Summer is a comin'!

I know some folk get really excited about seeing the first daffodils,
snowdrops and crocuses of the year, possibly because it signals to
them that the gardening year as started in earnest.  However, with the
exception of a few evergreen hellebores such as corsicus, I don't
bother with traditional 'spring flowers' because so many other things
- Clianthus, Diascia, Euryops, Jasmine, white Zantedeschia etc provide
early bright colour in my garden and would look at odds with them.
Being a 'fair weather gardener', for me the real start of the year
together with hints of summer, arrives with the opening of the first
'New Zealand Iris' - Libbertia grandiflora.  In today's sunshine, the
first few have opened on a young clump bearing over 50 spikes. It is
In my opinion, one of NZ's nicest 'weeds' forming dense clumps of
sword-like evergreen foliage and 3ft spikes of white, three-petalled
flowers which continue to open well into mid-summer.  There are some
allegedly 'nicer' species such as L. peregrinans which has pleasant
almost coppery orange tinted leaves if grown on thin soil in full sun.
However for me, it cannot beat the sheer flower power of grandiflora.

Doubly pleasing is Lantana montividensis which has developed into a
pleasant hummock and despite a worrying time in January, when freezing
winds ripped into it, myriads of lilac-mauve flower clusters have
started to open.  Despite it being a very common plant, I love to see
it and am especially fond of this species since it is the only one
that can withstand our cool, wet winters in the UK.  A sumptuous
looking, shrubby Ageratum - A. corymbosum with soft textured, large,
purplish flushed leaves has started to open its first flowers of the
year.  These remain as attractive, tight, rosy-purple bud for many
weeks until suddenly, they are covered with a 'floss' of almost powder
blue stamens which age to light purple over successive days.  It is a
distinguished looking shrub, rarely growing to more than 4ft high and
across, but producing ever-increasing masses of flower well into early
winter.  

Last year I mentioned the succulent, sub-shrubby, Bulbine fruticosa
with its pencil thick,  fleshy, glaucous leaves and 'pokers' of
orange-yellow flowers.  It has continued flowering intermittently
throughout the winter.  It coped magnificently with appalling levels
of wet and is now once more a mass of flower with over 30 'pokers'
starting to open and plenty more to come.  Hummocks of the bromeliad -
Bilbergia nutans perched on a low, stone wall are bristling with
spikes - all colouring well and promising a rare cascade of salmon
pink within a few weeks. Some sprigs of the intense magenta Delosperma
cooperi which were pushed in around them last summer, have plenty of
buds which should be open in time to accompany the Bilbergias.
Another Bromeliad - the terrestrial Fascicularia bicolor
'Pitcairnifolia'  - this time kept in a large pot to restrain the
roots, is already threatening to flower with the tips of the innermost
leaves of the largest rosettes already showing bright red tints.
Should it decide to follow this through, the centre of the spikey
rosette will turn brilliant red and slowly reveal a dense rounded
'capitulum' of tubular, almost pale turquoise flowers.  Of the truly
hardy bromeliads, this has to be my favourite.

Clianthus puniceus which as some of you know, was giving concern
through 'die-back' a week or so ago, seems to have sorted itself out
and despite a week of heavy rain, has opened many more racemes of it's
light red flowers and is once more a magnificent show.  Many rapidly
swelling pods mean that should it decide to 'keel over' as Moira and
Trevor have warned, there'll be plenty of replacements.  There is a
stunning relative of this species which is as difficult to grow as it
is beautiful - the Sturt's Desert Pea.  I learnt this week that a new
salmon pink form is now becoming available and is grafted onto
Clianthus puniceus rootstock in order to overcome the root rot that is
associated with it.  Fingers crossed, I'm hoping to get a plant of his
later in the year, although it will probably prove to be the toughest
of all to maintain in good condition.  

Several weeks ago, I noticed that some of the 'bottle-brushes'
(Callistemon rigidus & citrinus) down on the sea front were starting
to open and I've been waiting impatiently for my more brightly
coloured form (C. citrinus 'Splendens')  to get a 'move-on'.  At last
it is obliging with many spikes of brilliant scarlet just starting to
explode like fire-crackers.  A 2ft high 'seedling' Gardenia
jasminoides sent to me from Spain by Jose Almandoz just over a year or
so ago, is showing the first flowers buds of the year and really has
astonished me with its resilience to light frosts, winter wet and
biting winds.  Here in the UK. Gardenias are treated with 'kid gloves'
and considered to be 'hot house' subjects requiring very high
humidity, constant warmth and good, indirect light.  This plant
receives full sun, has happily endured several minus 2C frosts and
days of biting, easterly winds which sent the chill factor down even
further.  Gentler weather of the past few weeks have encouraged it to
grow well and it promises to become a handsome specimen in a very
short time.

These together with the fact that the first new leaf of the year on my
Musa basjoo which has grown from 0 - 6 feet in 4 weeks despite the
cold and wet, really indicate to me that things are truly on the move.


Dave Poole
TORQUAY  UK
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