- Possums from the ground and air

Possums venture down in their hordes from the surrounding nature reserves. They feast on new spring leaves and will persist with demolishing every new shoot until a tree might decide to give up and die. Our normal process is to surround the trunk with a clear plastic or tin cover which the possums cannot climb beyond. In the above case, the North American Red Oak is probably 8-10m high, and glider possums enter the foliage via a neighbouring pepper tree. Now 4 months into summer, and barely a leaf to be seen ...until 5 days ago I hung napthalene (moth balls) in the tree and suddenly life is reappearing in the leaves. Possums hate the scent. Fingers crossed that the success continues

Irises Blooming In Memorium

Michael's favourite flower is the Iris, and they normally flower most fully around his birthday, 1 November. This year, they are flowering a little earlier due to the warm spring weather we have seen. But the display is spectacular after having been rearranged into colour-coordinated beds by Peter Marshall during late summer/early autumn.

I am very sad to say that Michael passed away on October 2, 2012 after a hard fought battle with his cancer. His passing was sooner than I had expected, and he died quickly and painlessly from a heart attack in St Vincents hospital. He was very satisfied to have left a legacy such as the gardens, architecture and library of the Drip, and hopes that many people in future will derive great pleasure from exploring the property. I believe that the Irises have flowered splendidly as a tribute to Michael who put so much effort into collecting the wide range of flowers.

I (Clive) will continue the work that we had commenced 20 years ago. And there is still plenty to do!

Above is a picture of Michael standing at the (future) house-front taken by his friend Carolyn during her visit earlier this year

Finding Inspiration for the Future

Having been now laid low by cancer I am no longer able to work physically on the gardens.  But at this stage I can still continue using the library and the internet to seek inspiration for future projects in the gardens, searching for concepts capable of adding substance and weight to that which has been achieved here at The Drip over the last twenty years.

This photograph of timber balls by the Provencal sculptor, Marc Nucera, is one such inspiration. An amount of fallen and milled timber is currently cluttering up areas of the garden. It would be beneficial to turn this rubbish into works of such grace and beauty.

Nucera's integration of landscape design, land art and sculptural works in wood have earned him high regard..  The following collection of images will show why.

The View from The Roof Top Terrace

Bruno Egger is here this week and took this shot from The Rooftop Terrace just before dawn.

This rather wonderful new area of the house is getting more and more use now that Clive and David have built the spiral staircase, which was based on designs and specifications obtained from a London company with a reputation for building the best and safest spiral staircases available.

Our plan is to develop the Rooftop Terrace as a low water-usage garden of succulents with some simple furnishings and possibly a canopy to enhance the usefulness of the area, which provides spectacular views of the entire property and of the valley.

What's Blooming This Week?

Banksia spinulosa var. collina is a shrub that grows along the east coast of Australia, in Queensland and New South Wales.

The original specimen, identified in the Hunter Valley, was published in 1810 as Banksia collina,   but was later revised to be a variety of  Banksia spinulosa.

Commonly known as the Hill Banksia, it is not however restricted to hilly terrain.  Ours is on a small rocky outcrop in The Bush Garden and has grown slowly into a magnificent specimen 4 metres tall. Whatever you wish to call it, this is a beautiful, tough shrub, popular with honey-eaters and we should plant more.

Roof Top Garden or Green Roof?

Now that the roof of the house is accessible it is beginning to be used quite a lot, even though we still have a few of our solar panels up there.  Carolyn Teo, who has been staying here this week,  took this photo and was proud to be first to sunbathe on the roof.

The question now is how best to landscape and furnish this area.   Deck chairs sound like a stylish addition. A shade sail or canopy of some sort could be good. And a rooftop bar is definitely on the cards. Using succulents as the main plantings here will be a practical landscaping solution as they require little water and will love the bright sunlight.

There are several ways of using succulents in a roof garden.  The traditional way would be to grow them in pots.  But perhaps a more interesting approach would be to create a "green roof", covering significant areas of the roof with a growing medium and planting it like a garden bed.  More on "green rooves"  soon.

Propagating Lavender by Cutting

Autumn is the time to take cuttings of lavender. Cuttings around 6 cm long, taken from new seasons growth which has almost, but not quite, "hardened off" are best.

Strip 90% of the leaves off the cuttings to minimize water loss from transpiration.  We place the trays of cuttings in our mini "green-houses" but if you want just a few plants then a half filled large pot with a sheet of Gladwrap across the top works well. Using a growth hormone is a good idea and increases the strike rate considerably.

This year we made around 150 cuttings of a number of varieties including French Lavender and English Lavender plus a few different varieties of Spanish/Italian lavender such as "Avondale" and "Kew Red". The trays also contain a few Santolina. These will all  eventually be planted out on the dry, sunny banks of the Eastern Terrace.  Lavenders are relatively short-lived so every few years we replace old plants with new.

What's Blooming This Week?

Magnolia "Little Gem" is having a second flush of flowers.

Little Gem is a dwarf form of Magnolia grandiflora which comes originally from the swamps of southern USA.  

Our plants are loving this wet, mild season and would clearly appreciate being given additional water in dry years.

Dahlias, Roses and Antique Glass.

A nineteenth-century Venetian glass vase bought by Michael Creighton's grandmother, Gertrude Cordingly, holds roses and dahlias from the Cut Flower Garden.

Elaine Paton has been here all week and the entire house is filling with her floral arrangements.

There's more to life than growing vegetables.

Drystone Walls and Hard Landscaping

Peter Marshall has finished the low drystone wall, defining the new parking area in The Forecourt.

Over the next few years we aim to do a lot more stone work, using our local field stone.  We will also be using a lot of local river gravels which complement our stone.

This focus on "hard landscaping" helps add structure, clarity and permanence to the gardens

Tomato Passata Time

It is the last week of summer and that means it is time to make passata out of the excess tomatoes.

Simply fill a large pan with veey ripe  tomatoes, squishing them as you put them in.  Add a glug of olive oil.  Cook over a low heat until the resulting sauce is thick, rick and lustrous.

The passata can be used as the basis for many sauces, soups and condiments and will keep for ages in the fridge.

What's Blooming This Week?

People are often sometimes surprised to hear that Tea is actually made from the leaves of a species of camellia, Camellia sinensis. 

We have one tiny plant, bought last winter, which is covered in delightful small white flowers , even though it would usually be expected to flower in mid-autumn.  But it a very odd season.

Camellia sinensis is not only useful and productive but can be used as a delightful hedging or topiary plant.

Notes from the Library #35

In the introduction to his most recent book, "The Art of Creative Pruning",  Jake Hobson says that he has found inspiration for his "organic topiary" from many sources, including the tea plantations of southern India.  This set me off on a Google image search which led to finding this image of a hillside tea plantation in Kerala. 

Julia Creighton, Aran's wife, is originally from Kerala and Clive Poolman's great-great Aunt, Jane Lee Kirby, owned a tea plantation there in the nineteenth century.  Additionally John Creighton, Michael's father, lived in Kerala in the 1920's.  We seem to have quite a few family connections to these landscapes

So I am now thinking how it would be wonderful to find a location in the gardens here in Mudgee to create a "little Kerala". These clipped plantations consist of a type of Camellia, Camellia sinensis, from which tea is made.  A small hill of clipped and sculpted Camellia sinensis would be beautiful and maybe one day the family could produce its own tea here at The Drip.  For more on Jake Hobson, including information on his inspiring books click here

Wattles and Bush Regeneration

The group of wattles in the foreground are an example of how the bushland here is slowly regenerating after more than a century of poor management, overgrazing, over clearing and neglect.

When we bought this property twenty years ago this entire area at the head of the valley was an impenetrable mass of blackberries.  Removing these was a one of our first challenges and was achieved without the need for toxic sprays.  Simply hacking them to the ground with a brush-hook and letting the kangaroos graze on new emerginbg shoots did the job.  

After several years these wattles emerged.  They are a pioneer species and many of the older plants  are already reaching the end of their life-cycle perhaps to be replaced by more long-lived trees.  Time will tell.

Trees for Mudgee Honey

Mudgee is famous for its honey. The Yellow Box, Eucalyptus melliodora, is one of the most important  local species that provides an abundant source of nectar.  Yellow Box honey with delicate, fresh floral flavours is one of most popular of all honeys.  In the [pasdt honey production was an imprtant part of life at The Drip and we are still home to huge numbers pof healthy bees.

But over-clearing, excessive use of mature trees for timber and generally poor management practices of The Drip in the past has resulted in very few Yellow Box being left.  As part of our ongoing programme to re-vegetate the property Aran and Julia Creighton planted a grove of twenty five tubestock Eucalyptus melliodora last year.  With abundant rainfall this year, the growth has been remarkable and the young seedlings are already out of their tree guards.  

We expect that in just a few years from now these new trees will be providing valuable nectar for our local bee populations.

Elderberries in an Edible Hedge

 

About ten years ago we started planting an edible hedge in The Nuttery with an assortment of odd plants including elderberries, hazelnuts, damson plums, edible crab apples and medlars.  It was to be a kind of a low maintenance food forest for foraging and would also give privacy to The Caretakers Cottage from The Drip Lane.

To be honest it became a bit of a neglected area and not a lot happened there until this year we decided to give it a bit more attention.  We removed weeds, mulched it, watered it and planted fifty more hazelnuts.

The result has been remarkable.  Not only has everything tripled in size but for the first time this year we have got a huge crop of totally delicious Elderberries.  We tend not to pay much attention to elderberries in this country.  Big mistake. They are totally delicious, not unlike blackberries, but juicier, making a fantastic jam or jelly. They are filled with anthocyanins and anti-oxidants so can provide significant health benefits, although if excessive amounts are eaten raw they can cause nausea.  This winter we will add more of them into our edible hedge.

What's Blooming This Week?

Robin Red-breast Bush, Melaleuca lateritia, is from the south-west corner of Western Australia.  

We have found it grows very happily here in our Water Garden, where it enjoys a moist but well-drained position.

It flowers it midsummer at a time when few native plants are flowering so is proving to be a big hit with the honeyeaters here.

A Dry-stone Wall and Compost.

Peter Marshall is giving The Forecourt a quick upgrade with a new drystone wall and and a raised bed filled with compost.

The stones have all been collected from around the property and the compost is from our composting bins. Very satisfying.

The bed will be planted with aromatic Catmint, Nepeta cataria, featuring delightful pale lilac/blue flowers and silver grey foliage.  This looks fantastic against the soft pinks and earth tones of our local stone and our particular variety is propagated from plants that have grown here in The Old Cottage Garden since around 1880, so we know it survives our conditions.

Protecting Grape Vines from Possums

Possums cause a massive amount of destruction and figuring out ways to keep them from destroying the gardens is an ongoing challenge.

This grape vine, intended to cover a pergola and provide cooling summer shade, has been decimated by possums this summer.  The spiky things that we have now attached to the pergola definitely keep birds from landing.  Will they stop possums running along the timber rails?

Within a week or so we should know the answer.

What's Blooming This Week?

The Red Swamp Banksia, Banksia occidentalis, a spectacular Western Australian species, is commencing its flowering season here at The Drip.

This year, after so much rain,  there are dozens of flower spikes forming. 

Like many plants chosen for the Water Garden it provides a welcome food source for local honeyeaters.