Growing in Slow Motion...

I think it's because I'm watching the garden so intently, waiting for it to start taking off and getting into the spring spirit but it seems everything has been growing in slow motion. Things I started in Autumn and overwintered (like hollyhocks and strawberries) still seem tiny and my white sage and other woody herbs have only just started making new leaves. The only action going on at the moment is the few early spring flowering bulbs I had the sense to plant over Autumn and Winter, pictures of which I have included here.

Above: muscari "grape hyacinth"

Below: Red-Orange tulips

Some other things coming up but not worth photographing right now: red and pink hyacinths, some slightly deformed white tulips that accidentally had a rock over them while they were growing, forget-me-nots are growing like weeds, nigella has been hanging around in a tiny size since Autumn waiting to take off, I have cup and saucer vine and happy wanderer planning to grow over the garden arch, red and blue morning glories deciding whether or not to grow, poached egg plants, california poppies, iceland poppies and Asiatic lilies are sprouting, gladioli and scilla bluebells, have just started to pop their heads up, purple king and scarlet runner beans are ready to be put in the ground....and so much more.

Gauging the Progress

I took some pictures of the garden area to serve as a contrast to the first pictures in this blog of the original dry clay pan I had to work with. In around 1.5 years (much of which I way too busy to bother with the garden due to having moved interstate and needing to re-establish my career etc) this is what I have achieved with some help from my partner. It still isn't much but with all the propagating and planting I've been doing I'm hoping it will become much more by the time Giftmas rolls around. Excuse the fact these pictures are nothing special, someone is burning their green waste and the smoke is making everything look fuzzy. I also probably didn't take these pictures at the best time of the day as the neighbours trees are shading out quite a lot of the garden. Oh well, ho hum.

Squeee!!!

I was nosing around in my garden this morning, trying to do some gardening when really, I have been quite sick and should just sit the eff down and relax, and I found this!!!!!

It's our first artichoke! This artichoke was one of the first things I planted here, it survived being covered in weeds while I was dealing with life stuff and couldn't be bothered with the garden last winter and it has thrived in our heavy soil. The bud is hidden in the foliage and hasn't come out to say hello yet but I'm glad I took myself a sneak peek. Now to decide whether to let it bloom or eat it...Hmmmm, I cannot work out which I will enjoy more.

Moon Gardens

Moon gardens are designed to be enjoyed at night as well as during the day. During twilight and evening white flowers glow and remain visible and silver foliage reflects light. Moon gardens are also enhanced by night-flowering plants that are fragrant at night and evolved to be pollinated by moths or bats.

Here are some links I've discovered during my research:

http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plans/colorful/design-for-a-moon-garden/

http://landscaping.about.com/od/colorfulflowers/ig/silver-foliage/

And here are the last of the pics I had been intending to post to show what is going to be growing / currently is growing in my Black and White Moon Garden (set 4, carried on from the previous post):

My Moon Garden will also be known as the Black and White garden, as you can see from this and the previous sets of photos I have gone for contrast between darkest burgundy 'black' flowers and foliage and white and silver flowers and leaves to give interest during the day and because I guess it reflects my attraction to the extremes in life generally.

Even more pics of plants for the Black and White Moon Garden

Part three of the below post.

This isn't all the pictures but it will do because Bloggers pic posting system is annoying me!

More pics of plants for the Black and White Moon Garden

Part 2 of the below post

Progress Update - Spring 2010

It's been over a year since I started this blog and so much has changed! We have grass, the heavy clay soil is beginning to improve after a year of several thick applications of mulch from some trees that needed to be felled.

I stubbornly kept planting for a while after those last posts and realised the soil was too hard for most plants to thrive in. Naively, I planted things out with no protection to be devoured by possums, bandicoots, potoroos, rabbits and wallabies - all in addition to all the normal insect pests an urban gardener would encounter. 90% of my efforts were fruitless; it was very frustrating!

This spring will be different! I've done more research into what I'm planting, and from seeing what survived the first year despite the abuse I know what does well in my soil (clay) and climate (equivalent of US zone 9), as well as what the local fauna is less inclined to snack on. I also have plant guards!!!

I have made a few new beds and somewhat improved the first bed shown in the below pictures. Tomorrow I'll take some pictures to post. The feature I'm working on which is exciting me the most is the bed which will have two purposes; one for day and one for night! During the day it will be my 'black and white' garden, featuring flowers only in white and the plant version of black which is essentially deepest burgundy. All of this accented by silver and burgundy foliage features. At night it will be my moon garden, when the white flowers and silver foliage shine in the moonlight and the moonflower (ipomoea alba) I plan to grow along the wire fence behind the bed blooms as the sun goes down. As the only time of the year in Hobart you want to be outside at night (in my opinion, anyway) around Hobart is in summer this will be when most of the flowers bloom in this bed, however I have selected plants with interesting foliage so that the bed will be interesting all year round, either side of the bed I have planted a raspberry (for the theme it should really have been blackberry but growing that here would be like growing weeds on purpose) and a blackcurrant and right at the back will be a purpled headed globe artichoke so the garden has some utility as well as beauty. I'm a sucker for things that have a practical use!

I've posted some pics of plants featured in the garden below as a teaser for when they all come out to play in summer and I can take pictures of my own! :)