Flowers and foliage Dec 2008

[Giles]

the rest

[Maggi Young]

Wow, Giles! How delicious must your garden smell right now? Yummy!!

[Giles]

Very 'Christmas-y'


Daubenya marginata    ( edit : name added later  M)

[Paul T]

Giles,

Wow!!    What Massonia is that?  I don't think I've ever seen one in that colour before.  Oooooooh, must try to track one down!

[Giles]

Daubenya marginata

[Paul T]

Giles,

Ah, a Daubenya?  They certainly do look close to Massonia don't they?  I think I'll have to keep an eye out for seed of that one.... has been a few years since I have ordered from Silverhill, but might have to have a look through their catalogue again one of these days. 

Thanks for the ID.  Spectacular. 

[David Nicholson]

Lovely selection of Daphnes there Giles, that Daubenya a bit nice too!

[ashley]

In the garden now

Diosma ericoides ‘Pink Fountain’
Grevillea ‘Fireworks’ (G. ‘Pink Pixie’ x alpina), showing some frost damage
Hamamelis mollis 
H. ‘Jelena’
Genista ‘Porlock’ - with a peppery fragrance especially welcome now, but flowers here year round

[Paul T]

Ashley,

Nice to see that G. 'Fireworks' is over there too.  I've recently bought it for my garden here, although as with so many things I buy, "heaven knows where I'll plant it".    Never stops me buying things though.    Due to their intolerance of Phosphorus I do tend to keep many of the Proteaceae family in large pots where I can keep their root system separate from the other plants in my garden.  They rather like the extra drainage as well.

Thanks for the pics.

[ashley]

Paul,

Having brought 'Fireworks' from Qld a couple of years ago I'm cautiously testing its hardiness.  Experience this autumn shows that its buds are very sensitive to rapid thaw when hit by morning sun after frost, so next year I'll move the pot under cover for the last few weeks before flowering.  By contrast, other grevilleas like 'Canberra Gem' are much tougher under our conditions.  In Macroom, the small town just west of here, CG is even used as an attractive hedge that flowers profusely from late winter onwards.

[Paul T]

Nice to see some of my Canberra brethren over there, even if only of the plant variety!

I have no idea what the winters here will do to my 'Fireworks', but I guess I will find out by this time next year.  Thanks for the heads up re frost damage.... I'll keep it in mind for placement of it's pot.

[Gerdk]

Due to their intolerance of Phosphorus I do tend to keep many of the Proteaceae family in large pots where I can keep their root system separate from the other plants in my garden.  They rather like the extra drainage as well.

Paul,
I would be glad if you'll explain this.
Why do you keep those plants in pots? Does your soil contain too much phosphorus or do you use a different fertilizer (which?) for the pot-grown species?
What kind of symptoms do plants show when they received phosphorus in excess?


Gerd

[Paul T]

Gerd,

The Proteaceae family have roots that are designed to extract the maximum phosphorus (I'll refer to it now as P, as in NPK) from extremely poor soils (South Africa and Australia have some of the oldest and most P depleted soils on the planet).  As such, the addition of P rich fertilisers is deadly to most of the them.  By putting them into pots I can give them the excellent drainage they require, while also cutting them off from the plants in the rest of my garden that I may apply traditional fertilisers which contain P.  If they were planted amongst my normal garden plants then I would have to be careful not to fertilise those garden plants with any fertilisers that contained P, as I could easily kill the natives amongst them.  Pots allow me to "plant" these natives amongst my other garden.  Other natives that aren't Proteaceae don't have this problem and I can plant them in the garden without concern, it is just the things like Proteas (South African), Telopeas, Grevilleas, Banksias etc that are sensitive to it.  I also have a small area of my garden where I have planted a couple of the natives together in the ground, and I know to keep the other fertilisers away from them.

Has that explanation helped, or have I just muddied it up even more?

[ashley]

To minimize P for these plants I use subsoil mixed with plenty of sharp sand & grit.  Some callistemon, melaleucas and grevilleas seem to tolerate our P-rich soils quite well, but others (e.g. banksias) become chlorosed and gradually die when planted in the open garden.  Interesting that S American Embothrium coccineum thrives here.

Paul, do you know why Australian Proteaceae are P-intolerant but other families such as Myrtaceae are not (or less so)?

[Paul T]

Ashley,

I don't know for sure why, but I would be assuming that they have "P intensive" flowers, i.e they actually require more P to produce their flowers than the others do.  For that reason they have engineered roots that strip every bit of P out of the soils they are in.  I can only assume that the other families (such as the Myrtaceae you mention) do not require as much P for their flower production so they have never had the need to develp roots that extract higher levels of P from poor soils.  I tend to side with caution when i comes to Grevilleas.  Some do indeed seem to be less intolerant in a garden situation, but I prefer to take no chances. 

Gerd,

I realised that I forgot to answer your question about which fertilisers I use for my potted natives.... I just use a commercial low P Aussie native fertiliser.  I can check for the NPK ratios if you're interested?

I'm trying to work out whether we should put a copy of this discussion within the "Australian Native Plants in our gardens" topic, as it could be useful to those who look at that topic for instructions on growing them?