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MANGAWHAI'S NO.1 NEWSPAPER
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Gardening with Gael - Flowers my first love.jpg "alstroemeria rose frost(copy)") Every gardener has a different strength. I have come to the conclusion that my strength is with flowers. Box’s strength is with vegetables. This year his vegetable patch is ruinous because his energy has been focussed on the house at the Block. Even though my vegetable patch is meagre I always grow lots of herbs and salad greens. This year, on the shortest day I planted the garlic with every intention of it being quite magnificent.“Is that your garlic?” asked my friend Marg, peering at the miserable two rows that survived a hasty weeding by me. I know I planted four rows and by the smell on my gardening gloves I fear some went the way of the weeds. “It’s a bit late if they are going to be anything isn’t it.” She is right but I have done a last desperate push. I have watered them with horse pee, mulched them with rotted grass clippings and after this rain and easterly I plan to throw a bit of seaweed around them as well. I just might leave them for an extra week after the longest day which is a mere couple of weeks away. Meanwhile the flower garden is flourishing and I think I just have to accept that flowers are my first love. There is an infinite variety and always something new to capture the imagination. My latest passion is alstroemerias. Also known as Peruvian lilies or Princess lily these popular perennials last for weeks in a vase. Alstroemerias are native to South America where they grow in areas of pampas and grass. A member of the lily family, the small tubers form clumps and can be divided during their winter dormancy. The clump is best dug up and quartered so that the divisions provide a mixture of flower producing and vegetative tubers to guarantee flowers for the following year. They also benefit from being fed. Full sun to part shade is recommended. During the spring and autumn the flowers do well in full sun. The heat of the summer can cause them to wilt so some partial shade is advisable. Flowers should be pulled from the base when picking. Dead flowers should also be pulled in the same way. If dead stems are not removed this signals the plant to go into dormancy. Conscientious care increases the length of the flowering period. In spite of their tendency to fall over in wet and windy conditions I love the tall stemmed varieties the best. There are many grades from quite short to tall. I love the tall ones suddenly appearing late spring among other flowers. The flowers are about the size of an azalea and they come in all varieties of colour from yellow to orange and from white through pink to burgundy, single and bi coloured. My favourite is one called alstroemeria rose frost which has large pink blooms with frosty white edges, yellow markings, stripes and flowers from spring to winter. LILY LOVER: Alstroemerias are my latest passion and my favourite alstroemeria rose frost. |
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