The Story of Elephant's Eye
Chapter 1 Naming of Parts - Pani's Falls and Ungardening Pond January 2013
Chapter 2 Well earned names - Black Stork Island and Rest and Be Thankful February 2013
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Hindsight is a wonderful thing. If, like me, you have been in your present garden for years, look back. If you would have known then, what you have learnt now. What you tried to plant, and failed with. Too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, too windy, clay too heavy. And then you met that nice lady on the corner, with the beautiful garden, and she gave you a piece of her ... Imagine a courtyard garden. A small tree to sit under, and drink tea, while gazing a tiny wildlife pond. There are flowering shrubs, some groundcover, NO Lawn.
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| Dozen for Diana |
If you take your gardening too seriously make this a game. If you take your gardening too casually, take the time to surprise yourself, with quite how much you HAVE learnt over the years. (Choose one plant a week, build up the collage. And to prove a point to myself, today 21st March 2010, after a week of temperatures pushing 40C, I picked this, from our garden. 11 of the 12, the arum is dormant) If that tree wasn't throwing so much shadow, if the hedge wasn't there ... To make this useful to you, and your future gardening neighbour, you must choose plants that DO grow in your climate and soil, In Your Own Garden. And since it is your choice, you must really love them, to go on your short-list. I was aiming for 10, but had to stretch to 12. BTW since these posts bob up on my Popular Pages stats I decide to pull them all together here.
My rules for Diana's Dozen are that it is happy with a Mediterranean climate, wet winter, and LONG HOT summer. I prefer indigenous/native South African fynbos, but some exotic aliens (roses, herbs) earn a place on the four legged watering roster. They are MY dozen, so they are all plants I cannot imagine being without. If I would move to another garden, as we will, in time to come. Then they must have something special, pioneer, wild life friendly, flowers to pick, fragrance, interesting foliage year round, maybe edible?
In 2013 I look forward to False Bay.
2012 for Porterville. Tried and Tested
1. My new signature plant is the blue sage Salvia chamelaeagnea proudly South African.
2. My new tree is white karee Searsia lancea. Again indigenous to South Africa.
3. Now I learn to start with a pioneer spekboom, Portulacaria afra
4. We need a groundcover. Always-bridesmaid-never-bride Tough, with flowers. Plectranthus neochilus
5. Now I need colour a pink Pelargonium.
6. There will be a pond in my virtual garden and in-the-pond-grows
7. More colour please. A bulb. More-precious-than-rubies. Lachenalia rubida
8. Snow on the mountains calls for flaming flowers. Pig's ears Cotyledon orbiculata
9. Returning to one of my colourfilled first choices Purple daisies
10. Returning to another of the first loves Plectranthus madagascariensis
11. Nectar for the birds, and drama leaves for me Melianthus major honey flower.
12. Ethereal blue-grey leaves and licorice smell Artemisia afra wild wormwood wildeals.
2. My new tree is white karee Searsia lancea. Again indigenous to South Africa.
3. Now I learn to start with a pioneer spekboom, Portulacaria afra
4. We need a groundcover. Always-bridesmaid-never-bride Tough, with flowers. Plectranthus neochilus
5. Now I need colour a pink Pelargonium.
6. There will be a pond in my virtual garden and in-the-pond-grows
7. More colour please. A bulb. More-precious-than-rubies. Lachenalia rubida
8. Snow on the mountains calls for flaming flowers. Pig's ears Cotyledon orbiculata
9. Returning to one of my colourfilled first choices Purple daisies
10. Returning to another of the first loves Plectranthus madagascariensis
11. Nectar for the birds, and drama leaves for me Melianthus major honey flower.
12. Ethereal blue-grey leaves and licorice smell Artemisia afra wild wormwood wildeals.
2009 - 2010 for Porterville. Old favourites
1. Originally I chose Dusty Miller - Centaurea cineraria. My very first choice is the one I can't be without. A striking focal point. A silver fountain. Grows easily from cuttings, so I can keep spreading it around. My signature plant. What came with you from the last garden (if the climate allows)? This first one is an exotic from the Mediterranean Basin. Dusty Miller
2. The earlier choice was Trimeria grandifolia. First you plant a tree, so you will have shade to sit in soonest! Large round apple green leaves. A shrubby South African tree amenable to pruning. Trimeria
3.Then it was Plectranthus madagascariensis. A groundcover, in the mint family, South African despite the Madagascar in its Latin name. Ivory and green leaves provide year round interest. Grows in sun or brings light to shady places. Plectranthus
4. Before I chose Dimorphotheca jucunda. South African groundcover daisy. Now we need some colour. You will probably recognise this as Osteospermum, but the taxonomists have been at it again. Dimorphotheca jucunda
5. Then my heart choose a bulb. Zantedeschia aethiopica. South African Arum or calla lily. As I write in March, our Arums are dormant, but they will soon be back. Your one and only bulb? Arum Lily
6. Then it was a summer snowflake, an unknown white South African Pelargonium. What is your flowering perennial? Summer Snowflake
7. Last year Elegia tectorum. Restios. Our indigenous Cape reeds, used for thatching on picturesque houses with gables. Rustling and rippling. Piet Oudolf has made grasses indispensable. What's yours? Restios
8. Bulbine frutescens Texas likes this one, but it is born in South Africa. Asphodel family, with the Aloes. Flowers can be tangerine or yellow. Leaves yield sap which is good for the skin that is damaged. Got a tough groundcover? With flowers? Bulbine
9. Salvia chamelaeagnea. Blue sage. This is local from the south Western Cape. The square stems betraying that it is in the mint family. Your flowering shrub? Blue Sage
10. So, there is a little pond. What have you planted In The Water? Common or garden, exotic Dwarf Papyrus is a delight to pick too. True papyrus is too large for most gardens. Love water-lilies, but you need a certain depth of water. Bulrushes are aggressively invasive. Papyrus
11. Ruttyspolia Phyllis van Heerden. A natural hybrid of two South African shrubs. Even when not in bloom, the luminous green leaves with ruffled edges are gardenworthy. And glorious pink flowers, make this my second flowering shrub. Your second choice? Phyllis van Heerden
12. And Gail at Clay and Limestone is what triggered this cascade of response could-you-leave-your-garden. My last plant is Plakkies. Cotyledon orbiculata. The second succulent groundcover. Bulbine has delicate reed-like leaves. Plakkies has large, round, in your face leaves, with a delicate burgundy margin. The whole plant is much larger and taller than Bulbine, but it does cover ground, in giant strides. Your absolute pioneer groundcover? Will I still love this garden when I'm 62?
2. The earlier choice was Trimeria grandifolia. First you plant a tree, so you will have shade to sit in soonest! Large round apple green leaves. A shrubby South African tree amenable to pruning. Trimeria
3.Then it was Plectranthus madagascariensis. A groundcover, in the mint family, South African despite the Madagascar in its Latin name. Ivory and green leaves provide year round interest. Grows in sun or brings light to shady places. Plectranthus
4. Before I chose Dimorphotheca jucunda. South African groundcover daisy. Now we need some colour. You will probably recognise this as Osteospermum, but the taxonomists have been at it again. Dimorphotheca jucunda
5. Then my heart choose a bulb. Zantedeschia aethiopica. South African Arum or calla lily. As I write in March, our Arums are dormant, but they will soon be back. Your one and only bulb? Arum Lily
6. Then it was a summer snowflake, an unknown white South African Pelargonium. What is your flowering perennial? Summer Snowflake
7. Last year Elegia tectorum. Restios. Our indigenous Cape reeds, used for thatching on picturesque houses with gables. Rustling and rippling. Piet Oudolf has made grasses indispensable. What's yours? Restios
8. Bulbine frutescens Texas likes this one, but it is born in South Africa. Asphodel family, with the Aloes. Flowers can be tangerine or yellow. Leaves yield sap which is good for the skin that is damaged. Got a tough groundcover? With flowers? Bulbine
9. Salvia chamelaeagnea. Blue sage. This is local from the south Western Cape. The square stems betraying that it is in the mint family. Your flowering shrub? Blue Sage
10. So, there is a little pond. What have you planted In The Water? Common or garden, exotic Dwarf Papyrus is a delight to pick too. True papyrus is too large for most gardens. Love water-lilies, but you need a certain depth of water. Bulrushes are aggressively invasive. Papyrus
11. Ruttyspolia Phyllis van Heerden. A natural hybrid of two South African shrubs. Even when not in bloom, the luminous green leaves with ruffled edges are gardenworthy. And glorious pink flowers, make this my second flowering shrub. Your second choice? Phyllis van Heerden
12. And Gail at Clay and Limestone is what triggered this cascade of response could-you-leave-your-garden. My last plant is Plakkies. Cotyledon orbiculata. The second succulent groundcover. Bulbine has delicate reed-like leaves. Plakkies has large, round, in your face leaves, with a delicate burgundy margin. The whole plant is much larger and taller than Bulbine, but it does cover ground, in giant strides. Your absolute pioneer groundcover? Will I still love this garden when I'm 62?
Not a bunch of flowers, but still interesting to pick
Photos and words by Diana of Elephant's Eye
(If you mouse over brown text, it turns shriek pink. Those are my links)
Diana- "Once we had bought the new house, I staked my claim to the new blog name, and its own Gmail."
ReplyDeleteIf I understand you correctly you have put in an offer on your new house, and it has been accepted? Congratulations :) Like us, it is a big move and I wish you all the very best.
I will be following your new blog too - t'will be interesting to see how your garden develops with a different sand consistency and structure - very different to Porterville :)
from hot and clay, to sand and sea breezes.
DeleteExcited for you Diana! Lots of changes, I wish you the best of luck you are such an amazing blogger I can only look forward to your next steps and thoughts. Thanks for all the information and colour you have brought to us all over the last couple of years:~))
ReplyDelete