ARS Tasmania Newsletter – June 2018

• Date: 3rd June 2018
• author: Lesley Gillanders

IN MY GARDEN

With Ken recovering from a hip replacement, and Lesley just home from hospital and then suffering a severe reaction to some medication, this month is a compilation of some of Lesley’s previous wonderful articles.

The garden is looking rather bare now the autumn leaves have fallen. A few deep blue flowers are lingering on, some Salvia patens, and Dianthus 'Romance' still manages to produce a couple of its fragrant pink flowers. A late flowering Nerine is in full bloom with large heads of flowers in a delightful shade of pink,. The last of the old Lilium stems and other perennials have been tidied up. The garden looks much neater now with several barrow loads going onto the shredder heap.

Monnina revoluta, one of the two varieties we collected in Ecuador, has grown into a large shrub. M. pulchra is smaller and more compact. Both have clusters of tiny deep blue-purple and yellow flowers with a light honey perfume. Salvia corrugata, which we also collected in Ecuador, seems to always have some deep blue terminal heads of flowers open. I always bruise the leaves to enjoy their fragrance. Next to the Salvia is an Agonis flexuosa 'Variegata' which is reputedly frost tender. It has survived several frosts and is now over a metre tall.

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