Correa - Australia's Native Fuchsia

Many gardeners of Australian Natives are familiar with the plant name Correa as a flowering shrub for your garden. The name Correa is derived from Correa de Serra, a Portuguese botanist. The genus Correa consists of 12 species, subspecies and cultivars, with new forms appearing at Nurseries all the time. This plant comes in a myriad of colours and flower sizes, featuring 4 petals fused together in a pendulous bell tube, with colours ranging from yellow, red, green or combinations but also has white flowering forms. These plants range in size from the prostrate form through to the tree Correa, with most 1 metre to 2 metres in height. Good drainage is required for best results and raised beds could be an option in clay soils.

Belonging to the plant family Rutaceae, this genus is widely grown and is of interest to many gardeners as it flowers in the winter and gives colour to garden beds that would usually be devoid of colour in the colder periods. Most Correa varieties prefer dappled shade although they will cope in full sunlight. It will often be found in coastal positions, Correa alba can be seen growing along coastal cliff tops in s/e Victoria and is also found on the small island offshore. All species of Correa are frost hardy and will tolerate periods of dryness and do not require regular watering, ‘once established’. Regular watering should occur for the first couple of months and then they can almost get by on their own, except during severe drought conditions as recently experienced. These are a great plant for attracting nectar feeding birds to your garden. Some of the common varieties found in Nurseries are, C. reflexa, C. alba, C. pulchella, and also the many hybrids/cultivars.

Caring for your plants

Correa’s respond well to tip pruning after planting and can be made into compact bushes by clipping, with either shears or a hedge trimmer. This clipping should be timed so as not to interfere with the flowering time of the plant otherwise flowers will not form. Very little maintenance is required with these plants apart from a trim once a year. If you decide to fertilise your plants, do so using a Low Phosphorous slow release granular mix specifically for designed Australian Natives. These fertilisers have a N.P.K. rating of 10-25%(N) - 0-4%(P) - 5-7%(K) and are safe to use on your Correa's.

Propagation is best carried out using cuttings which strike readily from tip cuttings.

Useful Links

My Correa Page

Australian National Botanic Gardens

Association of Societies for Growing
Australian Plants

Gardening - On The Nature Strip

Photo 1, 'Bare and Lifeless', illustrates what I am up against. An ugly wooden fence, a hideous exotic Metrosideros and a patch of grass that I have to mow. Positives are the Callistemon Viminalis at left, my Grevillea bed and the mature Buckinghamia Cellisima (Ivory Curl) tree to the right of shot. My aim is not to completely obscure the fence or the Metrosideros, simply to distract from it. Given the power line some 5 or so metres above the ground, I also have to ensure that anything I plant can be kept to a modest height.

Photo 2, 'Transformation', is probably a tad presumptious, but I hope to be able to show you something in 6-8 months time that illustrates the improvement. For now, its some plants bordered by rocks:

1. Rear - Pittosporum Angustifolium : 'Native Apricot'. Should grow to no more than 6 metres, but I am confident that I can keep it smaller and denser than would be the case in the wild.

2. Rear - Leptospermum Maddidum : 'Turkey Bush'. This is also labelled as L. Brachyandrum and L. Longifolium, but L.Maddidum is the FNQ 'troppo' Turkey Bush. Another weeper to about 5 metres, with a lighter shade of green to P. Angustifolium.

3. Centre - Leptospermum Petersonii 'Copper Glow'. To 3 metres, with unusual flowers - green centre/white petals - in Spring.

4. Front - Austromyrtus Floribunda : 'Cape Ironwood'. Again, potentially to 3 metres, but I am confident that I can keep it clipped to something smaller if necessary.

5. Front - Myrtus Communis : to 4 metres, fragrant foliage and flowers, the only exotic in the mix, but irresistable to a 'myrtle maniac' like myself.

6. Syzygium Australe 'Aussie Compact' : I tend to ignore the label on this little guy, as you can trim them relentlessly, but I think its got the potential to reach about 1.5 metres.

Overall, I'm quite happy with the outcome. The most expensive single item was the sugarcane mulch - the plants cost $3.50-5.00 each and the rocks came in at about $12 (fuel costs included as it was a bit out of my way). Its not going to make a magazine any time soon, but I am confident that I can blur the distinction between the Grevillea garden and the new patch as soon as the sugarcane breaks down and I can lay something like Ti-Tree mulch. I wont use bark mulches with new plantings any more, because of the nitrogen depletion - I realise its visually incongruent, but thats a small price to pay for getting your plants off to a good start.

Although I have a huge slab of bare grass on the other side of the driveway, I dont know that I am prepared to go there - we dont have a lot of foot traffic down our street, but I can see potential issues nevertheless. The irony of this project was that the ugly Metrosideros gave me a 'precedent', and would already serve to redirect pedestrians to the left of the block : I dont have that sort of 'leg up' on the other side. That said, I highly recommend extending your garden into the public space.

Cheers,

Artie

Influences of European Settlement on our Native Birds

From the first weeks of European settlement, some birds adapted to the devastating changes caused by the colonists and also to the new plants that were growing in the new gardens.

Despite the felling of trees, fires, opening gaps in their woodland habitats, and the spread of domestic cats gone feral, birds like grey fantails and blue wrens were able to adapt and become our first garden dwellers – the mix of shrubs and open ground met their needs. To their advantage, the planting of crops almost certainly boosted their food supply by increasing the numbers of insects, caterpillars, moths and grasshoppers.

Upon first settlement, early explorers had commented on the extreme shyness of the birds. However Europeans hunted them to a far lesser degree than had the traditional Aborigines and consequently they became more tame.

But many other birds became increasingly rare, under severe strain from two activities-

1. The continuing spread of exotics planted to which our birds were not adapted, either for feeding, roosting or nesting. Then came the formal Victorian garden design – so unlike the casual, untidy Australian bush.
2. The intentional release from the late 1850’s of not only rabbits and foxes, but also sparrows, starlings, blackbirds and others. These were brought in by nostalgic and naive Europeans to recreate the familiarity of home and to take care of the increasing numbers of insect pests caused by their agricultural practices.

Together, these factors changed forever the demographics, habits and habitats of birds in the Australian bush and gardens.

Paradisis paradise

This blog will be a record of what gets planted, what gets picked, when things flower, when things fruit and what I've got growing. This might be easier than keeing a diary - then again it might not.

There will probably be some insights into my personality and something that will upset some ausgardeners - especially those with cats.

The garden. A list of what's in the ground as of the 25th of July 2006. Not much of what you are about to read was in the ground before March 2004 - - only the pines, the large fishtail palm and the snow bush. She Who Must Be Obeyed and I are happy to try and grow anything we can get our hands on, though she is starting to wane in her enthusiasm: silly girl thinks we have too much planted already...LOL

cyprus pines - x 2 - they provide privacy from two neighbours and have a love seat and fish pond underneath them. There's a black elephants ear in the fishpond along with some twisted bamboo and a couple of other plant gifts that I can't name.

The pines have two baby stag horns, mini split leaf philodendron, a lime leaf philodendron and some old mans whiskers growing on them

Boston ferns, king ferns, a couple of different coloured periwinkles, vietnamese mint, taro, cardamom, five spice plant, coleus, ivy, argaves, hoya, more black elephants ear, cycad and some mosquito breeders (bromeliads). There are a couple of "invaders" - again unknown - that provide some blue and purple flowers during the summer. They seem to like it there, so they stay. This is the boggiest part of the garden - we get a lot of run off from the neighbours and the upper part of the hill our street is on.

Next to the bog we have a gardenia, snow bush, lemon grass, yesterday today and tomorrow and a little buddha garden - - A ceramic smiling buddah, some gypsophila, pansies, petunias, gailardia, a camelia behind and some wormwood.

We have a little concrete patio with a pergola over the top - about 5mX2m - strawberries planted outside and nasturtiums, lemonbalm and apple mint growing where it can. There's a jasmine growing up some of the trellis.

A view from the pergola

Inside the pergola we have three bird cages - - a pair of green peach faces without the peach colour, their mum and a new chick (dad was escaped by a cat) and a pair of bengal finches. Half a dozen hanging baskets with a mixture of ferns, tahitian bridal veil, a New Guinea flat tassel fern, zygocactus and variegated philidendron/spear leaf thingy; pots and pots of lilipili, cane palms, scarlet croton, cardboard cycad, small tree ferns, pony tail palm, birdsnest fern, calla lillies, cordyline, diffenbachia, an orchid and half a dozen others that were given by friends - they look good but I don't know what they are. At one end of the pergola is an eight month old clumping palm and at the other a 4 metre tall tree fern - probably cunninghamii - it has three or four orchids growing on the trunk and day lillies, asiatic lillies and a pink and white leafed thingy that pops up every year.

The next structure is the grave - it was a large pile of compost that is now planted with rosemary, beans, silverbeet, soursop, gerberas, sweetsop, surinam cherry, petunias, african daisies, gotu kola and a beatiful little red climbing rose grows along the fence. Then comes the guinea pig hutch - it follows the side fence for about four metres and has beans growing along the outside - bit of tucker for the animals and strawberries surrounding the first of the lady finger bananas.

There's five bananas in total, four of them flowering/fruiting, the first hand is ripe now.

In and around the bananas are strawberries a small purpley/red coloured bush that was an indoor plant but which thrives since it was taken out of the pot and given the option to live or die. There's a couple of sorghum plants growing to give the birds a bit of variety.

Between the grave/bananas and pergola is a small bit of earth with these growing:

In pots - bok choi, choy sum, pak choy, silverbeet, english spinach and anenomes. and hollyhock seedlings.

In the ground - a mock orange, midyim berry, jabacotiba, silver beet, california asters, nicotinia, day lillies, chocolate pudding fruit, pansies, some flower seedlings that I forgot to learn the name of horseradish and a calemondin (star fruit) .

Behind the calemondin are some more gerberas, licorice basil and oregano.

In behind the bananas - between them and the guineapig hutch is another bad piece of soil - sand on top of clay - that's where the cane toad trap is and where the cat trap will go. Theres also my experiment with theobroma cacao - the plant used to make chocolate. There's more silver beet, some sweet potato, some scotch bonnet chilli, a small native daisy - that has yellow or red or white flowers and is starting to sprad like a ground cover, a lychee, a dizzygothica that was also given the option of grow or die after surviving my pathetic attempts at keeping plants indoors, a candy striped hippeastrum, a custard apple (methinks) that grew from a seedling, another red climbing rose, a cutting of a plant that She Who Must Be Obeyed found on a walk and which is now growing quite well in the back corner, more sweet potato and pumpkin, the worm farm and the compost heap.

This brings us to the other plant that was there before we started planting - the 10 metre tall fish tail palm.

About half a dozen canes a foot across play host to a very large stag horn, a couple of philidendrons and a couple of monsterias, a dozen or so bromeliads, more old mas whiskers and something that SWMBO insists is a native orchid - about half a dozen different colours and they are thriving there - so who am I to argue. Another unnamed varigated little shrub with pretty white flowers and more strawberries.

In front of the palm is a mulberry seedling - it was sprouted in March or April 2004 and is now 5-6 metres tall. Then come two roses - Angel Face (named after She Who Must Be Obeyed) and our prized Blue Moon.

Some more california asters, strawberries, day lillies, crinum, hippeastrum, tansy, blue boy, a wisteria which I have the job of trying to make into a standard, goji berry, a rather permanent capsicum - it fruits so it stays, a camelai - again no name, some gerberas in pots, a cumquat seedling, a mangosteen seedling,beans, jap pumpkin, a potted philidendron - large palmate leaves, nother gift - blue and white flowers with a miniature orange fruit, more hippies a naked lady, mondo grass, as a bit of a border, some basil, marguerite daisies, some green and white thingies that I forgot to keep the name tag from, a little purple puffball of a flower - again the name escapes me, a sub-tropical nectarine and some snowdrops coming up - they've apparently naturalised to this sub-tropical environment.

In amongst all of that are strawberries (did I mention them before??), some more periwikles - escaped seeds - dozens of orange and yellow cosmos (whichthe pale faced rosellas love) an orange -washington navel I think, a seedling each of sweet and soursop, moon flowers where-ever they can find something to grow up, more agaves, strawberries, lemon eureka??, another type of custard apple seedling or a longan - I must remember to use and keep name tags. A globe grape seedling growing up one of the stumps from some more cyprus pines that we got rid of.

A red grapefruit - again a seedling, an ice cream bean tree, some walking lillies, surinam cherries, mango- another seedling, and in the far back corner - a Norfolk Pine - we got a pot with three of them in it a couple of years back, two were given away and SWMBO couldn't bear jsut dumping number three - so she was planted in the back corner and given the opportunity to live or die - it was nearly two metres tall and had less than two litres of root ball when the other two were cut out of the pot.

There's a lot of baby red egg plant, chives, parsley, another crinum, a kaffir lime, a cassabanana, a pineaple - which the guineapigs discovered when they escaped and is now struggling to get any growth on it at all, some yarrow, tansy and wormwood, mint - half a dozen varieties surviving, a feijoa, tomatoes,

ceylon spinach, paw paw,

fennel, basil, kangaroo paw,

pansies, dill, curry plant, frangipani, lemon myrtle,

day lillies, more chillis, more strawberries, more mondo grass, nasturtiums, coriline australia, basil, another grape - pinot moir, naturalised fressias, 2 X prince of orange,passionfruit,.

Along the southside of the house - with no sun - grows a camelia, gardenia, coleus, croton, golden cane palm, ponytail palm, blueboy, nodding violets, jade plant.

Out the front is an olive, more ceylon spinach, nasturtiums, hippie seedlings, loquat. longan, frangipani, bush lemon, passionfruit, cosmos, a couple of types of self seeded marigolds, spinach and I think that's about it.

Frightening isn't it. The whole block - including our little home is about 300 square metres. Maybe I should go and see a doctor??

Propagating Australian Natives

You've decided to propagate some cuttings from your favourite 'Native' shrub, but you need a few pointers to see if you're doing it correct. I'm no expert, but I will show you how I do it, so first thing is to get your tools together.
The most important item is a good sharp pair of secateurs, then pots, labels, pen and of course a hormone treatment if you are using one, plus something to make a hole in potting medium.

Worm Farming

Worms will eat absolutely anything that was once living. When thinking worms, think compost. The worms only start in on the food once it has begun to break down. Some things break down faster than others. It's a myth that they won't eat citrus peel or onion skins. They will happily eat both. Onion skins though tend to break down slowly so they won't tuck into those straight away, but eventually they will.

Mine get all the kitchen scraps except meat, bread and dairy. These tend to attract the unwelcome attentions of cats, dogs and rats. (They can be composted in a digester, a fancy name for a bottomless container with a securely fitting lid, like a garbage bin, bottom cut out, and half buried in the ground.) I also get all the coffee grounds from one of the cafes in town to feed to my worms. They love them.

As I said, think compost. To avoid the risk of the worm farm becoming anaerobic (stinky), a balance of greens and browns is necessary, just like a compost heap. I use shredded paper, straw, very old lawn clippings (not too much at a time because it clags), just about anything will do. Mind you, the worms don't seem to care if their home becomes a stinky mess. I think it's just we humans that mind.

Thought I'd build my little guys a nice, well-insulated home.

Step 1 - Prepare the ground. I just laid out an old rug for a few weeks.

Fewer weeds now ...

Step 2 - Make sure the weeds don't come back...a little weed mat will see to that

Step 3 - Raise the walls

Step 4 - Occupants move in. They hate light so by the time I got the camera, they'd mostly gone. I emptied the contents of the plastic worm farm into it.

A few that refused to move...they were persuaded in the end

Step 5 - Tuck them in. An old gunny sack makes a perfect 'lid'.

For those interested, earthworms are placed in one of three categories according to preferred habitat - endogeic, anecic and epigeic.

Endogeic worms live in lateral burrow systems fairly close to the soil surface though they rarely actually come to the surface. Of the three, they are the only group that actually 'eat' soil, which they consume to extract decaying organic matter and various minerals. You will only find these worms if you have soil rich in organic matter.

Anecic worms are also earth dwellers but these live in vertical, permanent burrows which they coat with mucous for stability. There is usually a little mound of stones, soil and castings at their burrow entrance and the burrows themselves can go down 2 metres or more. They surface feed on decaying organic matter.

Epigeic worms live on the surface (occasionally using the top few few centimetres of soil) among decaying litter which they consume. These are the compost worms. The most common of these is Eisenia fetida known commonly as the tiger worm, red worm, red wriggler etc, and is found on practically every landmass on earth. Any mulched garden is likely to have these workers busy consuming the decaying mulch. You can feed them extras if you wish as Dewey does by placing scraps under the mulch. The anecic worms would also appreciate this.
They are all commonly referred to earthworms though scientists refer to them as segmented worms. Hope this has been of some interest.