Saturday 27th April, 2024
Hi
Some grass stuff ... not that grass either
I am reaching a tad outside my knowledge range and thought that perhaps I should explore the word 'grasses' that we tend to use quite liberally and generically. It begs the question as to "what actually is a grass?" and so I had to do a bit of googling to be able to put some thoughts here. Grass to me usually means the likes of lawn grass but we tend to call many things 'grasses', especially when it comes to ornamental plantings.
This group of plants are all monocots meaning that when they germinate they have only one seed leaf, but there are of course quite a few families and
Carex testacea,
secta and
virgata all belong to the same family of sedges or Cyperaceae. Family names end in 'ceae' and the plants in the same family have reproductive or flower similarities.
I have always thought of these Carex as grasses but it would seem that they may be more correctly sedges.
Carex testacea is an attractive orange which is used a lot in ornamental plantings and prefers a drier or well drained position. The colour is more enhanced in full sun.
Carex secta and
virgata are both largish growing green sedges (grasses) that can tolerate both drained and quite wet situations.
Now the typical lawn grasses of Fescue and Rye grass are both Poas and belong to the family of Poaceae. I found that we have a genus that belongs to this family in the nursery and we have used it extensively around our display garden pond plantings.
Gossamer grass (easier to use than its Latin name of
Anemanthele lessoniana) has been just amazing in this situation, even though it is not a wetland grass, but must just love its position as it has kept the weeds out for years.
We currently have quite a fab range of
Lomandra 'grasses' which are native to Australia and interestingly enough, these belong to the Asparagus family along with
Mondo grass (Ophiopogon) and
Hostas. We have quite a few different species and cultivars of Lomandra and as a generalisation, varieties of 'longifolia' tend to be bigger-growing while varieties of 'confertifolia' are smaller. These have gained popularity for their hardiness and attractive lime green leaves. Click the
link to see all the
Lomandras but here are a few selections.
Lomandra Arctic Frost (longifolia) This variegated grass-like perennial Lomandra is beautiful and soft with small yellow flowers from September to April. The light coloured foliage provides great contrast in the garden. Handles full sun but prefers light to moderate shade. Tolerant of drought and frost.
Lomandra Echidna (confertifolia)
An Aussie perennial known as Echidna grass is a fine, short, lime green Lomandra that forms neat rounded clumps. It is resilient, drought tolerant and makes a great foliage feature in rockeries, in mass landscaping or in a pot for a stunning display.
Lomandra Frosty Tops (confertifolia)
This useful and attractive clump-forming perennial has fine grey-green foliage with silver highlights and a graceful weeping habit. In summer little yellow spikes of fragrant flowers appear amongst the foliage. Great for mass planting, tolerant of poor soil, sun or part shade.
Lomandra Lime Tuff (longifolia x confertifolia) This Aussie perennial is ideal for group planting in sun or part shade. Fine needles of lime-green foliage form an attractive clump and look good all year round. Little stems of yellow fragrant flowers in summer. Tolerates poor soil but likes good drainage.
Just arrived in for this year
Wisteria is a most fab climber and we have the full range just in. I have these trained like a tree in the garden, and they look amazing in spring, but they will look equally cool along a fence or over a pergola where the long hanging flowers can be admired. The secret is to keep them trained back to a frame-work and not to let them grow just everywhere.
Viburnum We have quite a range of these very pretty spring-flowering shrubs, usually in white. This group of plants can include both evergreen and deciduous.
What's different, just arrived or about to arrive...
Senecio Angel Wings A striking perennial with silky, silvery-white foliage which puts on a show all-year-round. Yellow flowers in Summer. With its different texture, in a pot or as a border or mass planting, it will add a touch of colour to the garden.
Blue Butterfly bush or
Clerodendron ugandense. Last call as we managed to get just a few more of these, but when they are gone, that's it. Commonly known as the Blue butterfly bush for the obvious reason of the beautiful butterfly-shaped flowers in the prettiest of porcelain blue. An open upright bushy shrub that will benefit from a trim to keep in shape from time to time. Full sun to partial-shade and protect from frost.
Cotinus or Smoke bush. These haven't been around for a while but we have managed to get a few. A beautiful foliage shrub with new spring leaves emerging with crimson purple tones aging to green with a purple tinge as summer progresses and once again deepening in tone prior to leaf-fall. The frothy cloud of pink flowers appears in summer. Easy to grow, healthy and hardy.
Angela tells me that our new-season's
Proteas and
Leucodendrons will become available in the next few weeks. Make sure you have your favourite varieties on your waitlist, so that we can notify you as soon as they are in stock. Some popular lines are snapped-up so fast by customers in the waitlist-queue that they don't make it into the garden centre. Don't miss out!
It's our Autumn sale time with heaps of great buys
Roses are still half price, but this sale will end towards the end of Autumn, when new season's stock are on their way, so don't leave it too late!
We are still a little short of space for our winter stock, so our gorgeous
Camellias remain at a 20% discount and this includes standards and Espaliers. Also discounted by 20% are all the
Rhododendrons and also all selected
Hydrangeas. Come in and grab a bargain!
We still have 25% off
Deciduous Azaleas and good prices for our lovely
Succulents and
Daylilies (Hemerocallis), so don't miss out. The last of those large grade
Lime Bearrs (around 2m high) are still at half price (down from $189.99 to $95.00) but you will need a trailer as these are too large to freight. So that's your weekend sorted then: shopping for bargains and then planting them.
I have a family get together happening soon and it's just about making the opportunity to reconnect with the extended cousins and their families. We all get so engrossed in our own lives that it's important to make these times happen so that the next generation know who their relatives are. On that note Mothers' Day (Sunday May 12th) is looming, so plan that Sunday roast, lunch out or just a visit and spending time together.
I complete this email and hand it over to Jane who so nicely does all the links and pictures. That means I can go and make a batch of
Feijoa chutney while we have so much fruit happening right at the moment.
It looks as if we are going to have a stunning weekend for the end of the school holidays... Perfect for being in the garden... let's hope that the forecast lives up to expectation.
Have an amazing weekend.
Cheers from Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team.
