By Beatrice Hawkins, Gardening Columnist
As anyone that regularly reads my ramblings will know, I am no rose grower!
I love and appreciate the beautiful blooms, especially the old fashioned, perfumed varieties and my sentimental favourite, the thornless, yellow, climbing, banksia rose.
I think it’s great that we are the “Rose City” and would like to see the council have a mural painted on the silos near the railway station.
My choice for that would be to depict “Rail, Rodeo and Roses”.
My great neighbours are unfortunately shifting and they have gifted me two lovely roses in large pots plus two azaleas and a gardenia.
The gardenia I know I can grow as I have one doing well in my garden already, but the other three pots will take some research, learning and special care.
I know at present the roses are in need of pruning and I would like to be able to strike some cuttings from these.
I have read that an easy way is to put the cutting into a potato and plant that, so will give that method a try.
I will also read up on other methods and see how successful I can be. Watch this space in a few months and I will report on success or failure!
The council always prunes the roses mid to late August and this year pruning will commence on 17 August so there will be a lovely display in our main street and the parks and gardens for Rodeo Week in October.
Given the harsh, but necessary, water restriction that have been in place over an extended period I think council staff have done a great job in having the roses and all our parks and gardens, looking as well as they do.
As I’ve said many times, it is very important to mental health to be able to see green spaces and growing things.
Fresh air and sunshine are another two very important components and this is proving especially true during this pandemic.
I have found what I think should be a perfect spot for the azaleas.. morning sun and protection from afternoon heat and wind. Some specialised fertiliser and they should flourish as long as I remember to water them!
The gardenia is in the same area as the one I have already so that should be OK. Being given someone else’s treasures brings its own pressures.
I am conscious of the need to be extra careful and keep them alive and doing well… maybe I will need to stay home a bit more and spend more time in the garden!
I have a clematis in a pot along the eastern side of my house and really thought it had succumbed to lack of care in the autumn.
I cut it back to ground level before I went away, watered and mulched it and left it to its own devices.
I am delighted to be able to report that it is sending up many new shoots, climbing well and looking very healthy.
I am looking forward to seeing the trellis once again covered in beautiful blooms later in the year.
Obviously it is a very forgiving plant that flourishes in the pot and position.
The lobelia that I planted is also doing well thanks to the watering, as needed, given by one of the great neighbours in my street.
With the welcome rain we experienced while I was away, her job was not as onerous as it might have been.
I tipped six and a half inches from my gauge on my return and am delighted with the rise in Leslie dam to over 55 per cent.
The petunias I planted last year that really didn’t do well, have, after a very severe pruning, absolutely flourished and are filling the spaces beautifully with large, frilly, double blooms.
Maybe this is what I need to do every year, although, to be fair to petunias, I have never had a problem growing them before.
They have always been an easy and colourful “go to” to fill in spots in every area that I have lived from the tablelands to the west of the state.
I have gradually been adding things to my garden and have once again brought some very old mulga posts back from my recent trip.
These hand cut and drilled posts were pulled from the ground and stacked in a heap about 60 years ago to allow for a new fence, so I really have no idea how old they actually are.
I feel they add character and history to my garden. They will be put in the front garden and with old rusty wire threaded through them for effect and will complete this area.
The only other ornament that may be added sometime, is a steel cut out of a dog to put beside the old gate.
Many people for many years have been telling me I need a pet.
With the travelling I do this is not practical as even a gold fish or canary would mean I would have to get someone to care for it.
I am not a cat lover or a person that could have a dog inside the house and feel that it is not fair to have my favourite kelpies or other working dogs, confined on house blocks in town.
I love kelpies, so feel that a metal one is the perfect answer. No one would need to feed, exercise or water him, he wouldn’t bark to annoy the neighbours and would keep watch while I am away.. the perfect pet!!
