Hunter Valley Gardens, Massive Christmas light display 2014

Whilst recently visiting relatives in the Hunter Region, we decided to stay overnight at the Elegant Sebel Hotel -like a bygone era complete with an English Breakfast Conservatory overlooking a private rose garden and fountain, surrounded by winery country as far as you can see! Lovely.We caught up with some local friends for dinner and they suggested we go and see all the Christmas lights - 1.5 million of them!, artfully draped throughout the `Hunter Valley Gardens` after dinner - so that`s what we did!

The Hunter Valley Gardens are a spectacular during the day, but transform at night throughout December, into a truly amazing display of Christmas Lights.

There were sooo many families enjoying the night. Kids and parents had flashing head lights and wands. Little girls with their pretty fairy dresses, prams, teens, and grandparents, the lot. We were a little surprised at the entry cost af $25 per Adult, and only 3yrs and younger were free, making it an expensive treat at Christmas for the family. However, from the looks of awe and wonder on their little faces, it was well worth it.

We pretty much just followed the crowd in one direction from beginning to end, along concrete and fine gravel paths. Took about an hour with a few stops to ogle the lights.

Above are the `Storybook` gardens with all the nursery rhymes lit up!

And of course the `Lollie Land` lane was a bit hit.

It was such a beautiful balmy night for a stroll after dinner, and what better way to get in to the Christmas spirit

Nothing like an Eiffel Tower display to top off the night!

Merry Christmas everyone and hope you`ll visit this blog next year

Collectors Plant Fair - Look what I bought!

Yes - this was the weekend for the 10th Collectors Plant Fair. It`s Autumn here and the best time of the year for planting, so what a great time to host a fair who`s sole purpose is to bring together 54 Specialist Growers to purchase from. Hooray! It`s one whole weekend that you can peruse all the amazing plants you generally only see in specialist mail order catalogues.

My girlfriend and I go every year. She buys the tickets, I drive and get the coffees mid morning.
You`ve got to whip around quickly to snap up some of the more rare, unusual and interesting plants, then go around again at a more leisurely pace, to peruse at length the individual stalls that really caught you eye.  You can also attend a guest speaker session which is always fascinating.

My friend led us directly upon entry to the Specialist Begonia stall where I ought these beauties.I love the colours, patterns and texture of these foliage plants - the flowers are a small bonus.We both have a small collection of the beautiful leaved Rex Begonias and were looking to find something special, which of course we did. I`m glad we got in early because they had sold out of the most interesting by lunch. There were so many choices, but of course the rarer a plant the dearer! It`s quite easy to spend a lot of money as you get carried away at the endless photo labels of hundreds of perennials promising flushes of the most amazing flowers. The lush displays of Bromlaids and Carnivorous plants and Orchids, Roses,Bulbs, Exotic Fruit trees - all there to buy!

Yes my friends, I had a a great spend up. I find a quirky pleasure at spreading out all of my treasures and admiring them. Then working out precisely where I`m going to plant them - where they will perform best. Like a lot of avid gardeners, I like to think I can grow most things, even when they are out of their own growing environment. I don`t always succeed, but I having a go. In a large garden like Bloomfield, there is always a spot to squeeze in another plant. I was looking for tough dry Shade plants this year, for a garden bed under trees. I think I`ll keep the Begonias in pots though as they are a bit tender for our winter. I like to group types of plants around the place for effect and ease of care.

This lovely red specimen is a small 2m shrub with the most amazing Autumn foliage called
Enkianthus Campanulatus. It will have cream lily-of-the-valley type flowers amongst lush green foliage in Spring and will need a dark green backdrop to showcase the foliage at this time of the year.







Now this lush beauty is a Climber! It`s called Bignonia Magnifica. The lady explained how she keeps hers as a shrubby mound, and just prunes of the tendrills occasionally - which is what I now plan to do as I`m running out of climbing structures and fences. I bought another climber as well, an evergreen perennial called      Cobaea Scandens or Cathedral Bells. It has large purple cup and saucer shaped flowers.
                               

I`ve always grown Geranium Cransebills. This one is called Samobor or Black Widow. What wonderful foliage, and the flowers are a deep maroon to purple.
Over the years with drought and deluge I have lost many of these treasured purchases, so this is a great way to try some new ones.

Ive decided to grow some Nerines. Mum bought some a few weeks ago at the Melbourne Flower and Garden Show and of course now I want some. I bought this lovely red and a pretty pink one. And a giant Scilla bulb - a big Bluebells.

I bought a few interesting perennials of the Sanguisorba family -` Blackthorn` with ferny foliage and red flowers on tall stems and a smaller one with masses of red flowers held aloft like a halo called` Red Thunder`. Also an unusual type of Salvia - `Przewalskii`, with thick lush leaves and large velvety pink flowers. From the Friends of the Botanic Gardens stall, I bought some tube stock of Megaskepasma erythrochlamys. A great winter flowering shrub with raspberry bracts all over. No wonder it`s nickname is Brazilian red cloak! This is a great stall to buy from as the unusual plants are cuttings from Sydney`s various Botanic Gardens. I also couldn`t resist another picotee Hellebore to add to the collection around a tree, oh, and a hot pink Justicia as well!  I just couldn`t stop!

So I`m going to pot up a few till I work out where to plant them - give them a chance to grow up big enough to survive planting out in a large garden.

And before I sign off I wanted to show you one of the rare salvias I bought last year. It is in full glorious colour right now, so I couldn`t resist. This huge yellow flowering salvia `Medrensis` was just a tiny tube stock last year.....and look at it now, over 2m x 2m and growing!

Thanks for visiting ....leave a comment if you like .. and hope to see you next blog.

                                                                                                                       

Salvias, the last hurrah of Autumn

Its fair to say that summer is hot hard work here in the outer west of Sydney. So when Autumn finally arrives we all breath a sigh of relief and watch nature transform our gardens into a tranquil and gentle haven. I`m pleased to report that all the little birds have come back into the garden, something that has not happened for over ten years! The invasive Indian Mynor bird has scared them off, I thought, for good! How wrong I was. First the little native Finches flittered and tittered all over the place, then I noticed the Willy Wag Tails here and there and then lots of shy Wrens started hopping out of shrubs and bushes. To my greatest surprise and joy, the little Honeyeaters are back! Only once before have I seen one of these charming little fellows hovering at a sweet flower - but this year I have a whole flock of the busy little guys. They are too fast to catch for a photo (I spent hours trying!) but I did get some video footage. They have spent a great deal of time in all the giant Salvias.

This particular one I picked up at a Plant Collectors Fair. Salvia Guaranitica - `Black and Blue is a very large and fast growing variety, reaching 130cm and spreading along the ground where it`s thick canes sprout rootlets when it touches the soil.

This amazing fluffy pink Salvia was also purchased at the P.C.Fair. Salvia Iodantha - can grow to   3m x 3m so I have had to move it from it`s original position as it grew too big for the spot.

Salvias are great space fillers if you have the room. There seems to be one to fit every garden spot imaginable, even shade. Below is a relatively new release called Fionas Wish, and seems very happy in semi shade. The foliage is lusher than it`s hot dry relatives.

This Shade loving Salvia is a most unusual variety, hardly resembling the rest of it`s family. The large triangular foliage spreads by runners, and the flowers are a vibrant true blue. I`m sorry to say I have no record of this ones name. let me know

I`ve had this Salvia `Raspberry Sundae` for many years. It is a rich colour and always reliable. As with most Salvias, they tend to slowly spread until you must halt their progress with a spade.

There is a lot of pruning involved with these plants. Throughout the season you can let them go if you have ample room, although I tend to hack back regularly. Then at the end of winter it`s off with their heads! right back to the ground. A good handful of fertiliser and some fresh mulch then they`re off and away again.

Salvia `Waverly` is a purple and white bi-colour that never stops flowering. I love the crinkly textured foliage of this one.

This lush beauty is Salvia `Anthony Parker` and is one of the other sources of joy to all the little hummingbirds. I can see this one from my family room windows and often sit watching them frolic for sweet nectar.

All these hard working perennials (meaning we cut them back to the ground at the end of winter so they can renew themselves all over again) also play another major roll in my gardens - the endless source of pollen and nectar to my bees. Yes, we have a wonderful beehive in an old tree, way down in the farthest reaches of the garden.

Salvia microphylla `Margaret Arnold` has been growing happily for years in the garden. Quite a substantial plant, very heat hardy with strong upright stems. Like many salvias, it tends to spread by runners - yep, out with the spade when I need to slow its progress.

And these little beauties are this years purchases from the annual Plant Collectors Fair.

Salvia `Medrensis` was given to me by a friend who has a stall there. He promises me this massive growing variety is YELLOW! The other little fellow is Salvia `hians` and looks to be another interesting variety, short and hardy with large lush flowers - we shall see...

Please feel free to leave a comment, I`m always happy to hear from you :)