Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Going native

As gardening editor I have been running lots of stories on sustainable gardening. While everyone wants to do the right thing, given the state of our water supplies, many gardeners are not too fond of indigenous species preferring more exotic varieties of plants, trees and shrubs as long as they aren't big water guzzlers.

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Last week in Metro I wrote a story about a woman from Highton, near Geelong (now on Stage 4 restrictions) who pulled up her traditional garden complete with large lawn and beds of shrubs, perennials and roses. In its place Zoe Monotti planted drought-tolerant, low maintenance species such as grasses, salvia (wonderful in dry times) euphorbia, box (also good in drought) and artemesia, plus some more exotic species.

It was a radical step for her and one many may soon have to take. Interestingly, she hasn't pulled up her traditional backyard garden as it gets more shade so she's got the best of both worlds.

If you're not into native plantings, it is possible to have a garden on more traditional lines. For example, roses are incredibly hardy. If you put mulch around them and use wetting agents on the soil, they'll survive quite happily.

Likewise, lavenders are fabulous plants that also attract lots of bees. Then there's rosemary - lovely to look at and use in cooking - succulents such as aloe that produce beautiful flowers, echeveria and agave.

Geraniums are now the flower of the moment, given their drought tolerance and gorgeous flowers. For a bold statement plant hot pink ones, for a Tuscan/French Provence look, put bright red ones in terracotta pots. Perfect for small courtyards and balconies.

The ornamental grape is a stunner on pergolas and fences putting on a magnificent display in autumn.

So it is possible to have a garden, even with water restrictions (we could end up on stage 4 if it doesn't rain soon) without resorting to natives, if you don't like them.

Michael McCoy, one of Australia's most respected garden writers, has written a piece for The Age's A2 on Saturday questioning the use of some natives. To imply that they are best suited to our water conditions is faulty, he says, as some of our indigenous species do not like the dry.

He also questions the buzz word of the moment "sustainability". Calling it a misnomer he says we're on the beginning of a long journey of rethinking the way we garden and it's faulty logic to think that your conditions are the preferred ones for any indigenous (truly local) plant.

A truly sustainable garden would have to produce its own mulch and need to be independent regarding water and feeding. Given that's impossible in the average-sized garden he believes the best we can aim for is a minimal environmental impact garden, rather than a truly sustainable one.

It's an interesting debate. The CEO of the Open Garden Scheme says there is a resurgence in well-designed Australian plant gardens involved in the program.

In the 60s and 70s, he says, Australian plants suffered when people put large blue gums in terrace house gardens and "awful" bush gardens on small properties.

"With more people using them in a culturally acceptable way, recognising that we have a fundamentally European aesthetic (I can hear the groans!) you can use Australian plants in the same way as a good alternative." Debate away.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Water - the Dobbing Dilemma

With water - or the lack of it - the big issue at the moment it begs the question. Should we dob in someone who's watering illegally? (You do have to check your facts first because they might be using tank water, bore water or grey water that they're pumping from inside.)


But if you are sure it's coming straight from the tap then what do you do? It's a vexed question because we don't all want to become paranoid and turn into water Nazis. But if you're doing your small bit to save water, both indoors and out, and a neighbour is doing the wrong thing, then would it be acceptable to point out the error of their ways, in the nicest possible way al la Dame Edna, of course!

For example, if you see someone hosing down their driveway or paving - what the hell do people do that for, anyway? - you could say (with a smile on your face, naturellment) "Has the driveway/paving grown much since you've been watering it?"

If they squirt you with the hose then either, no it hasn't, or they'd like you to mind your own business and just go away. If they actually strike you with the hose then you're really in trouble.

Likewise if you come across someone totally flouting the regulations and washing their car with a hose, a total no no, then should you make them aware that this is not cricket and that a dirty car these days should be worn as a badge of honour. It shows that you are being a totally responsible citizen and not wasting water.

Then there's the major issue of people watering their nature strips. I must confess that makes my blood boil. And it's so obvious, for goodness sake. The rest of the nature strips in the street are browned off, literally, then there's one that's a verdant expanse of grass.

What happens behind the garden fence is another matter because you're not privy to any misdemeanours and maybe they have got their own tank water or are using grey water from the dishwater, bath or washing machine. If you know they're not and you see water pouring under a gate or hear the sprinklers going full bore out of hours what do you do? Are you brave enough to knock on the door and ever so gently tell them they're doing the wrong thing.

It's a dilemma indeed. The water companies are all reporting quite a number of calls from people dobbing in water cheats. At this stage they're relying on education and a visible presence in the streets to let the good citizens of wherever know that they're on to them. Coliban Water services Bendigo which is on Stage 4 restrictions. Inspectors now are checking people's bona fides when they've got a sign outside their property saying tank water or bore water on site, just to make sure.

On reflection I think we just have to grin and bear it if people are cheating, otherwise we'll all go crazy. Already I'm hassling my husband if I think the tap's been on too long!

And who knows? Any of us could be under surveillance. I go out every morning with water in a bucket that I've saved from the shower and put it on the street tree and a small garden in the front. Someone might think I'm cheating and dob on me. Maybe I'd better put a sign out the front saying I'm using shower water and they're welcome to check me collecting it!

Monday, November 13, 2006

Bah humbug to Greens councillor

I nearly choked on my morning cuppa when I read that the chairman of Melbourne City Council's environment committee, Greens councillor, Fraser Brindley, was casting aspersions on Melbourne's "exotic" trees. Too thirsty by half, he said, and ventured the point that maybe Melbourne's leafy boulevards and heritage gardens had had their day given our water problems.

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Now he didn't want these beautiful trees chopped down. Lordy, lordy, thank goodness for that. But he felt that the European trees that grace our city were maybe, well, obsolete in the current climate and natives would be a better environmental alternative.

After all, he said, we don't live in Europe. Well go to the top of the class, Fraser Brindley, we sure don't. But that doesn't mean we have to abandon our heritage and let these magnificent specimens, many of them English elms, die through lack of water. Victoria is the garden state - even though the number plates now say it's the place to be - because of the city's "exotic" trees. As one letter writer pointed out we manage to find enough water to keep race courses, golf courses and cricket pitches lush and green so why take it out on one of the city's major attractions?

The beauty of the city is its parks and gardens and walking along the paths in the Fitzroy Gardens or Treasury Gardens, beneath the stately canopies of heaven forbid, European trees, is magical. In autumn they put on a breathtaking show as their leaves turn. In winter the skeletons stretch to the sky, a portent of things to come in spring.

So let's look after our city's trees come what may, despite Fraser Brindley's outlook that maybe we can't sustain "the level of amenity provided to us by our more thirsty trees". In other words, those damned exotics are drinking too much and the city can't afford to assuage their thirst.

Interestingly, some natives such as paperbarks are huge water guzzlers so you can't always blame the "exotics".

Where I live in Sandringham the council is replacing dead flowering gums, with more flowering gums. Why are they dying? Hard to tell. But the one on my nature strip is looking very thirsty so I've started watering it. I've put a bucket in the shower and the first water that I don't use because it's too cold (pathetic I know!) goes into said bucket and I'm then using it for plants such as the street tree.

During the last drought there was an adopt-a-tree program for street trees to stop them from dying. Maybe Melburnians could do that with the "exotics" in our parks and gardens rather than let them die. I'm sure everyone would pee on them daily if there was any danger of losing them. I know I would. So to the barricades Melburnians and to Fraser Brindley BAH HUMBUG!

Friday, November 3, 2006

They're off at Flemington

The roses burst forth too soon this year for the start of the 2006 cup carnival but they still look fabulous. Keeper of the roses at Flemington Terry Freeman told me he'd never experienced a year like it in his 30-year career at the track.


The problem was the unseasonal hot weather so many of the buds opened 12 days early. Actually rose growing is a science! Freeman says in September there was the equivalent of four extra days of sunshine that put him four days ahead, then in October there were six days over 30, plus higher than average temperatures, so there's nothing you can do stop them when they're ready to pop their corks, so to speak.

You can speed them up but not slow them down. In a normal season it's not unusual for Freeman and his team to spray liquid fertiliser four times a year to push them along. But this year they haven't had to use any since the start of September.

When I went to Flemington a week ago, the roses looked divine. Okay some of them were full blown but that's not a problem. The overall effect is just gorgeous. And I especially love the mass planting of the French-Delbard rose 'Grimaldi' in the carpark. The striped salmon pink flowers are a picture and there's talk of planting them right up to the entrance when the track gets a total workover.

Another interesting rose is 'Katie Pianto' which is rapidly covering a fence near the rose walkway.

A South Australian rose it is pale pink and, from a distance, looks rather like a small clematis flower. The story behind it is that Ross Roses in SA had an open day and many of the visitors, while marvelling at the roses in the nursery, also wanted to know the name of the rose growing on the old farmhouse down the road. It turned out that the lady who lived there had planted it so the rose growers went back the next day, got some bud wood off it and started to grow it.

No one knew what the rose was called so they called it 'Katie Pianto' after the lady who lived in the farmhouse. Isn't that a lovely story?
Interestingly, Freeman was more partial to annuals than roses when he started as an apprentice at Flemington but they soon grew on him and they have grown on the public. Now the roses have become as big a part of the Flemington legend as the cup itself.

"People would say it's cup week and the roses are flowering at Flemington so they would come and expect them to be out. It's now part of the week," Freeman says.

And his tips for having near-perfect roses? Apart from the liquid fertiliser the team also pushes them along with Sudden Impact, an organic and chemical fertiliser, three times a year - early September, the end of November and the end of January - plus a soil conditioner in winter to sweeten up the ground.

They prune different varieties over an eight-week period from the first week of June to the first week of August.

While everything's coming up roses at Flemington, in the Emirates marquee it's all terribly chi chi with a garden scene evocative of the famous gardens at the Palace of Versailles and a raised garden a la traditional geometric layouts of great French chateaux and palaces. There are huge wrought-iron urns, box hedges, fountains, water features and ginormous floral arrangements that would impress Constance Spry more than somewhat. I must plan something like that for my next soiree! Happy race going and don't forget to smell the roses!