside my front door and I'm aiming for "pretty".

You only need to have the bed looking empty for a couple of weeks after you've thoroughly turned over the soil and mixed in the Five in One. Then you'll find at the nursery plenty of quite well developed annual seedlings or decent sized perennials that will give you a good show of colour within about three weeks as long as you keep the water up to them.

I think I did plant the spreading type, but I think they're too far apart and next year I'll certainly plant twice as many and crowd them in a bit more - the effect is much more pleasing.

There are two types of spreading petunias : one is a perennial and the other an annual. The perennial is usually available in quite large plants, individual pots with already a spread of around 20cms at least and flowering.

They're pretty expensive. I usually get about ten of these, then fill in around them with smaller annuals, including standard petunias. Two other free flowering annuals which will do very well in the hot summer are phlox and alyssum. These mixed in around your spreading petunias will quickly give you the effect you're looking for.

If you have a bed which is against a fence, or not exposed to too much wind, what works really well is to plant blue salvias as a background. They grow to about half a metre tall with gorgeous purple blue spiky flowers. Very tough and flower for a long time. Again you can cut them back for repeat flowering. Then in front of that the phlox which grow to around half that height and are multi coloured, then in front of the phlox the alyssum which comes in a mauve colour as well as white. That would give you the English cottage garden sort of effect if that appeals.

Photos herewith: phlox is in the small photo. Great example of how you can use alyssum as a ground cover/filler.

 

[Julia]

This is a better photo of phlox:

 

[DocK]

It takes experimentation with annuals to get to know what will do well and what will struggle, especially in our hot summers.

I'd suggest not having any sort of bulbs in the same bed as flowering annuals. I'm not sure what you mean when you say 'autumn flowering daffodils". I've never known any daffodil to flower any time other than early spring, even winter in Qld. They are essentially cold climate flowers, along with tulips, hyacinths, etc.
The other problem with having bulbs in the same bed is that they will probably rot if you're giving that bed enough water to ensure flourishing of your summer annuals. Most people trying to grow cold climate bulbs in Queensland find they flower well only the first year. I've tried lifting the bulbs and refrigerating them until time to replant but it was less than successful and not worth the trouble.

The only bulbs I've found will do not badly for more than one year is Freesia. But again that will rot in summer if watered as you need for eg petunias.

I think I've confused myself! I overhauled the garden beds either side of my front door earlier this year and planted some spring flowering bulbs in autumn - hippeastras, tuberous begonias, aquilegias etc. Later added some petunias, phlox and nasturtium (phlox & nasturtium from seed with mixed results). Based on your description it would appear that the petunias were definately annuals. I was thinking of planting some more bulbs in spring to flower next autumn, namely daffodils etc but have clearly left it way too late and I had my doubts as to how they'd go here on the Humid Coast. The hippys were lovely but reasonably short-lived, only one of the begonias flowered well and the aquilegias were a bit of a disappointment. Your point re bulbs rotting makes much sense and I know I don't have the will to lift and store, nor the fridge space, so won't bother with them any more. Once the existing bulbs have died off I'll cut back the plant and leave the bulbs in place to survive or not.

The liquid fertilisers are useful for top up nutrition, but you can't beat clearing the bed and digging in plenty of Five in One. This is not just a stimulant to flowering but a soil conditioner which adds humus and nutrients to the soil for healthy root growth etc. Here's the description of the function of this organic product:
http://www.searles.com.au/SoilMixesComposts.html

You can easily apply it around your groundcover roses and ivy geraniums as a top dressing, water well and it will make its way through to the roots.

Yes, I'll give this a go.

You only need to have the bed looking empty for a couple of weeks after you've thoroughly turned over the soil and mixed in the Five in One. Then you'll find at the nursery plenty of quite well developed annual seedlings or decent sized perennials that will give you a good show of colour within about three weeks as long as you keep the water up to them.

Are you saying that the summer annuals will last through to autumn or winter and that I could then plant more or less the same annuals a few weeks later? I guess with our very mild winters this is a possibility - I just assumed there'd be at least a few months when they wouldn't grow. I guess once the roses and geranium spread a little it won't really matter in any case.

There are two types of spreading petunias : one is a perennial and the other an annual. The perennial is usually available in quite large plants, individual pots with already a spread of around 20cms at least and flowering.

They're pretty expensive. I usually get about ten of these, then fill in around them with smaller annuals, including standard petunias. Two other free flowering annuals which will do very well in the hot summer are phlox and alyssum. These mixed in around your spreading petunias will quickly give you the effect you're looking for.

If you have a bed which is against a fence, or not exposed to too much wind, what works really well is to plant blue salvias as a background. They grow to about half a metre tall with gorgeous purple blue spiky flowers. Very tough and flower for a long time. Again you can cut them back for repeat flowering. Then in front of that the phlox which grow to around half that height and are multi coloured, then in front of the phlox the alyssum which comes in a mauve colour as well as white. That would give you the English cottage garden sort of effect if that appeals.

Photos herewith: phlox is in the small photo. Great example of how you can use alyssum as a ground cover/filler

.

Will look for the spreading petunias next time - agree that a couple of them would add instant colour while the others catch up. I did plant some phlox from seed, wouldn't bother again as the seedlings generally so cheap so will plant them next time. The gardens are against walls so your outline above would work very well - it sounds lovely. Keeping the water up to them will be the main issue - will have to add to the auto irrigation system. I hate paying an excess water bill but I guess if I want a pretty flower garden that's the price that has to be paid. Luckily the two gardens concerned are fairly small.

I picked up some verbena from Bunnings this week which is adding a lovely splash of colour.

 

[Julia]

I think I've confused myself! I overhauled the garden beds either side of my front door earlier this year and planted some spring flowering bulbs in autumn - hippeastras, tuberous begonias, aquilegias etc.

Bulbs are not all the same. You have the cold climate ones such as daffodils, narcissus, hyacinths which proliferate in England, New Zealand and other cold climates. They are really not suited to the subtropics.
These flower as the frosts disappear at the end of winter.

Then you have tuberous plants such as the hippeastra which are tough as old boots and will grow anywhere pretty warm. Dahlias also are a tuber and will grow here, though the flowers will be a poor shadow of what they are in a cooler environment.

I wouldn't be bothering with tuberous begonias in this climate. They are also suited to cool to cold climates where they bloom beautifully in their cool summers. I've had some tuberous begonia flower heads about the size of dinner plates in Christchurch in early summer. Aquilegia also will be less than happy here.

Later added some petunias, phlox and nasturtium (phlox & nasturtium from seed with mixed results). Based on your description it would appear that the petunias were definately annuals. I was thinking of planting some more bulbs in spring to flower next autumn, namely daffodils etc but have clearly left it way too late and I had my doubts as to how they'd go here on the Humid Coast. The hippys were lovely but reasonably short-lived, only one of the begonias flowered well and the aquilegias were a bit of a disappointment.

Hope I've explained this above.
When talking about bulbs it's the time of flowering that's referred to, not the time of planting.

Are you saying that the summer annuals will last through to autumn or winter and that I could then plant more or less the same annuals a few weeks later?

In most cases, yes. You can certainly grow petunias year round, ditto phlox and alyssum, plus several little 'filler' daisy type plants.

I guess with our very mild winters this is a possibility - I just assumed there'd be at least a few months when they wouldn't grow.

Not at all. But you can take advantage of the cooler months to plant pansies and violas. Best display of flowers of all during winter here are Impatiens which come in a brilliant range of colours. You could plant the larger New Guinea Impatiens at the back, then the lower growing hybrids at the front, then some pansies and violas in front of those again. Another thing you can do is plant both Italian and Curly Parsley amongst your flowers. It provides a splash of green and looks attractive, helps keep bugs away and is useful.

Will look for the spreading petunias next time - agree that a couple of them would add instant colour while the others catch up. I did plant some phlox from seed, wouldn't bother again as the seedlings generally so cheap so will plant them next time.

I've always failed with seeds so never bother.

The gardens are against walls so your outline above would work very well - it sounds lovely. Keeping the water up to them will be the main issue - will have to add to the auto irrigation system. I hate paying an excess water bill but I guess if I want a pretty flower garden that's the price that has to be paid. Luckily the two gardens concerned are fairly small.

Just consider the water bill amongst your overall domestic expenses and it will almost certainly be minimal.
Surely a small price for the huge pleasure of looking at a colourful flower garden. My water bill is always high but a flower garden is a priority for me.

I picked up some verbena from Bunnings this week which is adding a lovely splash of colour.

Again there are two types of verbena, annual and perennial. I've had the purple perennial for years. Dies off at the end of summer and rapidly comes to life in summer again. It's quite a different plant to the annual one which I've put in this year for the first time and I'll use it again as it has done really well.
One more suggestion: if you remove dead flowers from all your plants you will encourage better flowering.
Only takes a few minutes and makes a real difference.

Hope to see some photos when you get it all established. Good luck. Gardening is a total soul restorer.

 

[burglar]

Petunias are tough enough to withstand this hot weather. This one is "Raspberry Ripple".

I too, will admit to petunia envy.
And yours are fantastic!!

I have used them in the past for a splash of summer colour.

 

[burglar]

It's that time of year!








Seed pods from my Hippies.
Yes, that is a "slouch hat penny"!

 

[Julia]

Just foliage can be quite attractive.

 

[Julia]

Seed pods from my Hippies.

burglar, if you want more seed pods of these I'd be happy to post them to you.
I don't like the hippiastrum, only reluctantly planted it because someone gave it to me, and am about to toss it out. I see quite a lot of seed pods there. If you want them, just PM me an address.

 

[burglar]

burglar, if you want more seed pods of these I'd be happy to post them to you.
I don't like the hippiastrum, only reluctantly planted it because someone gave it to me, and am about to toss it out. I see quite a lot of seed pods there. If you want them, just PM me an address.

Hi Julia,
Thanks for the offer!
I have several hundred seeds and expecting
more from the next round of flowers.

 

[DocK]

The view from my window makes staying at my laptop more attractive. My Golden Lantana makes a very cheerful show:

 

[Julia]

Again, not flowers, but I like the way the late afternoon sun catches the new red-tipped growth on the lilly pillies.

 

[burglar]

Heat wave not quite over, I decided to roam the neighbourhood.
I do this regularly, to see what does well in our area!

It is the best tip I ever received about gardening.

Anyways, here I was looking around for a splash of colour.
I spied a Protea in bloom, a magnificent specimen.

Sorry, no photo!

 

[MrBurns]

Heat wave not quite over, I decided to roam the neighbourhood.
I do this regularly, to see what does well in our area!
It is the best tip I ever received about gardening.

Thata a great idea burglar, you could take photos with your iphone and show the nursery...

 

[DocK]

Heat wave not quite over, I decided to roam the neighbourhood.
I do this regularly, to see what does well in our area!

It is the best tip I ever received about gardening.

Anyways, here I was looking around for a splash of colour.
I spied a Protea in bloom, a magnificent specimen.

Sorry, no photo!

Photo! Photo!
I love proteas, but too humid for them where I live.

If you can stand the heat Burlar, I really do think you should see to your fitness tomorrow and take another walk. With your photo-taking device of choice Nobody likes a tease.....

 

[Julia]

Just google "protea". You'll find dozens of photographs.
Individual taste, of course, but I think they're awful things I think they're South African natives. They remind me of the Australian native Banksias which I also dislike.

 

[burglar]

Photo! Photo!
I love proteas, but too humid for them where I live.

If you can stand the heat Burlar, I really do think you should see to your fitness tomorrow and take another walk. With your photo-taking device of choice Nobody likes a tease.....

I had to trespass to get close, fortunately this is easy for burglars! :

 

[DocK]

I had to trespass to get close, fortunately this is easy for burglars! :

Well done Burglar! Good to know the criminal skills aren't too rusty to be put to good use Yes, Julia, I know how to use Google Images - but images of perfect flowers or nursery specimens are just not the same as seeing real plants in real gardens. Which is, I daresay, why we've posted pictures of our own.

That one does seem very healthy and vigorous, doesn't it? My mother-in-law used to have a lovely specimen, and I believe they're quite easy to grow in dry areas - just don't like humidity. They'll tolerate quite poor soil (which I can provide) and are quite drought tolerant, which is why I've often wished they'd grow well in my garden. There are some species of grevillea that struggle here on the Gold Coast, but others do quite well and they're as close as I can get to growing a protea.

 

[Julia]

Yes, Julia, I know how to use Google Images - but images of perfect flowers or nursery specimens are just not the same as seeing real plants in real gardens. Which is, I daresay, why we've posted pictures of our own.

Fine. Just perhaps be a bit careful about planting noxious weeds. especially if you have pets.
http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/4790_7309.htm

 

[DocK]

Fine. Just perhaps be a bit careful about planting noxious weeds. especially if you have pets.
http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/4790_7309.htm

yellow-flowered sterile hybrid, involving Lantana camara and Lantana montevidensis (Photo: Sheldon Navie

It's the hybrid version, sold as non-spreading and sterile. It has been in my garden for at least 5 years and has not spread at all. I don't have pets - and it certainly does not seem to offend the neighbour's cat - unfortunately.

 

[burglar]

View attachment 50311

It's the hybrid version, sold as non-spreading and sterile. It has been in my garden for at least 5 years and has not spread at all. I don't have pets - and it certainly does not seem to offend the neighbour's cat - unfortunately.

It's a rich golden colour.
It must give you great joy to see them from indoors.





Regarding the cat: there are plants that will offend the neighbour's cat!