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.

Propagating Strappy Leafed Plants

We do a lot propagation and The Shadehouse is a huge asset in this regard.

This bench is currently filled with strappy-leaved plants which we have increased by simple  division.

The intense blue leaves of the Pilliga form of Diannella revoluta are a standout, much better than the more commonly available variety known as Cassa Blue,  and it would be good to build up significant stocks of this for use in The Hill Garden. 

Silver Foliage Plants for a Bank

We are always on the lookout for combinations of plants that might work together in particular situations.  This combination of Grevillea lanigera with Tuecrium fruticans has got potential.

Both plants have wonderful silver foliage. This tells us that they both enjoy a very sunny situation and can probably tolerate dry conditions.  Tuecrium is an excellent choice for clipping into topiary, becoming very dense with repeated tip pruning.  Grevillea lanigera is prostrate and provides a weed suppressing groundcover.  Both can be easily propagated.

A combination of massed Teucrium shapes, sitting in a broad base of Grevillea lanigera,  would work on a hot sunny bank.  And birds and insects will enjoy the flowers.  So this combo will end up on one of the large steeps banks flanking the wine cellar in The Main Courtyard.