The garden through the year; 2011

JANUARY

"Anyone can have dirt. Gardener's have soil."

FEBRUARY

"And then my heart with pleasure fills

And dances with daffodils."...William Wordsworth

MARCH

APRIL

"You may go down to the garden."...(Peter Rabbit's mother) Beatrix Potter

 MAY

JUNE

"Everything is good in its season."...Italian

JULY

"The only two herbicides we recommend are cultivation and mulching."...Organic Gardening Magazine

AUGUST

"Who loves a garden still
his Eden keeps,
Perennial pleasures plants,
and wholesome harvest reaps."...Amos Bronson Alcott 1868

SEPTEMBER

"If man cheats the earth, the earth will cheat man."...Chinese

OCTOBER

"Roses are red,

Violets are blue;

But they don't get around

Like the dandelions do."...Slim Acres

NOVEMBER

"We all share the same backyard."

DECEMBER

Thursday 1.December 2011  6:57 AM

Believe it or not;
"As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world - that is the myth of the atomic age - as in being able to remake ourselves."...Mahatma Gandhi

It's DayLilli time....again;

Miniature  Hoot

Daphne Tremmel;

Spider;  Christmas Tidings;

Old Tangiers;

Bold Encounter;

Charlie Pierce Memorial;

Egyptian Ibis; one of my favourites.

Apricot Jade;

Short Circuit; I love the fine cream line around its petals;

Champagne Elegance; pretty nearly white with yellow frills;

Jordan Verhaert; small blooms;

Hemerocallis;

The daylily is a widely grown perennial flower that blooms continuously through the spring and summer months. Its botanical name is Hemerocallis, which means "beautiful for a day." The name reflects the reality that daylilies' blooms last for only one day.


Daylilies  do best in full sun and well-drained soil enriched with organic matter. They need a handful of  slow release fertilizer  once a year---in early spring. Feeding too much causes excess foliage and no flowers. Daylilies need weekly watering when there is no rainfall. Mulching with wood chips, grass clippings or shredded leaves is also recommended.





Courtesy; Australiandaylily Society;

There are three types of foliage habit: dormant, evergreen and semi-evergreen. Of these, dormant types are generally not suited to the hot coastal climate.

Flower size may be miniature (blooms under 7.5cm in diameter), small flower (blooms 7.5cm to 11cm in diameter) and large flowers (blooms are 11cm in diameter).

Flower scapes are either low (15cm to 60cm tall), medium (60 to 90 cm tall) or tall (scapes over 90cm high).


The foliage runs from green to blue-green.


The height of the foliage varies from 15cm to 1metre.


Almost all colours of the spectrum are available: yellow (from gold to lemon), orange (brown to flesh), red (maroon to rose-red), pink (rose-red to shrimp), purple (violet to lilac) and near white. There is not a true blue blower.


Location: Full sun or partial shade and well drained, light to heavy soil.


Believe it or not:

Many things grow in the garden that were never sown there.

-   Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732