Sunflower Surprises

Some months ago I decided to plant some sunflower seeds to grow into a living cubby to amuse Ellie and Evie. Seeds of the variety 'Evening Sun' were bought from organic supplier Green Harvest after I saw a picture in their catalogue and was attracted by the range of colours. Who knew that sunflowers come in other colours than yellow? 

The seeds had a good germination rate and were surprisingly easy to grow. After the seedlings were transplanted into a rough circle for the cubby and the leftovers scattered around the feral flower field, they grew strongly. They are now in full flower and I'm surprised every day by how much pleasure they give me. Though most of the flowers are basically shades of yellow, they range from russet, to bronze to mauvish/pinkish tones. The stems are multibranched, with the most vigorous plants having numerous flower heads. Even on the one plant, individual flowers differ in their colour variations.

So far Ellie has visited once since they have been blooming and seemed to be intrigued by the idea of having a flowery place to play in.

In addition to the pleasure of the flowers, I thought I remembered reading somewhere that they atttracted beneficial insects to the garden. A little research found a report of a study done by scientists at the University of Florida. The two-year study found that '. . . sunflowers attract and play host to numerous beneficial insects'. These include lacewings, ladybirds, bees, big-eyed bugs, parasitic wasps, green lynx spiders, predatory stink bugs and assassin bugs. A further finding was that '. . . crop vegetation within 1 m of sunflowers exhibited nearly the same abundance and diversity of beneficial insects as did the sunflowers themselves'.

Until today I had noticed only bees on the flowers. An inspection of them while wearing my glasses revealed numerous insects scurrying over the leaves and inside the flowers. There are many ants, a few ladybirds and a variety of small insects that I don't know the names of.

So, sunflowers are surprisingly beneficial as well as surprisingly attractive. The one drawback I've found is that they do need more water than I had expected. They have even stood up to the blustery southerly winds quite well with very little damage. Next spring I'll plant them among the vegies where they will be of more practical benefit and no extra watering will be needed as the vegies are regularly watered anyway.

Summer Blooming Beauties

After the garden's spring burst of exuberance when there is a palette of colour wherever you look, early summer can seem a little drab. That is, until the vigorous summer-blooming beauties begin to flaunt their finery.

This week has seen the re-emergence of one of the crepe myrtles (the brighter one) and the chaste berry. These will both brighten the garden all through summer and into early autumn. Then, there will be the bonus of berries for the rosellas to snack on and cheerful autumn foliage. The ericas almost never stop flowering, which is just as well because their nectar-filled flowers are the favourite tucker of numerous birds year round.

This year I am growing sunflowers for the first time in this garden, to amuse my darling granddaughters. They seem to be at their peak right now, but I don't know how long those impressive flowers will last.

The shrubby hebe and waving wands of dieramas behind it make a pretty picture together. The dieramas (AKA fairy wands) are an old-fashioned favourite that came from my mum's garden. They are very hardy and keep growing and flowering with no water and very little attention. I was interested, though, to see them looking greener and blooming more prolifically in the damper, kinder environment where Mum lives.

The 'Burgundy Iceberg' roses just keep on blooming through spring, summer and autumn, though the summer flushes of flowers quickly wilt in the heat. I snip off the spent flowers and new buds quickly form.

In the vegie garden a large lavender attracts bees and other beneficial insects and looks pretty all summer. Another flash of colour in the vegie garden is provided by the windmills, which do a reasonable job of scaring the blackbirds away from the strawberries; that is, as long as the wind is blowing.

Design By Nature

I have written about pattern and texture in nature before on this blog, in 'Try A Little Touchy Feely' back in June, which remains by far my most read blog - I'm sure it's the title that intrigues people; maybe they were expecting something a little more than photos of tree trunks, clouds and rocks.
Anyway, I couldn't resist sharing the wonderful pattern of the inside leaves of a red cabbage I cut today.

Usually, by this stage of the year, there are no cabbages, broccoli etc in the garden because they are annihilated by the cabbage moths if I plant them at the traditionally recommended time. My strategy for many years has been to wait until most of these pests have disappeared before planting any brassicas, usually in April - May. By the time the pests return in October - early November I have harvested most of the crop. This year, though, the red cabbages are very slow to mature and some went straight to seed. The outside leaves of the remaining cabbages are very holey (thanks, cabbage moths), so when I harvested this one I was anxious to see if the damage extended to the inside. As you can see, the inside is undamaged and stunning, a perfect illustration of nature's artistry.

I always choose red cabbages instead of green ones because I like to create pleasing patterns in the vegie garden whenever I can and the gorgeous colour of these at every stage of growth can be just as pretty as a flower bed. (The reds also taste better than the greens and don't give me a gassy tummy.)The photo below shows how the bed looked soon after planting, with its pattern of red cabbages and baby beets. In hindsight, I see that the seedlings were planted too close together for all of them to develop, hence the cabbages that went to seed. They did make a pretty picture though, and that's part of the fun of gardening.

Gone

The redgum on Saturday, above and below.

A couple of days ago I wrote about some lovely old redgums in our park that the environment group was trying to save. According to council's consultant arborists, they posed a danger to the public and had to be cut down. The environment group's arborist disagreed. We hoped for at least a chance to put this latter view to council and present a petition. Though I was doubtful that these particular trees could be saved, I at least thought other views would be listened to and was encouraged in this belief by a councillor I rang about the situation.

A meeting was scheduled for this afternoon between some councillors and a representative of the environment group. Early this morning the loppers had already begun work. By this afternoon, when I passed by, the tree was a stump.

I admit to being a cynic, but surely the time frame of this suggests some questionable actions by someone in authority somewhere along the line.  Community consultation needs some work in our shire.

The redgum this morning.

 . . . and now.