The landscaper who did the heavy work in our yards came around a few weeks ago to take some photos and get a reference. I was a bit embarrassed at how untidy parts of the garden were, as I hadn’t had the time or motivation to start the usual post-summer clean up.
Autumn is the time of year I get enthused about gardening, spurred on by the return of Gardening Australia (which seems to happen later and later each year), mild weather and plants putting on new growth. Being sick and then away for a few weekends delayed this by a month or so this year, and then it rained quite a bit. One one of the rainy weekends I did some plant research instead.
Since I can never remember when I should be feeding and pruning, I concentrated on making a quick list of general plant types in our garden and their maintenance requirements.
The plant categories, from highest maintenance to lowest:
Citrus – They need regular pruning and feeding. I’ve been fighting and losing a battle with gall wasp on the lemon tree. The lime is doing okay, though not immune to galls.
Succulents – more work than I expected because I have to move all the pots around the side of the house in summer to allow more rain and less sun to get to them, then back to the rear in autumn. I’m also always potting up new plants from the old and replacing ones that have died off. I don’t mind this too much because they are satisfying to grow.
Spider plant – gets out of hand from time to time, so it needs flower spears cut off a few times a year and occasional plant removal to stop it spreading. Hard to remove from between pavers.
Herbs, woody – the rosemary, bay, lavender, oregano, catmint and geraniums all need pruning and feeding once or twice a year. I tend to forget to feed them, but they are pretty forgiving. Low maintenance and high satisfaction.
Herbs, soft – the parsley, peppermint, cat grass and chives die back or go to seed and while cutting back helps they often need repotting. I probably don’t feed them often enough.
Roses – a winter pruning and occasional deadheading required. I’m okay at remembering the winter feeding, but not at other times. I need to replace some that didn’t survive transplanting, and remove or move a few others.
Natives – they are so low maintenance that I forget to do any, when I really ought to tip prune and feed more often.
Trees – the camellia, maple, flame, and umbrella trees all don’t require maintenance part from the occasional prune. The tree at the front door is getting too mature for the spot it’s in, but I might get a few more years out of it. The flame tree might grow to 20 metres, so it’l have to be removed one day. The umbrella tree is in a pot – and I just learned that it’s NEVER a good idea to plant these in the ground! And it’s poisonous to cats. It tends to lose it’s leaves in summer, but they always grow back.
Bulbs – ignorable!
The list turned out to very useful, as it revealed which plants were not worth the maintenance they require, and which I should pay more attention to.
-I love lemon trees, but mine is a sorry specimen that has never produced fruit. I can do without it if the lime keeps doing okay, and I’ll have more time to lavish attention on that one.
– It’s probably worth the trouble to remove all the spider plant in the cat run, too, as it’s rather boring and not worth the effort keeping it under control.
– Since the umbrella plant is toxic to dogs and cats, I need to move it out of the run.
– I need to feed my garden more often, and that may come down to adding reminders to my calendar.
Once I have the existing garden under control, perhaps I will introduce some new plants. I like the idea of vertical gardens at the back of the garage and in the cat run, growing potatoes in a barrel, and maybe even a little aquatic garden.