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- The Himeji Garden on South Terrace, Adelaide just opposite number 262, has
been closed for about eight months for a major reconstruction, maintenance
and replant, under direction of Fumio Ueda for Adelaide City Council. Now
open again during daylight hours it is a fine example of an authentic
Japanese garden right in our parklands. It’s tranquil, free and definitely
no wedding photography permitted!
- The most outstanding plant in there in my opinion is one of the few female
Ginko biloba trees in Adelaide. The "Silver Nut" is fruiting at
present and is the ritual silver nut given at nuptials in Japan. It’s on
the immediate right as you enter the garden and has the distinctive
maidenhair fern leaf. The species was thought to be extinct until 1949,
known only up to them by palaeobotanical specimens, but was found growing in
a remote Chinese monastery. It’s easily propagated from hardwood cuttings
in winter or seed.
- The Ginko biloba is used to get an extract that health stores sell as an
aid to restoring your memory. The NY Institute of Medical research also
concluded in a trial conducted three years ago, that an extract of Ginko
biloba on 300 Alzheimer’s patients, showed one third improved their
ability to remember dates and relatives’ names.
- The Crepe Myrtle have been sensational this year in this area and any that
were on offer as container grown plants in local nurseries disappeared
quickly, so consider placing an order with your local nursery for the colour
and form that you’d like to take delivery of in winter.
- The Crepe Myrtle or Lagerstroemia indica now comes in a range of forms
from 8 metre trees down to totally prostrate groundcovers that only grow
30cm high, as well as trailing specimens for hanging baskets. The colour
range is from maroon, various pinks, mauve and lavender to cream or white.
They are very hardy deciduous trees that appreciate very hot weather and a
little summer watering, so as a lawn specimen in your hottest spot they will
thrive.
- Being deciduous they can even be moved in winter when dormant. I moved
some pretty large ones 20 years ago to put into the walk through bird aviary
at the Adelaide Zoo and they are still thriving, even resistant to the
nibbling of finches and the other vagaries of birds in close quarters!
- Cyclamen seem to be on the move at present, sending up fresh new leaves
from their dormant corms. As soon as there is movement, apply a half
strength water-soluble fertilizer and some organic pellets and then in a few
weeks step up the nutrient to full strength.
- If you have drifts of the tiny Cyclamen hederifolium which naturalises so
easily in this area, they can be lifted now and divided, replanted and they
will grow away unchecked. Select a spot that gets early morning sun and
maybe dappled light in autumn and spring. Under deciduous trees seems ideal.
- Back in Victorian times when the taking of snuff was a common pursuit of
the city dandies, the crushed corm of this particular Cyclamen, was mixed
with the snuff and considered a cure for male baldness! Maybe there’s a
cottage industry waiting to happen here.
- If you planted tulips in containers last year, it’s time to empty them
out and either discard the bulbs, as they seldom flower well in their second
year or if frugal, replant then into an out-of -the-way part of the garden
and feed them during their growing season, so that in the spring of 2002
they will flower again.
- Planting tulips or narcissus and hyacinths for that matter in containers
demands that you stratify the bulbs. That means into a newspaper wrap and
into the crisper of your fridge for at least 4 and up to 6 weeks before you
plant them. That forces them into growth early so they flower in late winter
or early spring.
- Most importantly with bulbs in containers though is the fact that the
temperature of the potting mixture is higher than in nearby soil, and the
stratifying process, gets all bulbs of the same type to flower
simultaneously. Failure to do so, will see some bulbs planted on the cool
side, flower at least two or three weeks later than those on the warm side
of you pot.
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