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grevillea massacre
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Posted by wazcrazy st george syd (My Page) on Sun, Sep 11, 05 at 7:21
I have lost 5 g.superb shrubs along the south facing wall in my front yard the wall mind you is 50cm high the area gets lots of sun in the morning and afternoon almost all day but they are all dead could it be fungus because my kangaroo paws havent looked better
what can i plant there to fill the void i was thinking of acacia
I have got a self propagated casuarina glauca (it just started to grow out of my lawn of poa??) but i dont want it to cast shade over the res of the garden.
it is a clay soil that has been work up a bit since the massacre for more drainage any ideas?????? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: grevillea massacre
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| Whoa, warcrazy - take a pill :) OK, none of us enjoy losing plants, but it is a fact of gardening life, IMO. I believe the clay to be the culprit, and I'm spending a lot of time mounding up my own bed to avoid the same fate, but thats purely speculation. The other obvious danger is residual fertliser (possibly from the lawn ??) - I'd test the soil before I put anything back in. HTH, Artie |
RE: grevillea massacre
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Oh Waz, this is so upsetting. Just when you want your garden to look wonderful for spring so you can show all the doubters that native gardens can be beautiful, 5 grevilleas decide to curl up their toes.
Unfortunately, we are all on such a steep learning curve when it comes to native plants, I suspect you'll never really know what caused the deaths.
Do you garden on a slope? Is it possible that fertiliser from a neighbour's garden has run off into your yard as Artie suggests? I know you've improved the drainage, but if you think it might still be a problem, could you try callistemons instead? Most will take poor drainage and, given the number I see growing surrounded by exotics, they must be able to cope with a bit of non-native fertiliser as well.
As with all plant deaths you'll be able to clock this up to experience, but it is frustrating. I hope you manage to sort something out.
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RE: grevillea massacre
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| Waz - I had the same problem and we lost about five grev. honey gems - and part of our problem was wet feet (drainage) and probably too close to the turf (phosphate). So we have planted callistemons and melaleucas instead - both of which don't mind the wet or residual fertilisers. It is always distressing when we lose plants - my latest casualty has been a lovely 'roo paw - which is now flattened (less than 4cm tall) by my puppy sitting on it. I am not a happy puppy owner. |
RE: grevillea massacre
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| Cmon Aggie - you know my solution to these little problems: a. dig up lawn
b. bury puppy in lawn
c. plant whatever you want, secure in the knoweldge that it will be well-fertilised :) Pet lovers, please address all correspondence to : g.w.bush@whitehouse.gov.us |
RE: grevillea massacre
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There is no lawn so no residue runoff
but the callistemons that are near them are suffering the same fate
I have g.oblongfolia x 2 banksia ericifolia x3 and lemon scented tea trees that arent even phased
my pugs dont go out there (it is my front yard ) my neigbour has four planted on the other side of the fence right next to where mine died and they are so healthy
should i try acacia or more banksias????? |
RE: grevillea massacre
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| Artie - don't joke, the burying of the puppy in the backyard has crossed my mind more than once ... Not only does he sit on the plants, but the huge galumph runs through things and I have broken bits of callistemon, grevillea and banksia. He pulled off one of my banksia branches. Yes, not happy, puppy! Waz - I can't understand it, if your neighbour has some growing well - the only thing is if it is some form of residual phosphate in the soil? I would give them up. As for whether you should plant banksias - I am surprised they are happy but your grevilleas were not - my banksias were more tempermental than my grevilleas. I would just go for whatever takes your fancy and plant with optimism !! |
RE: grevillea massacre
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| calistemons make excellent subjects for 'giant, in ground bonsai' (there's a japanese term for that, but I don't remember what). Perhaps you could develop it into a stunted, ancient looking tree with a few years work? |
RE: grevillea massacre
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finally planted some midyin and acacias and som brachyscomes hopefully they we revel therte as i already had some midyin there
(sorry i dont remeber how to spell the latin names
but how bout those swannies) |
RE: grevillea massacre
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| When I said calistemon, I was of course referring to your Casuarina glauca... |
RE: grevillea massacre
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In terms of puppies - well I was sure at one stage that my dogs had been secretly studying botany because they only seemed to destroy the rare, unusual and hard to get plants, and leave all of the other plants well alone. I made sure that all of my gardening books were put well out of the way but it didnt seem to make any difference....
Good Luck! |
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